Five top acts have made the shortlist for the 2017 APRA Silver Scroll Award, recognising excellence in songwriting. The finalists are...

Close Your Eyes by Bic Runga (written by Bic Runga and Kody Nielson)

Green Light by Lorde (written by Ella Yelich O’Connor, Jack Antonoff, and Joel Little). Published by Native Tongue Music Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing Australia P/L, EMI Music Publishing Australia Pty Ltd.

Horizon by Aldous Harding. Published by Native Tongue Music Publishing.

Life of the Party by Chelsea Jade (written by Chelsea Jade Metcalf and Leroy Clampitt).

Richard by Nadia Reid. Published by Kobalt Music Publishing.

Having won the Silver Scroll Award in 1997 with Sway, Bic Runga is once again a finalist 20 years later, this time for her beautiful, energetic love song Close Your Eyes, written with partner Kody Nielson (Silicon, UMO, The Mint Chicks). A song about going your own way, finding joy in the little things, and love enduring through time, it presents Runga as potent as she’s ever been. 

Another past scroll winner (for Royals in 2013), Ella Yelich O’Connor and Joel Little are nominated once again for their latest world-dominating single Green Light. A cutting indictment of a past lover, which perfectly captures the chaos of post-break-up feelings, and the push and pull between the old and the new, it’s a bona-fide pop sensation. 

Aldous Harding has become an international sensation in 2017, capturing imaginations with her singular songs which cut through like a lightning bolt, and she is a welcome first-time finalist for her song Horizon. A spare, vulnerable track which finds impressive power in its simplicity, Horizon finds a way to spin gut-punching love into a song that feels brand new.

Also a first-time finalist, Chelsea Jade is nominated for her hypnotic, subversive, delicate pop piece Life of the Party. The LA based artist (formerly of Teacups and Watercolours), manages to encapsulate the contradicting feelings of awkwardness and confidence in an intoxicating, joyful, yet low-key production.

A fellow newcomer is Nadia Reid, with her fierce, haunting song Richard. The Port Chalmers native has also found herself in demand across the globe with the release of her second album Preservation, and Richard is a stand-out folk-rock gem with its wonderfully direct delivery, charting heartbreak and dissolution, through striking imagery.

The APRA Silver Scroll Awards is considered one of the most coveted awards in New Zealand music and has previously been awarded to artists such as Ray Columbus, Hammond Gamble, Shona Laing, Dave Dobbyn, Don McGlashan, Neil Finn, Chris Knox, Brooke Fraser, James Milne & Lukasz Buda, Alisa Xayalith & Thom Powers (The Naked And Famous), Tami Neilson, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and Thomas Oliver.

The other awards presented on the night are: 

●      APRA Maioha Award, celebrating exceptional waiata featuring te reo Māori

●      SOUNZ Contemporary Award, celebrating excellence in contemporary composition

●      APRA Best Original Music in a Feature Film Award

●      APRA Best Original Music in a Series Award

As a part of the celebrations APRA will also be inducting a songwriter/s into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame. 

All awards will be presented at Dunedin Town Hall on Thursday 28th September. Radio New Zealand will broadcast and live video stream the APRA Silver Scroll Awards ceremony on RNZ National, Freeview Ch 50 and online at www.rnz.co.nz/music.

The awards will also be shared via the Student Radio Network (Radio One, RDU, Radio Active, Radio Control and 95bFM), and The Spinoff website (www.thespinoff.co.nz).

Sky’s Rialto Channel 39 are also proud to broadcast the 2017 APRA Silver Scroll Awards on Saturday October 21 at 8.30pm.