ARIA Awards 2014

Photo from: Lola Fdez's Pinterest account

I know I have been neglecting my blog the past few weeks but I have had some exciting, new job opportunities, which have been popping up so in the midst of all that I have hardly had a moment to myself lately. It is great to finally take some time and do a new blog post! For those of you in Australia, you of course would know that the ARIA Awards were held last night at The Star Event Centre in Sydney and they were broadcast on Channel Ten. 

Back in the 90s and even early noughties the ARIAS were quite a large-scale event for the Australian music industry and most people tuned in to watch them on television. To be quite honest last night was the first time that I enjoyed watching the awards in about seven years. The awards were of a much higher standard this year than the past few years. Channel Ten's entertainment reporter, Angela Bishop made a good point last night at the ARIAS saying that Australian music has skyrocketed this year and I definitely agree with her! Some of the most popular artists in the world at the moment are Australian like, Sheppard, Sia, Iggy Azalea and of course teen music sensation, 5 Seconds Of Summer (5SOS), so our music industry awards need to be on a global scale to reflect the calibre of our talent, otherwise our homegrown talent will not want to attend the awards nor take it seriously. It is really amazing to see Australia become a real world player on the international music scene!

Anyway, enough of my ranting. Now onto this year's ARIA Awards themselves! Delta Goodrem got my vote for best dressed of the night by far! Her dress was classy and definitely suited her to a T! It was great to see The Veronicas aka Jessica and Lisa Origliasso back home on the ARIAS red carpet. I used to love The Veronicas a few years ago so it was a nice flashback to see them at the awards last night. 

Delta Goodrem at the 2014 ARIA Awards. Photo from: Delta Goodrem's Twitter account

   
I'm not usually a fan of 5 Seconds Of Summer (5SOS) but they did a great job of opening the awards show with their smash hit, She Looks So Perfect. 5SOS are actually the first Australian artists to have their debut album reach number one in the USA. I love Jessica Mauboy but I was not a fan of her performance of, Can I Get A Moment? last night. My favourite performances of the night were definitely Sheppard, with their hit song, Geronimo and One Direction with their latest song, Steal My Girl. To be honest I'm not normally a fan of One Direction either, but I have to give credit where it's due and that song is very good! 

The big awards of the night. Album of the Year and Song of the Year went to, Sia and 5 Seconds Of Summer respectively. It was a massive night for Sia because she also walked away with the awards for Best Female Artist and Best Pop Release. Chet Faker took out the award of Best Male Artist, as well as Best Independent Release. Iggy Azalea won the ARIA for Breakthrough Artist, Hilltop Hoods won the award for Best Urban Album, Sheppard walked away with Best Group and Keith Urban won Best Australian Live Act. 

I was surprised to see that Katy Perry or Beyonce' did not win the ARIA for Best International Artist, but then I realised with teenage girls in the audience and, also voting in that category it was pretty obvious who would win...yes that's right! The winner of Best International Artist was One Direction. To top it all off for me, I loved that Katy Perry was a special guest at the ARIAS! Katy Perry is one of my favourite artists of all-time so it was amazing to see her at our music awards. 

Of course, another big highlight of the night was Molly Meldrum's induction into the ARIA Hall of Fame. Most Australians would know that Molly Meldrum is a stalwart in the Australian music industry. He hosted Countdown, the most popular music program in Australian history, where he interviewed some of the most famous artists in the world including, Michael Jackson, Madonna, The Beatles and ABBA. The ARIAS did a fantastic tribute to this great man, who really put Australian music on the map.

Did you guys watch the ARIAS? I want to know your thoughts on this year's awards so feel free to comment away! Who was your pick for best dressed?, what were your favourite performances? etc.

For a full list of ARIA award winners and nominees click here