ARIA Awards 2014 form guide: Who will win?

FROM the brattish rap of Iggy Azalea and punk pop of 5SOS, to the soaring genius of Sia and electronic warmth of Chet Faker - here are the safest bets.

IT was the year when the tyranny of distance was shattered forever for Australia’s musical exports.

Finally we had a pop rock band at No. 1 in dozens of countries, a female rapper breaching the American hip hop glass ceiling and a pop star who thumbed her nose at the cult of celebrity while working with every artist famous enough to trade under one name.

While 5SOS, Iggy Azalea and Sia commanded charts and attention on a truly global scale, dozens of other artists were featuring at festivals, selling out club shows and blowing up the blogs.

Chet Faker’s brand of beautiful, haunting electronica got him noticed by the cool kids while Vance Joy’s rise was given a turbo boost by the world’s most influential tastemaker Taylor Swift.

Guy Sebastian continued to sail into new territory courtesy of Battle Scars and then Like A Drum while Jessica Mauboy charmed and then impressed the proverbial of Europe, first at Eurovision and then at the Commonwealth Games.

Rap queen ... Iggy Azalea became the first Australian rapper to break in America. Picture: Michael Tran / FilmMagic.

Sheppard proved they are the little big band that could as Geronimo became one of the biggest selling singles of the year and inescapable on the airwaves, alongside Justice Crew’s Che Sera.

And our dance stars including Will Sparks, Joel Fletcher, RUFUS and Peking Duk heralded Australia as the next big scene to shake up the EDM market.

Meanwhile, back home, respected bands and singers continued to build their audience with innovative and unforgettable songs and gigs — yes you, Violent Soho, Andy Bull, the Kite String Tangle, Illy and Dan Sultan.

It was a very good year for Australian music and now Cameron Adams and Kathy McCabe put their crystal balls to work to predict just who might take out the prized 2014 ARIA Awards.

The 2014 ARIA Awards, Ten, Wednesday, 7.30pm.

Winner’s grins? Jessica Mauboy and Chet Faker will be crossing fingers for trophy action next Wednesday. Picture: Bradley Hunter

ALBUM OF THE YEAR

Chet Faker — Built on Glass

Dan Sultan — Blackbird

Jessica Mauboy — Beautiful

Sheppard — Bombs Away

Sia — 1000 Forms of Fear

McCabe: Chet Faker should complete the night with Built On Glass picking up album of the year, recognising the rise and rise of OzElectro in the past few years. His biggest competition is Sia who certainly deserves homegrown hero status.

Adams: Bless Jess, but she’s yet to make the killer album everyone knows is in her. No album’s had the same legs as Built on Glass this year so all signs point to Sharon and Scott Suburb asking who the hirsute chap with the weird name picking up the night’s big award is.

Live by video? Sia is up for some major gongs but is reportedly not attending the awards. Picture: Noam Galai / WireImage.

BEST FEMALE ARTIST

Adalita

Iggy Azalea

Jessica Mauboy

Kasey Chambers

Sia

McCabe: Sia. Not only is 1000 Forms Of Fear one of the finest pop records to be released in the world this year but as an artist, Sia challenged all the conventional marketing wisdom and won. Jess Mauboy has had an absolutely stellar year but unlikely to win this one two years in a row.

Adams: Iggy hasn’t really endeared herself to Australia, Adalita would be a great left field choice, and while Kasey or Jess would be worthy winners this gong is a lovely way to thank Sia for not retiring.

BEST MALE ARTIST

Chet Faker

Dan Sultan

Gurrumul

Guy Sebastian

Vance Joy

McCabe: Chet Faker. Album debuted at No.1. Every gig sold out in minutes and he could have done more. A worthy Australian music ambassador overseas and cute on Twitter. In the bag.

Adams: Vance Joy’s album missed voting by a week, Guy’s votes are for a single so you’d say it’s either Sultan or Faker. Let’s say Dan as a reward for hard yards.

Award openers ... 5 Seconds of Summer will open the ARIA Awards but probably won’t be heard over the screams. Picture: Christopher Polk / Getty Images.

BEST GROUP

5 Seconds of Summer

Hilltop Hoods

RUFUS

Sheppard

Violent Soho

McCabe: A year of breakthroughs for groups should be dominated by 5 Seconds Of Summer for a strong debut record. They were also the hardest working band in and out of Australia.

Adams: Are voters ready to pick a hip hop act, dance band or boy band as best group? Jury’s out there. It’s too early for Sheppard so Violent Soho could be dark horses here.

BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST

5 Seconds of Summer

Andy Bull

Chet Faker

Iggy Azalea

The Kite String Tangle

McCabe: Declaring this a three-way tie between 5SOS, Chet and Iggy. In terms of global breakthrough and sheer numbers, 5SOS have it over Iggy.

Adams: Chet’s first EP has been airbrushed out of ARIA history here. 5SOS and Iggy certain broke the hardest out of this category globally, but 5SOS are in the house and screaming works well on TV so..

Blues man ... Dan Sultan produced a fine rock record Blackbird in Nashville. Picture: Supplied/

BEST ROCK ALBUM

Angus & Julia Stone — Angus & Julia Stone

Ball Park Music — Puddinghead

Dan Sultan — Blackbird

Jimmy Barnes: 30:30 Hindsight

Kingswood — Microscopic Wars

McCabe: Dan Sultan produced the best blues-flecked rock album while Kingswood blew brains with their assured stadiums rock debut and both records were recorded at the same legendary Nashville studio. Kingswood by a drum roll.

Adams: Really, who hasn’t banged their head to Angus and Julia Stone? Ballpark Music or Kingswood would be sweet indie surprise, and if Dan Sultan doesn’t win it would be sweet to give Barnsey an anniversary ARIA for services to rock?

BEST POP RELEASE

5 Seconds of Summer — 5 Seconds of Summer

Andy Bull — Sea of Approval

Justice Crew — “Que Sera”

Sheppard — Bombs Away

Sia — 1000 Forms of Fear

McCabe: 5 Seconds Of Summer rewrote the punk pop template to keep the melodies on high beam and the guitars still crunching while Sia may be the best pop songwriter in the world right now. So Sia.

Adams: What’s Sia’s policy on face baring for accepting awards? We’re about to find out.

Good times ... Violent Soho delivered some of the best gigs of the year on their sold out national tour. Picture: Supplied.

BEST AUSTRALIAN LIVE ACT (public vote)

Boy & Bear

Dan Sultan

John Butler Trio

Keith Urban

Melbourne SKA Orchestra

RUFUS

Tame Impala

The Preatures

The Presets

Violent Soho

McCabe: Violent Soho probably could have done 20 laps of Australian this year. Their sweaty, chaotic, shout-a-long gigs reminded you rock still has a strong pulse in this country.

Adams: We’re spoilt for diverse live local entertainment. This is a fan-voted thing and Keith Urban has millions of Twitter followers so we’ll throw a pin and go with him.

BEST INTERNATIONAL ARTIST (public vote)

Avicii

Beyonce

Coldplay

Ed Sheeran

Eminem

Jason Derulo

Katy Perry

Lorde

One Direction

Pharrell Williams

McCabe: Well, this could be embarrassing. Two mega stars in the room (One Direction and Katy Perry) and the award goes to Jason Derulo. No, it won’t. It will go to Ed Sheeran. Australia hearts Ed.

Adams: Each member of One Direction has a squillion Twitter followers and with loyal, online savvy fans surely they’ll have this in the bag. If not, Ed Sheeran. But 1D have flown here especially for the ARIAs so ...

Awards glamour ... Katy perry is sure to win the black carpet at the 2014 ARIA Awards. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

SONG OF THE YEAR (public vote)

5 Seconds of Summer — She Looks So Perfect

Guy Sebastian — Like a Drum

Havana Brown — Warrior

Iggy Azalea — Fancy

Joel Fletcher — Swing

Justice Crew — Que Sera

Nathaniel — You

Sheppard — Geronimo

Sia — Chandelier

Taylor Henderson — Borrow My Heart

McCabe: Chandelier. Sia reinvented epic pop with this dramatic ear worm. Her vocal delivery was as cracked and soaring as it needed to be on that rare beast, a pop song with meaning. It is the song every writer wished they had written.

Adams: Now a public voted category. Should be sponsored by Twitter. Obviously it should be Sia’s Chandelier. But she’s not that fussed about pimping herself out online so get your American Apparel jocks ready for 5SOS kids. Better that than seeing Havana Brown or Justice Crew joining the ARIA history books alongside No Aphrodisiac, Chains, Brother and Somebody That I Used to Know.

Originally published as ARIA Awards 2014 form guide: Who will win?