Pacific Music Awards 2022 Finalists Announced

With the mighty impressive list of 2022 Pacific Music Awards finalists revealed, now's the time to familiarise yourself with the country's top talent as we count down to the big day on August 4th. In the list of our highest achieving Pacific artists you'll spot names like Diggy Dupé cropping up for his work on The Panthers soundtrack, Team Dynamite for their Tūī-awarding winning album Respect The Process, and Samoan heavy metal outfit Shepherds Reign among others. Onehunga's own SWIDT have racked up three nominations across the board for their projects over the past year, for Base FM & Island Base FM Best Pacific Hip Hop Artist, APRA Best Pacific Song and Flava Best Pacific Group. Not quite the leading group, SWIDT are out-finalisted (a new word I've just made up) by Tomorrow People, who are finalists for Base FM & Island Base FM Best Pacific Hip Hop Artist, APRA Best Pacific Song and Flava Best Pacific Group.

Pop August 4th in your calendar, and peruse the full run down below...

2022 PACIFIC MUSIC AWARDS FINALISTS:

AUCKLAND COUNCIL BEST PACIFIC FEMALE ARTIST
Emily Muli - 'Break'
Mo Etc. - Oceanbed
Tree - 'No Fear ft Junior Soqeta'

NZ MUSIC COMMISSION BEST PACIFIC MALE ARTIST
Diggy Dupé - ‘WEON’
Kings - Raplist, ‘Young 4Eva’
Poetik - Poetik Justice

FLAVA BEST PACIFIC GROUP
SWIDT - ‘Seize the Day ft Savage’, ‘Kelz Garage’, ‘312 Day’
Team Dynamite - Respect The Process
Tomorrow People - 21

NZ ON AIR BEST PACIFIC MUSIC VIDEO
Diggy Dupé, choicevaughan & P. Smith - ‘Ain't The Same ft. Melodownz & Summer Vaha'akolo’ (Directed by Tom Hern)
House of Misfits - ‘Tā Te Manawa’(Directed by Abigail Dougherty)
Vallé - ‘Swing Low’ (Directed by Connor Pritchard)

APRA BEST PACIFIC SONG
Kings - ‘Young 4Eva’
Samson Squad - ‘Amene’
SWIDT ‘Kelz Garage’

SUNPIX BEST PACIFIC LANGUAGE
Kas Futialo - Grandmasta Kas
Lani Alo - ‘Tua i manu’
Samson Squad - ‘Kainga’, ‘Amene’
Shepherds Reign - ‘Nga Ao E Rua’

BASE FM & ISLAND BASE FM BEST PACIFIC HIP HOP ARTIST
Poetik - Poetik Justice
SWIDT - ‘Seize the Day ft Savage’, ‘Kelz Garage’, ‘312 Day’
Team Dynamite - Respect The Process

BEST PACIFIC SOUL/RNB ARTIST
Emily Muli - ‘Break’
Sam V - ‘Wired’, ‘Biker Boy’
TJ Taotua - Overdue

ONE LOVE BEST PACIFIC ROOTS/REGGAE ARTIST
Foundation - ‘Closer’
Sammielz - ‘Okay’
Tomorrow People - 21
Victor J Sefo - ‘Pele Ea’, ‘Ride’, ‘Shots’

531PI BEST PACIFIC GOSPEL ARTIST
Anthem - Anthem
Tree - ‘No Fear ft Junior Soqeta’
House of Misfits ‘Tā Te Manawa’

NIU FM BEST INTERNATIONAL PACIFIC ARTIST
Bina Butta & Kennyon Brown - ‘Lady Love’
Jaro Local - ‘Kamanda Amanda’, ‘First Time’, ‘Single Papa’, ‘25 Minutes’
Lisi - ‘Good Life’, ‘Dreams’, ‘Til the Death’, ‘Baby We On’

BEST PRODUCER
Diggy Dupé, choicevaughan & P. Smith - The Panthers OST (Producers Diggy Dupé) choicevaughan, P Smith
Team Dynamite - Respect The Process (Producer Harry 'Haz Beats' Huavi)
Tomorrow People - 21 (Producers IKON MUSIC - Avina Kelekolio, Hennie Tui, Tana Tupai)

RECORDED MUSIC NZ BEST PACIFIC MUSIC ALBUM
Diggy Dupé, choicevaughan & P. Smith - The Panthers OST
Kings - Raplist
Tomorrow People - 21

Set in the world of The Panthers series, watch the nominated clip for Melodownz and Summer Vaha'akolo's 'Ain't The Same'...

From their widely lauded album Respect The Process, here's Team Dynamite and Louis Baker performing 'Dragon Fruit' live...