Mallrat Calls Out The ARIAs Over 'Sexism', 'You Guys You Don't Get It'

Yesterday the 2022 ARIA nominations were released with a whole heap of controversy. Mallrat has taken to her Instagram stories to call out the male dominated list of ARIA nominees. 

“Fuck the ARIAs, when I looked at the list of nominees this morning my initial reaction was to feel personally underestimated and misunderstood by my album being snubbed. 

“Then I took a deep breath, then I realised it’s not about me. Approximately ⅕ of the nominees are non-male. In categories like heavy rock there are no non male artists at all. 

"So I’m again reminded that the Australian music industry like many industries is dominated by men and in this case men who don’t think an artist is credible unless it's a nonchalant dude playing guitar/rock music. F*ck you guys you don’t get it.”

Mallrat released her commercially successful album Butterfly Blue in May of this year. It peaked at #2 on the ARIA Top 20 Australian Album charts the week it was released and received positive reviews from the likes of NME, Pitchfork, The Guardian and many more globally and locally. Butterfly Blue is a gorgeous pop record that floats between genres, emotions and energy.

In a statement to triple j, Annabelle Herd, CEO of ARIA and PPCA, said: "While the overall female representation in nominees is slightly up on last year, we agree that it is frustrating to see non-male artists under-represented.

"It's our mission to create opportunities for Australian music to be heard by all who create it, if we are not getting enough success for female artists or non-binary artists we need to tackle that at source.

"The awards and the charts are reflections of the music released in a year and how Australians engage with it, that's why we are lobbying at a government and industry level for overall systemic change and representation."

Herd added that "[nominees] are chosen by voting panels made up of industry professionals, genre experts, and people from radio, media and with other connections to music. That's why it's so important our voting panels are reflective of our industry and why it's so important people vote".

She also noted that the voting panels had been reviewed since last year's ARIAs "to ensure balance in representation across gender, First Nations, POC, and other criteria".

"That process showed that there is rebalancing work to do, something we have made good progress on but haven't completed," she said. "In the interim, we will use any opportunity we can around the Awards and outside the Awards to promote those artists and those categories who deserve equal representation."

It's not the first time that the ARIA's have been called out this year with Tasman Keith also commenting on the award's eligibility system. "A Colour Undone does not meet the voting criteria for Best Hip Hop Release or Album Of The Year. The criteria is still structured mainly around a system which upweights physical formats and downloads. Not streams," he said.

"My validation doesn't come from an outdated award platform held up by priviledged white record executives who's entire purpose is to sell our stories while keeping majority of the profits."

The statement continues, "my mission has always been to occupy all of these spaces and in doing so represent for my community."