News February 5, 2019

The shortlist for the 2019 APRA Song Of The Year has arrived

Image: Maria Boyadgis

One of Australia’s most prestigious awards is coming down to the wire, with a list of 21 songs being shortlisted for the 2019 APRA Song Of The Year.

First awarded back in 1991, the winners of the APRA Song Of The Year read like a who’s-who of Australian music.

With the inaugural award going to Yothu Yindi’s landmark anthem ‘Treaty’, we’ve seen the likes of Powderfinger, Sia, Kasey Chambers, Angus & Julia Stone, Silverchair, and even Paul Kelly receive the honour, with the latter’s ‘Firewood And Candles’ winning the award in 2018.

Now, with the 2019 APRA Music Awards set to return in April, the shortlist for the APRA Song Of The Year has now been announced.

Determined wholly by APRA songwriter and publisher members, the biggest peer-voted music award in Australia has this year named a diverse and varied list of brilliant Aussie artists and songs.

While we see classic veteran artists such as Paul Kelly, Baby Animals, and The Necks on the list, we also see some fresh faces by way of Amy Shark, Baker Boy, and Angie McMahon.

Check out Baby Animals’ ‘Tonight’:

The Living End, A.B. Original, and The Living End have all scored nods, as have Courtney Barnett, Mojo Juju, and Sarah Aarons, whose work on ‘The Middle’ by Zedd, Maren Morris and Grey has seen her receive a nomination as well.

The final five nominees will be announced in March, before the 2019 APRA Music Awards return to Melbourne for the first time since 2013 on April 30th.

Taking place at the Melbourne Town Hall, the awards will feature Kate Miller-Heidke as the newly appointed Musical Director for the event, while the awards will be the first staged under APRA AMCOS Chief Executive Dean Ormston.

“The APRA Music Awards have evolved a great deal since we last held the event in Melbourne in 2013, so I’m thrilled that this year we’ll be presenting our very special night in such a fantastic music city and at the venerable Melbourne Town Hall,” Ormston explained.

“It will be a true celebration of our songwriter and publisher members, and of course, the songs.”

Check out the full list of nominees below.

Check out Baker Boy’s ‘Marryuna’:

2019 APRA Song Of The Year nominees

BE ALRIGHT (DEAN LEWIS) | Dean Lewis / Jon Hume
BLACCOUT (A.B. ORIGINAL) | Adam Briggs / Daniel Rankine
BODY (THE NECKS) | Chris Abrahams / Tony Buck / Lloyd Swanton
DON’T LOSE IT (THE LIVING END) | Chris Cheney / Scott Owen / Andy Strachan / Tobias Kuhn
EXACTLY HOW YOU ARE (BALL PARK MUSIC) | Sam Cromack
FOREVER YOU AND ME (THE TESKEY BROTHERS) | Joshua Teskey / Samuel Teskey /
Liam Gough / Brendon Love
GREENHOUSE HEAT DEATH (KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD) | Stuart Mackenzie
HIGH WATER (8 BALL AITKEN | 8Ball Aitken / Guthrie Kennard
HOME (JOHN BUTLER TRIO) | John Butler / Martin Brown / Thomas Crawford / Katy Steele
I SAID HI (AMY SHARK) | Amy Shark
LOVE ME NOW (ZIGGY ALBERTS) | Ziggy Alberts
MARRYUNA (BAKER BOY FEATURING YIRRMAL) | Danzal Baker / Dion Brownfield /
Jerome Farah / Yirrmal Marika
NAMELESS, FACELESS (COURTNEY BARNETT) | Courtney Barnett
NATIVE TONGUE (MOJO JUJU) | Mojo Juju / Joel Ma / Rita Seumanuta
OG LUV KUSH PT.2 (KAIIT) | Kaiit Waup / Michael Chan / Anthony Douglas / Mohamed
Komba / Jaydean Miranda / Damian Smith
SLOW MOVER (ANGIE MCMAHON) | Angie McMahon
SOCIETY (AINSLIE WILLS) | Ainslie Wills / Bram Inscore / Maureen McDonald
THE MIDDLE (ZEDD, MAREN MORRIS & GREY)| Sarah Aarons / Jordan Johnson / Stefan
Johnson/ Marcus Lomax / Kyle Trewartha / Michael Trewartha / Anton Zaslavski
TONIGHT (BABY ANIMALS) | Suze DeMarchi / Dave Leslie
WALK AWAY (XAVIER RUDD) | Xavier Rudd
WITH THE ONE I LOVE (PAUL KELLY) | Paul Kelly