Forte Mag was on the Red Carpet for the 2023 ARIA Awards

It’s Australia music’s annual night of nights, and this year we were there on the 2023 ARIA Awards Red Carpet!

Held again at Sydney’s Hordern Pavillion, stars took to the Red Carpet today to start the celebrations for this year’s awards. 

Pacific Avenue member Jack Kay believes that being part of the ARIAs is “just something so different to what we’ve done before. Just being here is so special”. The group highlighted that the ARIAs are “showing off all the different categories, all the genres, and kind of giving everyone a bit of a go, no matter what sort of style background, or art you represent”. The group, nominated for Best Rock Album, are soon hitting the roads. “We’re about to do a big regional tour”, they said, explaining that the regional crowds are always particularly excitable. 

Keep up with the latest music news, festivals, interviews and reviews here.

Gordi (Sophie Payten), nominated for Best Soundtrack for the score they composed for ‘RIDE’, explained that the “awards are not why we do music, but… today is just about coming together, I think, and really being able to celebrate each other and leaning into that”. They added, that the ARIAs is about “everyone getting dressed up, and being like ‘we did it, we survived another year in this place, doing what we love’”.  Singer-songwriter Yorke, says the ARIAs are important for artists “whether they’re nominated or not”, and are an opportunity to “celebrate what you achieved as an artist, and hang out with all of your friends”. Fashion stylist Jamie Azzopardi said, “I’m most looking forward to seeing Australian music coming together. That’s what the ARIAs does so well.” 

A great example of a woman who truly can do it all, Emma Memma (aka Emma Watkins) won Best Children’s Album at this year’s awards, has just wrapped up her time on the Amazing Race Australia, and has been working on her PhD, to which Emma shared “I’ve submitted! I just have to make one correction, and then that’s it”. Once the PhD has been finalised, Emma says “we are about to write our new album based on the research, so integrating sign language and visual communication into our children’s content”. We also got to speak with her Warrnambool-bred husband, Oli, who jokingly shared that he has “too many allergies” to have gone on the Amazing Race with Emma. 

No strangers to the ARIAs, Play School’s very own Jemima and Humpty were on the red carpet, with their friends Matt Backer and Michelle Lim Davidson. Not to worry though, Big Ted and the gang are watching from home! When asked why they think Play School has remained so popular, Michelle said “I think at the heart of Play School, it’s just one person inviting another person to play, or sing, or use their imagination. And I think it’s been around for 58 years now, so it’s been through multiple generations in many Australian families, and so I think you trust the program”. Matt added, “it’s a show that’s really stuck to its guns, in terms of, it’s school through play. It’s so simple, and that’s the joy of it”. Play School also bring their tour to regional Victoria, and say “it’s brilliant! I think filming playschool we forget that there is a huge audience of kids out there, and so for a lot of regional places it’s their first taste of theatre. It’s a joy to bring it to them”. 

Nominated for Best Country Album, Brooke McClymont and Adam Eckersley looked to be having a fun time on the red carpet, and in good news, they’re headed our way! “We are taking the caravan, the Ram, the kids, and we are touring regional Victoria”. And an added bonus of touring in regional Victoria? Adam says, “you can get a park outside the venue to load in, it’s awesome!”.

Victorian musician, Elliot, shared that they were looking forward to seeing friends at tonight’s award, one of which is nominated themselves. “My friend Kyle is nominated as a director for film clips, so fingers crossed”. Kyle won for their work with G Flip’s ‘Good Enough’ clip, and was also nominated for Peach PRC’s  ‘Manic Dream Pixie’. 

After winning The Voice, Taryn Stokes made her ARIAS red carpet debut. Talking about how life has changed for her since the win, Taryn says, “I’m loving all the things I can do now that I have a team. As a muso, you want to do so many things, but you don’t always have the finance, and don’t always have a team around you to help you… so I’m absolutely loving that”. Also making their ARIAS debut is Chanel Loren, who reflected on being nominated for Best Soul/R&B Release; “I think it’s weird to know that people actually like my music… it’s crazy! I love it!”. 

Known recently as Snow Fox on The Masked Singer Australia, Dami Im shared that they have a busy few months ahead with shows, and the release of their Christmas album this Friday. Also with a busy upcoming schedule is Alex Lahey, who is soon performing at Kryal Castle near Ballarat, with The Jezabels and Middle Kids. 

Kate Ceberano and Marcia Hines were some of Aussie’s beloved music stars who stunned on the red carpet, along with names like Ruel, Peach PRC, Baker Boy, Budjerah, GRAMMY nominee Troye Sivan, Dylan Alcott and Chantelle Otten, Millie Ford, and the Wiggles.

Also on the red carpet was the talk of the 2023 ARIA Awards G Flip, who won Best Live Act, Best Video, and received nominations across four other categories including Album of the Year for DRUMMER, Best Solo Artist, Best Independent Release, and Best Rock Album. It seems that G doesn’t take their success for granted.

Speaking of their ARIA nominations on Facebook, G wrote “this is beyond my wildest dreams”, and they previously shared the precious moment they found out about the nominations on Instagram, leaving them in tears. G Flip’s authenticity is something that many of their fans love and appreciate about the Aussie rockstar. 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by G FLIP (@gflip)

2023 ARIA AWARDS WINNERS LIST

Album of the Year

Genesis Owusu – STRUGGLER (OURNESS/AWAL RECORDINGS)

Best Solo Artist

Troye Sivan – Rush (EMI Music Australia)

Best Group presented by Stan

DMA’S – How Many Dreams? (I OH YOU/Mushroom)

Michael Gudinski Breakthrough Artist

Teenage Dads – Midnight Driving (Chugg Music/MGM)

Best Pop Release

Kylie Minogue – Padam Padam (Liberator Music/Mushroom)

Best Dance / Electronic Release

MK and Dom Dolla – Rhyme Dust (Area 10/Big On Blue/Sony Music UK)

Best Hip Hop / Rap Release

Genesis Owusu – STRUGGLER (OURNESS/AWAL RECORDINGS)

Best Soul / R&B Release

Forest Claudette – Mess Around (feat. EARTHGANG) (Sony Music)

Best Independent Release presented by PPCA

Genesis Owusu – STRUGGLER (OURNESS/AWAL RECORDINGS)

Best Rock Album

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushroom and Lava (Virgin Music Australia)

Best Adult Contemporary Album

Dan Sultan – Dan Sultan (Liberation Records/ Mushroom)

Best Country Album

Fanny Lumsden – Hey Dawn (Cooking Vinyl Australia/The Orchard)

Best Hard Rock / Heavy Metal Album

Parkway Drive – Darker Still (Parkway Records/Cooking Vinyl Australia)

Best Blues & Roots Album

The Teskey Brothers – The Winding Way (Ivy League Records/Mushroom Group)

 Best Children’s Album

Emma Memma – Emma Memma (GYROstream)

 

PUBLIC VOTED AWARDS 

Best Video presented by YouTube

Good Enough – G Flip, Kyle Caulfield (Future Classic)

Best Australian Live Act

G Flip – DRUMMER Australian Tour (Future Classic)

Song of the Year presented by YouTube

Troye Sivan – Rush (EMI Music Australia) 

Most Popular International Artist

Taylor Swift – Midnights (Universal Records USA/Universal Music Australia)

Telstra ARIA Music Teacher Award

Sue Lowry – Southport Special School, Yugambeh Country, Gold Coast, QLD

ARTISAN AWARDS

Best Cover Art

Jeremy Koren (Grey Ghost) and Michelle Grace Hunder – Everything Was Green – Forest Claudette (Sony Music)

Engineer – Best Engineered Release 

Styalz Fuego for Troye Sivan – Rush (EMI Music Australia)

Producer – Best Produced Release presented by Neumann

Styalz Fuego for Troye Sivan – Rush (EMI Music Australia)

FINE ARTS AWARD

Best Classical Album

Australian Chamber Orchestra/Richard Tognetti – Indies & Idols (ABC Classic/The Orchard)

Best Jazz Album

The Vampires featuring Chris Abrahams – Nightjar (Earshift/Planet)

Best Original Soundtrack or Musical Theatre Cast Album presented by Stan

Various Artists – John Farnham: Finding The Voice (Music From The Feature Documentary) (Wheatley Records/Sony Music)

Best World Music Album

Joseph Tawadros – Those Who Came Before Us (Independent/The Planet Company)

OUR SOUNDTRACK OUR ADS

Best Use of an Australian Recording in an Advertisement (duration of 2 minutes or less) 

Google: Helping You Help Others – 72andSunny with Campfire X, Baker Boy

Best Use of an Australian Recording in an Advertisement (over 2 minutes duration) 

Australian Marine Conservation Society: Voice of the Sea – INNOCEAN Australia, John Williamson 

You can look back on the official red carpet stream here, and find out more about the ARIA awards here.