Top 20 Shortlist Revealed For APRA Silver Scroll Award 2020

The 20 song shortlist has been revealed for the 2020 APRA Silver Scroll Award, to be presented at the Auckland Town Hall on Wednesday 14th October along with the APRA Maioha Award, SOUNZ Contemporary Award, APRA Best Original Music in a Feature Film Award and APRA Best Original Music in a Series Award. As per, the competition for the prestigious annual songwriting award is hot, and the shortlist highlights the crème de la crème of new Aotearoa music. Bic Runga and Cass Basil's new project King Sweeties makes the cut with their debut single 'Let's Just Stay In Bed', alongside other fairly new acts Benee, Hamerkop and CHAII. Hip-hop favourites Church & AP and Team Dynamite are in the mix among other well-loved and well known talents Reb Fountain, Nadia Reid, Troy Kingi, Mermaidens and Ria Hall. 

Undertaking the huge task of narrowing 200 entries down to just twenty songs were fellow outstanding songwriters Amanda Cheng (Wax Chattels), Abigail Knudson (Missy), Cherie Mathieson, Delaney Davidson, Estere Dalton, Mark Williams (Slave, Fat Freddy’s Drop), Marlon Williams, Mel Parsons, Ned Ngatae (The Black Seeds, Fat Freddy’s Drop), and Shayne Carter. The shortlist will be whittled down further to five finalists and of course one winner, with voting now open to all APRA members. Take in just a handful of the brilliant songs to come out in the past year, and you can listen to them all in one place via the Spotify playlist below...

Best Thing In The Room, written by Lisa Crawley and Robert Kleiner, performed by Lisa Crawley

Bone Dat Needs Pickin’, written and performed by Steve Tofa

Don’t You Know Who I Am, written and performed by Reb Fountain

Get The Devil Out, written and performed by Nadia Reid

Glitter written by Stella Bennett, Joshua Fountain and Djesian Suskov, performed by Benee

Guilty Talk, written by Stephanie Brown and Fen Ikner performed by Lips

Hands, written by Bella Cook and Shannon Fowler, performed by Belladonna

I Might Disappear, written by Gussie Larkin, Lily West and Abraham Hollingsworth, performed by Mermaidens

In The Air, written by Arapekanga Hayden Adams-Tamatea, Brad Donald Kora, Hiriini Stuart Kora, Joel Charles Shadbolt, and Miharo Boaz Gregory, performed by L.A.B

Let’s Just Stay In Bed, written by Cass Mitchell and Bic Runga, performed by King Sweeties

Mighty Invader, written and performed by Troy Kingi

Remote, written by Annabel Alpers and performed by Hamerkop

Ruffle, written by Matthew Barus and Lauren Barus, performed by Terrible Sons

Superfan, written by Chelsea Jade Metcalf and Leroy Clampitt, performed by Chelsea Jade

Take, written by Finn Scholes, Tam Scholes, Siobhanne Thompson, Cass Mitchell and Alistair Deverick, performed by Carnivorous Plant Society

Trouble, written by Mona Sanei and Frank Eliesa, performed by CHAII

Walk, written and performed by Ria Hall

War Outside, written by Elijah Manu, Albert Purcell and Rory Noble, performed by Church & AP

Who?, written by Lance Fepuleai, Tony Tz, Harry Huavi and Stephen Atutolu, performed by Team Dynamite feat. Diggy Dupe

You Were Mine, written by Tamara Neilson and Joshua Neilson, performed by Tami Neilson

Last year The Takadimi Ensemble, with vocals from Skilaa's Chelsea Prastiti, performed a breathtaking rendition of Tiny Ruins 'Olympic Girls'...