ARIA Awards 2015: Aussie stars gather for music’s big night
AS SHE was officially inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame, Tina Arena took a big swipe at the Aussie music industry.
TINA Arena was the queen of last night’s ARIAs with a stunning performance and fierce speech as she was inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The pop star thanked all the people who supported her four-decade career, but took a satisfying swipe at the Australian music industry
Arena called on commercial radio to “continue to support Australian music on the quality of the song and not the age of artist” and “don’t meet your Australian quotas because you have to. Exceed them because you want to.”
She also hit out at the ageism which greets female pop artists, calling out Madonna, Jennifer Lopez, Annie Lennox and Kylie Minogue for their continued excellence in the face of discrimination.
“Ladies over 40 are still in the game. Keep doing what you’re doing, ladies, because we will decide when it is time for us to stop,” she said. “I’m not trying to be rude, I’m just trying to make the most of it.”
Arena thanked her former home of France but saved her last thanks for Australia.
“Thank you for not making me a celebrity but thank you for celebrating my work because that is where I am most comfortable,” she said.
And finally she thanked the most loyal people of her career, the fans.
“When I take a leap Australia, you manage to catch me,” she said.
The most affirming reaction came from the young male songwriters and artists in the room, showing solidarity with their female peers who still struggle for equality on radio, television and in the business of show business.
No one sat down for the entirety of her speech.
Everyone stayed on their feet as Arena’s life flashed before her eyes on the big screen in a This Is Your Life style package encompassing her career from Young Talent Time to her conquering of Paris and the rest of the world.
The ARIAs version of Chains — which sent tingles down the audience’s spines — was released on iTunes.
“Wow, oh my goodness, surely I’m not the only person who had goosebumps,” Minogue said after watching the live performance.
Kylie Minogue called Arena a consummate professional as she inducted her into the ARIA Hall of Fame.
“What a woman, what a voice,” Minogue said after a performance of the classic Chains by Arena with Jessica Mauboy and the Veronicas.
Minogue said she was inspired by seeing Arena sing MacArthur Park on Young Talent Time and has a “special contact” on the TV set to watch Arena up close — her sister Dannii.
“Thanks to Tina for being an at work big sister in the show and what an amazing mentor.
“You’ve shown the world how it’s done for the last four decades. You are the consummate professional.”
Cadel Evans was the surprise presenter of her 2015 trophy.
Arena joins Molly Meldrum, Minogue, Olivia Newton John and INXS in the Hall of Fame.
AUSTRALIA REACTS TO TINA’S BIG NIGHT
Arena’s fierce performance and Hall of Fame acceptance speech were an instant hit on social media, with everyone from Kylie Minogue to Ricki-Lee Coulter weighing in.
So much love for Hall Of Famer @tinaarena tonight at @ARIA_Official https://t.co/IJbYyKUTWy
— kylie minogue (@kylieminogue) November 26, 2015Tina Arena is one of the most fun, down to earth, straight talking people I have met in Oz showbiz. Absolute champion. @ARIA_Official #ARIAs
— Peter Helliar (@pjhelliar) November 26, 2015Congratulations to the beautiful, incredibly talented & legendary @tinaarena on ur induction into the #ARIA Hall of Fame â¤ï¸ðŸŽ‰ðŸ˜˜ #ItsAboutTime
— RICKI-LEE (@TheRickiLee) November 26, 2015Congratulations @tinaarena outstanding speech recognising Australian music truly deserved #ARIAs
— Liz Hemmings (@lizhem65) November 26, 2015Tina Arena kicking radio programmer balls, reminding women over 40 & locals generally still make music worth playing. Pity they won't listen
— Bernard Zuel (@BernardZuel) November 26, 2015I don't find Tina Arena's music particularly interesting, but damn, that was a good speech. #arias
— Bob Powell (@bobsaysstuff) November 26, 2015I turned off the TV...is the Tina Arena acceptance speech / life story still going? #ARIAs
— Michael Koziol (@michaelkoziol) November 26, 2015It was amazing doing this with you guys! 💚 @TheVeronicas 💛@jessicamauboy âš¡ï¸#Chains https://t.co/rSKNr6b6wJ pic.twitter.com/HWjVV4eWcO
— Tina Arena (@tinaarena) November 26, 2015WOW What an incredible honour to perform with Hall Of Fame inductee Tina Arena tonight!! Xxx #ARIAs pic.twitter.com/2QMSLU01Go
— Jessica Mauboy (@jessicamauboy) November 26, 2015TAME IMPALA OWN THE NIGHT
Tame Impala crowned off an amazing night at the ARIA awards by winning Album of the Year for Currents.
“You’re sick of seeing us,” frontman Kevin Parker told the crowd.
The band used the podium to give a shout out to the Fremantle football club.
The award was presented by Iva Davies of Icehouse who said his 19 year old son played Tame Impala songs in his band.
BEST INTERNATIONAL ARTIST
One Direction scored Best International Artist for the fourth year in the row demonstrating yet again the act with the biggest social media fanbase wins in the publicly voted gong.
“thank you so much, we can’t believe we have won for the fourth year running,” Harry Styles said via a pre recorded video.
BEST LIVE ACT
5 Seconds Of Summer took out the Twitter voted Best Australian Live Act for the second time of the year, provoking the biggest screams of the night from the fans in the room.
The band were in the pyjamas in Los Angeles for the live cross acceptance speech with the Madden brothers, who are their songwriting partners, giving them the trophy.
“We started playing to 12 people at the Annandale hotel and now we are in LA and get to see beautiful fans every day of our lives and that is our entire existence,” Ashton said before the video link cut out.
BEST MALE ARTIST
Melbourne’s Vance Joy took home the Best Male award — after a stellar year in which he’s played to over 1.2 million people.
“Geez I’m shaking,” Joy said as he read out a list of thank yous.
“I love writing songs it gives me a sense of purpose,” Joy said. “Thank you to all he people who listen to Australian music.”
BEST FEMALE ARTIST
The literate grunge rock artist Courtney Barnett was named the Best Female Artist. This caps off an already successful night for Barnett, who already picked up the ARIAs for Breakthrough Artist and Best Independent Release.
“Don’t drop it,” she told the award presenter Rove McManus via video from London where she is performing a sold out tour.
“The world needs art and music,” she said before thanking all her team including girlfriend Jen Cloher who runs her independent label.
BEST DANCE RELEASE
It was down to the wire but Sydney trio RUFUS beat a first class field to win Best Dance Release, presented by British band Rudimental who had just performed with Ed Sheeran in one of his very rare performances with a backing group.
“That is actually outrageous. Everyone in this category is a friend of ours and killing it in dance music,” the boys said from London.
DIAMOND AWARD
JAMES Blunt took the piss out of the newly inaugurated Diamond Award for his countrymen Ed Sheeran in recognition of sales of more than half a million copies of X before giving the “Ginger Ninja” superstar his pointy trophy.
“Thank you very much for this award. I am very aware it was created so it was a bit tempting for me to turn up,” Sheeran said in acknowledgment of the gong.
BEST ROCK ALBUM
Tame Impala continued to blitz the ARIA awards picking up Best Rock Album for Currents — arguably their least rock sounding release.
“I have to say this is the second time we’ve won this award,” Kevin Parker said. “I’m more surprised to take it out this time. There’s a legacy of Australian rock music and it’s a privilege to be part of it.”
BEST VIDEO
THE Veronicas won the publicly voted Best Video award for their Black Swan inspired clip for You Ruin Me.
“We deserve an award for not falling up these stairs in these dresses,” they quipped, noting this week marked their 10th anniversary in the business.
“And we haven’t killed each other.”
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BEST COUNTRY ALBUM
Shane Nicholson won Best Country Album from a star-studded field for his Hell Breaks Loose record.
“Wow this is very cool. I have been lucky to stand up here twice before but this time it’s just got my name on it and that makes it very special,” he said.
Nicholson previously won Best Country Album awards with his ex wife Kasey Chambers.
BEST URBAN ALBUM
Australia’s hip hop community were well represented in the nominees for Best Urban Album with Seth Sentry winning from a tight field with Strange New Past.
Sentry was in a wheelchair because he broke his foot and couldn’t make the stage.
“I can’t work out if this is really cool having the award delivered to you or really really lazy,” he said, before dropping a couple of S-bombs and the first F-bomb of the night.
He apologised to his sister for not spending the $500 to fly her to Sydney for the awards.
He therefore wins best speech so far.
BEST HARD ROCK/HEAVY METAL
Western Sydney band Northlane, who debuted at No.1 with their album
Node, beat out one of the tightest fields of the night to take out the
Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal gong aka the shredding award.
The band accepted with a prerecorded video from America where they are on tour.
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
Lee Kernaghan was presented with this year’s Outstanding Achievement Award for the ambitious Spirit Of the Anzacs record which put letters from soldiers across the decades to music.
It is the highest selling Australian album of the year and spent four weeks at No.1.
Kernaghan received the first standing ovation of the night.
“I see this as recognition of our soldier, sailors, airmen and services whose privilege it has been (for me) to adapt their words to music,” he said.
It was one of those rare moments during the awards when the room stopped chattering to pay respect to such a moving musical experience.
COURTNEY BARNETT’S GLORY
The singer and songwriter who had one of the biggest impacts on the global scene this year, Courtney Barnett, was the winner of two major prizes.
Melbourne’s Barnett is taking home the Breakthrough Artist award Best Independent Release for her album Sometimes I Sit and Think and Sometimes I Just Think. Barnett is in London on tour and is one of the most nominated acts of the night.
Another much loved Melbourne indie act, Oh Mercy, were popular winners for the album When We Talk About Love, collected by singer Alex Gow.
CW Stoneking won Best Blues and Roots album but was also absent from the event.
BEST POP RELEASE
Brisbane singer/songwriter Jarryd James beat stiff competition to win Best Pop Release for his breakthrough hit Do You Remember.
Guy Sebastian presented the award and joked about ARIA host Osher Gunsberg of their Idol days “I’ve still got the same name.”
Do You Remember made No.2 and went double platinum.
“I’m so terrible at talking,” James said before reading a thank you speech from his iPhone. “You know when you get sweat on your iPhone screen, that’s going on” he said of his nerves which resulted in him accidentally merging names and thanking George Michael rather than two friends with the same Christian names.
BEST GROUP
Tame Impala picked up Best Group for their Currents album and in recognition of their huge year of the global stage.
“Wow. Did we just beat AC/DC for some thing? And the Preatures for that matter. The whole Tame Impala thing is not always a group thing on the surface but when we are in group mode it’s a real team effort,” creative controller and frontman Kevin Parker said.
Aussie punk pop band 5 Seconds of Summer apologised from LA for not being present for the awards, managing to slip ‘mangina’ into their video feed.
BEST COMEDY ALBUM
Triple J breakfast co-host Matt Okine won Best Comedy Album.
“I feel bad if I didn’t make a point of something. I don’t think there was any women nominated for this award.
“I didn’t feel great reading that list of people. Thank you everyone, I really appreciate it.”
And he wasn’t joking.
BEST CHILDREN’S ALBUM
Sam Moran wrestled the Best Children’s Album from the kings of the kids and his old group The Wiggles for his first ARIA win.
“This means more than you could ever imagine,” he said.
“The last few years have been very hard and I will confess I fantasised about what I would say if I was ever up here, but standing up here now I realise I don’t need to say those things or feel those things anymore,” an overwhelmed Moran said.
“Thank you to all the families who continue to support me.”
SONG OF THE YEAR
Rising soul pop artist Conrad Sewell, who struggled for recognition before being signed to an American label, proved his popularity taking out the publicly voted award for Song Of The Year with Start Again.
The No. 1 hit which was originally destined for Kylie Minogue won against a strong field of local artists which included his sister Grace with her revamp of the Leslie Gore classic You Don’t Own Me.
“My heart’s beating like crazy. It’s taken me a minute to get here by a minute, I mean 27 years,” he said after receiving the award from his touring mate Ed Sheeran.
Vance Joy hit the stage for the opening of the ARIA Awards ceremony, receiving a standing ovation from James Blunt.
RED CARPET GLAM
All eyes are on Australia’s music artists as they vie for tonight’s prestigious prizes at the 2015 awards.
FASHION AND GOSS: All the looks from the ARIAS red carpet
Among the stars streaming in are Ed Sheeran and Kylie Minogue, who saw crowds erupt into wild cheers.
Ed Sheeran struck a pose with fellow British crooner James Blunt. And it seems everyone wanted a piece of Sheeran. First, Rove planted a wet one on him.
Fun, Fans, Fashion and a whole lot of celeb selfies!
Pop princess Minogue took a moment with her old friend and fellow Aussie songstress Tina Arena, who she will be ushering into the ARIA Hall of Fame tonight.
The Bachelorette Sam Frost has arrived with her sweetheart Sasha Mielczarek and her 2Day FM breakfast co-host Rove.
Vocal powerhouse Jessica Mauboy blew kisses to the camera.
Sister act The Veronicas have landed while the ladies of indie pop band Sheppard rocked out-there outfits pairing dragon boots with sparkling bodycon dresses.
Guy Sebastian proved what a super-cute couple he and his wife Jules are, matching his socks to her dress.
Triple J’s breakfast hosts Matt Okine and Alex Dyson wore hilarious costumes inspired by Drake’s viral music video for Hotline Bling.
Dominating the list of nominees are breakthrough independent artists who have shone in the nation’s music charts nationally as well as in Europe and the US.
Indie artists Courtney Barnett and Vance Joy are tipped to be strong performers tonight, while long-established acts Tame Impala and Sia as well as electronic groups Hermitude and Flight
Facilities also figure prominently in the ceremony’s biggest categories.
Among those performing live tonight will be Ed Sheeran, Vance Joy, Peking Duk, Jessica Mauboy and Flight Facilities.
Here’s the form guide for the night’s top prizes.
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