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.
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.
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.
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.
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..
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.
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 ...
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.
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