WHILE several top-quality new artists will be recognised at this year’s ARIA Awards, the biggest shock from the nominations event last week was the omission of two of our biggest pop acts: Delta Goodrem and Rogue Traders.
You could almost hear the gasps in the room at Redfern’s CarriageWorks when the nominations for best pop release were announced.
Neither Delta nor the Rogue Traders got a mention and most would have assumed they’d be certainties in that category. I certainly did.
Nominations went to Gabriella Cilmi, Kylie Minogue, Operator Please, Sam Sparro and The Veronicas.
And this scribe would have put money on Delta gettinga nod for best female artist,as well.
Instead she was nominated for highest-selling single (In This Life) and highest-selling album (Delta), failing to be recognised by her industry peers.
It’s actually the industry that votes for the awards: record label executives, artists, managers and media.
At this year’s awards all the attention will be on exciting newcomers Gabriella Cilmi and Sam Sparro, who scored six and five nominations respectively.
And it was the inspiring story of the blind former member of Yothu Yindi, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, and his four nominations for his acclaimed first solo release, Gurrumul, which had people talking.
Other fresh faces to garner ARIA nominations include The Herd, British India, Angus And Julia Stone, Midnight Juggernauts and Operator Please.
Insider has been saying for a long time how hot the Aussie dance music scene is and predicts the best dance release category will be one of the most fiercely fought awards of the night.
The nominated acts are Cut Copy, Mobin Master, Pnau, The Potbelleez and The Presets.
The overwhelming mood at the nominations event was one of excitement over the new batch of faces coming through the ranks.
The awards will be hosted by radio and television duo Hamish Blake and Andy Lee at Acer Arena on October 19 and, as always, they’re shaping up to be a massive affair.
American pop star Pink will perform, as well as Sam Sparro, Gabriella Cilmi, The Living End and The Presets.