ARIA Awards 2021: The Kid Laroi and Genesis Owusu among winners

Hip hop prince The Kid Laroi interrupted his hiatus to claim Best Artist, while Ed Sheeran was brought to tears at the ARIA Awards. See the video.

Kathy McCabe

@McCabeRadar

5 min read

November 24, 2021 - 8:30PM

News Corp Australia Network

Budjerah's emotional speech at the ARIA's

Music

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Australian hip hop finally came of age at the 2021 ARIA Awards with critically acclaimed Genesis Owusu and global teen sensation The Kid Laroi leading this year’s winners list.

Owusu’s stunning debut record Smiling With No Teeth has been scoring rave reviews around the world, and won four ARIAs during the ceremony streamed from Sydney’s Taronga Zoo.

It is the first hip hop release to win the prized Album of the Year in the ARIA Awards’ 35-year history.

On accepting his third award of the night, Best Hip Hop Release, Genesis Owusu said: “I am who I am because of hip hop.”

“I learnt more from hip hop than anything else in life, hip hop was the first place I felt home. This really means a lot to me,” he said.

The Kid Laroi, who was dubbed the world’s new pop prince after Stay, his collaboration with “brother” Justin Bieber, picked up Best Pop Release.

The Kid Laroi performs at the 2021 ARIA Awards. Picture: YouTube

“Wow, I guess this is a great start to the night, Best Pop Release. I just wanted to give a big shout out to everyone in this category and everyone that has supported this song and taken it to what it is. Big shout out to my brother Justin Bieber for being part of this record and helping me make it so special. I love you guys, thank you,” he said.

And on the same day he was nominated for Best New Talent for next year’s Grammys, he was named as ARIA’s first-ever Best Artist award recipient, a combination of the Best Male and Best Female categories

Celebs sizzle on Red Carpet at the 2021 ARIA's

Genesis Owusu performs during the 2021 ARIA Awards at Taronga Zoo. Picture: Getty Images

Budjerah accepts the Michael Gudinski Breakthrough Artist Award during the 2021 ARIA Awards. Picture: Getty Images

Budjerah on stage. Picture: Getty Images

It is understood 18-year-old Laroi recorded his ARIAs performance and acceptance speeches last week around the same time as he wiped his Instagram page and told fans he was taking time out from social media and other duties to complete his debut album.

“Just checking back in and dude how good is Australian Music and tonight has been such an incredible night,” Laroi said in the prerecorded video acceptance speech.

“I feel so blessed and overwhelmed, over the love and support. It’s incredible that I’m getting this much love especially from home, that means the world to me.

“When I started this all I wanted to do was bring up the culture and show the world how good Australian music was.”

Animal instinct! Gretta Ray performs at the 2021 ARIA Awards at Taronga Zoo. Picture: Getty Images

Gretta Ray sizzled at the scaled-back ARIAs. Picture: Getty Images

The 19-year-old teen soul sensation Budjerah was presented with the inaugural Michael Gudinski Breakthrough Artist award by the late music entrepreneur’s close friend Ed Sheeran.

While the past year has been tough for the artist community with border closures all but shutting down the live touring circuit, it has proven a fertile period for new music, with many fresh talents among the 2021 ARIA Awards winners.

Indie rockers Spacey Jane were the surprise winners of the publicly-voted Song of the Year, beating out a field which included Tones and I, Masked Wolf, The Kid Laroi, Amy Shark and Keith Urban with their platinum single Booster Seat.

And Australian electronic heroes Rufus Du Sol – who also scored a 2022 Grammys nomination on Wednesday – won Best Group from a field of rock and pop bands including AC/DC and Midnight Oil. They also won the ARIA for Best Dance Release.

Genesis Owusu receives the ARIA Award for Best Independent Release at the 2021 ARIA Awards. Picture: Getty Images

Genesis Owusu performs at the ARIAs. Picture: Getty Images

Members of Lime Cordiale, Oliver Leimbach and Louis Leimbach. Picture: Getty Images

That beloved cartoon series Bluey triumphed over children’s music titans The Wiggles with Bluey The Album, which became the first album of the genre to debut at No. 1 on the ARIA charts in February.

Also accepting an award from overseas was popular wold music artist Joseph Tawadros who has been stranded in London, rejected for an exemption to return home for scheduled concerts deemed as not “economically stimulating” by the Australian Government.

It would also have been a tough night for six-times nominated for Amy Shark and first-time nominee Gretta Ray, who both turned up and performed at the truncated awards ceremony streamed on YouTube, but went home empty-handed.

Meanwhile, Owusu tried to bring some colour and drama to the stream affair with his “Goon Club” bandmates and collaborators who joined him on stage for his awards and performance wearing pandemic-savvy bright red balaclavas.

It was just a shame award winners and presenters struggled to hear their cues to go live during the stream against the chattering of the live industry audience.

“For all of those Goon Club eccentric black people, it’s not up to us to change for people but for people to catch up and see what they have been missing out on,” Owusu said.

‘I DIDN’T EXPECT TO CRY’

Superstar Ed Sheeran paid tribute to his mentor Michael Gudinski while presenting the award renamed in his honour, after the sudden death of the respected champion of Australian music in March.

“In 10, 20 years when new artists are coming through, his name will still be attached to what he loved,” Sheeran said.

Winner Budjerah was moved to tears when he accepted his first ARIA, fulfilling the schoolyard prophecy he made to friends that one day he would take home one of the trophies.

“I didn’t expect to cry but I am crying and I sound weird,” the 19-year-old said as he began to thank his parents.

“This is incredible – and thank you to Michael (Gudinski); I only spoke to him twice but he opened a lot of doors for me.”