The frontwoman of global stars Amyl and the Sniffers has made a cheeky quip as the band cleans up at the biggest night in Australian music.
The 2025 ARIA Music Awards, held at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion, sees some of the country’s best homegrown talent battle it out for nearly 30 award categories.
Melbourne rockers Amyl and the Sniffers secured Best Group, Best Cover Art, and Best Rock Album, with frontwoman Amy Taylor quipping the photographers only liked the cover of their album Cartoon Darkness because she flashed her tits.
“Hey everyone, John who took the photo couldn’t be here and said he’d write something but he didn’t, so I just wanna say big ups to John and big ups to Tom who worked on it,” Taylor said.
“And I know you just liked it because I was flashing my titties.”
Taylor said they weren’t the best at speeches while accepting the award for Best Rock Album, flipping the bird and finishing with “f**k the world” before bassist Gus Romer chimed in to thank his mum.
The group exploded onto Australia’s music scene with hits like Security and Hertz, with their most recent album Cartoon Darkness featuring U Should Not Be Doing That and the explicit Jerkin’, which quickly went viral online.
Frontwoman Amy Taylor, bassist Gus Romer, drummer Bryce Wilson and guitarist Declan Mehrtens make up the band, whose rise to global stardom was most recently evidenced after their free gig at Melbourne’s Federation Square shutdown last week when eager fans knocked down fences once the iconic venue hit capacity.
The band fronted a $35,000 bar tab at various local venues to make up for the blunder,
Taylor found it difficult to find the right words while accepting the Best Group award earlier in the evening.
“It’s hard to figure out what to say when there’s so much going on in the world and you want to draw attention to so many different things,” Taylor said.
“I think being human is really hard across the board … we’re all really lucky in here.”
The group are also nominated for Best Album, Best Video, and Best Australian Live Act.
Dom Dolla’s message for aspiring artists
DJ Dom Dolla made history on Wednesday evening, becoming the first to receive the brand new Global Impact Award.
He told the audience he could think of many other artists who should have received the award long ago, and used the moment to urge aspiring artists to “just show up every single day and do it because you enjoy it, and for no other reason”.
“I played birthday parties and bowling alleys, and it’s all the f**king same,” he said.
“I really hope to be doing this for a really f**king long time. I think if Angus Young is anything to go by, I’ll have white hair ripping it out on the dance floor in like 50 years from now.”
‘Don’t give a f**k’: Missy Higgins’ realisation
Missy Higgins was announced as the winner of the Best Adult Contemporary Album immediately after performing Complicated Truth.
“That’s quite intense, coming out of that song and this,” Higgins said.
She said while singing about divorce and single parenting may not be the sexiest thing to do, it had sparked a realisation.
“Women my age don’t give a f**k about sexy, we just wanna feel heard,” Higgins said.
“We wanna feel seen, and I feel so grateful to be able to tell your stories. And I hope that I continue to be able to tell your stories for the rest of my career.
“This is to all the single mums, and to my babies!”
Keli Holiday drops c-bomb
Aussie star Keli Holiday earlier dropped the c-bomb at Australia’s biggest night in music.
Adam Hyde, who goes by Keli Holiday, opened the ceremony with his smash hit Dancing2.
He managed to get what looked like the entire room on their feet, encouraging them to “stand up for Australian music”.
He was joined by Baker Boy, G-Flip, and Teen Jesus and The Jean Teaser’s Neve van Boxsel, who respectively played the didgeridoo, saxophone and drums.
The hit won the Best Video award shortly afterwards, with Hyde first handing over to director Ryan Saue before taking a moment to thank his girlfriend, Abbie Chatfield.
“I really want to thank Abbie, my beautiful Abbie, because without her this song would not exist at all,” Hyde said.
He thanked his whole crew before dropping the night’s first c-bomb.
“And (I thank) every single person in this room that supports Australian music, you’re a sick c**t,” he said.
Thelma Plum took out the award for Best Pop Release, telling the crowd it was a nice feeling after working in the industry for about 13 years, since the age of 17.
She took to the stage to perform before accepting her award, wearing a corset emblazoned with the words “You wouldn’t steal a land”.
The words reference the old “You Wouldn’t Steal a Car” public announcements.
Olivia Dean will also take the stage during the ceremony on Wednesday evening.
Taylor Swift was crowned the Most Popular International Artist, with New Zealand comedian Melanie Bracewell accepting the award on Swift’s behalf.
“Taylor was unable to be here tonight so they’ve made me accept the award on her behalf,” Bracewell said.
“What an honour — she requested the tallest woman in town, whose dressed as a goon sack … shoutout to Travis!”
The winners
So far, Dom Dolla has taken out Best Dance Performance, while Kasey Chambers nabbed Best Country Album.
Laneway Festival took out the Best Music Festival category, Kevin Parker won Best Engineer and Best Producer, and The Teskey Brothers won the Best Blues and Roots Album.
Push to spotlight Aussie music
Last year’s award ceremony saw a push for a spotlight on Aussie music, with Missy Higgins taking the opportunity to push for local artists to be platformed on streaming algorithms and playlists after she was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.
Grinspoon singer Phil Jamieson also called for quotas to be legislated at last year’s awards.
While legislation for local content requirements on streaming services was recently announced by the federal government, no such announcements have been made to tackle audio quotas for streaming platforms.
Rockers You Am I will also have their moment in the spotlight, as they are set to be inducted to the ARIAs Hall of Fame.
The Sydney rockers have collected 10 ARIA awards so far, with frontman Tim Rogers previously expressing his surprise “to be asked to sit at the parents table” with this latest accolade.
“The artists in the Hall have had musical adventures of grandeur and righteous acclaim. Our trail of desperation seems more haphazard and with less dazzle,” Rogers said in a statement.
“Yet we are giddy and grateful to feel recognition from the music community. We’ll see you out there on the road of endless possibilities.”
Controversy over Spotify collab
The ceremony drew controversy earlier this year with the announcement of streaming platform Spotify as a partner.
Melbourne band Gut Health criticised the move via a statement posted to social media.
The group were nominated for the Michael Gudinski Breakthrough Artist award, which was ultimately awarded to Ninajirachi.
“We’re thankful for the nomination, but it’s a shame that the ARIAs have chosen to collaborate with Spotify for the next three years. We want to be honest about this experience of ‘breaking through’ as an artist in today’s world. We can acknowledge the global reach of the platform while also recognising the inherent ethical issues at play here,” the statement read.
The statement attacked Spotify’s royalties system, however it’s understood Spotify does not pay artists per stream, but instead pays rightsholders, who then pay artists based on their individual agreements.
Spotify AUNZ Managing Director Mikaela Lancaster previously said the partnership reflected the company’s commitment to putting Aussie artists “front and centre”, and that the company was keen to elevate more Aussie artists on the international stage.
ARIA chief executive officer Annabelle Herd said Spotify had success in driving recognition for BRITs nominees and winners.
“The ARIA Awards are a critical platform for local artists, but success today means reaching beyond Australia. By leveraging Spotify’s global scale and expertise in music discovery, we’re making sure ARIA nominees and winners aren’t just celebrated on the night at home but are positioned for long-term international success,” Ms Herd said.
More to come …
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