Chet Faker, Sia, 5SOS, Iggy Azalea Nominated for ARIA Awards
With a total of nine nominations, electronic-beat singer-songwriter Violent Soho, Sia Lead Australia’s Independent Music Awards Nominations
Brisbane band Sheppard has enjoyed an enviable start to its career. Just a year ago, the six-piece had landed a chart-topping single and their first ARIA nomination. Their debut album Bombs Away peaked at No. 2 earlier in 2014 and they’ve scored chances for seven ARIAs, including a nod for best group.
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Veteran Sia has had a bumper year, which saw her top the chart in the U.S. and Australia with her sixth studio album 1000 Forms of Fear and named songwriter of the year at the APRA Awards. The Adelaide born and raised singer is up for six ARIA categories including album of the year, best pop release, and she’s in the hunt for the publicly-voted song of the year.
Dan Sultan is again up for best male artist, a category he won in 2011 while his top-5 record Blackbird (Liberation) is up for best rock album, best independent release and album of the year. All told, the swaggering rocker has five nominations.
Lava-hot Sydney punk-pop boy group 5SOS has four chances for ARIA Awards. The group is a scream-generator and big drawcard in Australia, like pretty much everywhere else. The four-piece’s May Australia tour sold out in less than five minutes, and their 2015 Australian tour sold out arenas in Sydney and Melbourne within days of going on sale.
Like 5SOS, Iggy Azalea will soon wind-up a phenomenal year that has featured chart-toppers in the U.S. and, now, four nominations for her homeland’s main awards gala.
Violent Soho, the Brisbane alternative rock outfit that was guided by Thurston Moore early in their career, has four nominations including best group. The band’s third studio album Hungry Ghost (I Oh You) cracked the national top 10 earlier this year.
ARIA Awards Announce Date, Venue
This year’s ARIAs will celebrate a big year for Australian artists, both at home and away. Sia, Iggy and 5SOS have dominated charts around the globe, and the hits have kept coming closer to home. Eleven Aussie albums have topped the national sales chart this year to-date, with homegrown artists holding the top spot for 19 out of 40 weeks. INXS’ The Very Best was the best-selling album of the first half of the year Down Under, thanks to the pull of the popular TV mini-series Never Tear Us Apart.
During Tuesday morning’s nominations presentation in Sydney, trophies were handed out to the winners of three ARIA Artisan Award categories (producer of the year, engineer of the year and best cover art) and four ARIA Fine Arts Awards categories (best world music album, best jazz album, best classical album and best original soundtrack/cast/show album).
Faker’s golden run has already begun. Built On Glass won all three Artisan awards, the first time an artist has taken out all categories since 2002 when Silverchair’s Diorama achieved the triple-feat. It’s shaping as a special week for Faker; he’s also up for a hattrick of awards at Wednesday’s Independent Music Awards in Melbourne.
Also, Joseph Tawadros won the best world album ARIA for the third successive year, this time for Permission To Evaporate. For the full list of ARIA nominations, visit ariaawards.com.au.
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