RVG Win the 2023 Australian Music Prize for ‘Brain Worms’
RVG’s third album Brain Worms is the winner of this year’s Australian Music Prize (AMP). The Naarm-based band collected a $30,000 prize courtesy of the event’s main sponsor, Sound Merch. “Winning the AMP is a huge honour,” said RVG frontperson and primary songwriter Romy Vager.
Brain Worms appeared on the AMP shortlist alongside eight other Australian albums from 2023, including the latest by Troye Sivan, Polaris and Jen Cloher. “To be honest it’s the only music award that I take seriously on this continent,” Cloher said on receiving the nomination.
RVG: Brain Worms
RVG were announced as the winners of this year’s AMP in a ceremony held at APRA AMCOS HQ in Ultimo, Sydney. In her acceptance speech, Vager referenced the “insane amount of bullshit” she experiences as a trans woman working in the music industry.
“A lot of the songs on this album began as a targeted reaction to the kind of situations that most bands/artists would never have to go through,” she said. “So to win this award goes a long way and makes me feel less insane and alone in what I do, so thank you.”
2023 marks the 19th year of the AMP’s existence. See the complete list of AMP winners below, along with all of this year’s shortlisted albums.
Shortlist for the 19th Sound Merch Australian Music Prize
Angie McMahon – Light, Dark, Light Again
Floodlights – Painting Of My Time
Genesis Owusu – Struggler
Gretta Ray – Positive Spin
Jen Cloher – I Am The River, The River is Me
Mo’Ju – ORO, PLATA, MATA
Polaris – Fatalism
RVG – Brain Worms – WINNER
Troye Sivan – Something to Give Each Other
Australian Music Prize Winners
2023 – RVG – Brain Worms
2022 – King Stingray – King Stingray
2021 – Genesis Owusu – Smiling With No Teeth
2020 – The Avalanches – We Will Always Love You
2019 – Sampa the Great – The Return
2018 – Gurrumul – Djarimirri (Child of the Rainbow)
2017 – Sampa the Great – Birds and the BEE9
2016 – A.B. Original – Reclaim Australia
2015 – Courtney Barnett – Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit
2014 – REMI – Raw X Infinity
2013 – Big Scary – Not Art
2012 – Hermitude – HyperParadise
2011 – The Jezabels – Prisoner
2010 – Cloud Control – Bliss Release
2009 – Lisa Mitchell – Wonder
2008 – Eddy Current Suppression Ring – Primary Colours
2007 – The Mess Hall – Devils Elbow
2006 – Augie March – Moo, You Bloody Choir
2005 – The Drones – Wait Long by the River and the Bodies of Your Enemies Will Float By
Further Reading
Angie McMahon: “You Have to Experience All of the Things That the Chapters Hold for You”
Augie March and RVG Reimagine Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds’ ‘Henry Lee’
Shortlist Revealed for the 2023 Australian Music Prize: RVG, Mo’Ju, Polaris + More
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