The 2025 ARIA Awards celebrated the great and the good of Australian music last night (November 19th).
Amyl and the Sniffers were the big winners at the ceremony inside Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion, walking away with four awards: Album of the Year (Cartoon Darkness), Best Group, Best Rock Album, and Best Cover Art (John Stewart and Thomas Rennie).
Lead nominee Ninajirachi wasn’t to be overshadowed, winning three of the awards she was competing for — Best Solo Artist, Michael Gudinski Breakthrough Artist, and Best Independent Release (I Love My Computer).
Rolling Stone AU/NZ was at the ceremony — here are the best and worst moments from the 2025 ARIAs, from incredible speeches to mediocre performances.
Check out the full list of winners here.
Best: Amy Taylor Being Amy Taylor
Anticipation was high for Amyl and the Sniffers’ speeches, given frontwoman Amy Taylor’s penchant for outspokenness, and she didn’t disappoint. In their final acceptance speech of the night, for Album of the Year, Taylor declared herself the new Prime Minister of Australia, adding, “Immigrants welcome… Land back.” It went down a storm with the Hordern Pavilion crowd.
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Worst: Middling Medley
A caveat: medley performances are always tough to pull off, at any awards show. Truncated rehearsal times are an issue; mismatched artists certainly are too. Which is why Young Franco, Kobie Dee, Baker Boy, and Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers (all excellent acts in their own right) made for an awkward crew halfway through the ceremony. There was no flow to the performance, and the sonic segues felt uncomfortable. They all seemed to be having a fun time, at the very least.
Best: Electronic Music for the Win
Electronic music was always going to score some awards on the night thanks to lead nominee Ninajirachi, and it was so pleasing to see the rising star receive three out of eight awards. Our former cover star Dom Dolla got several moments in the spotlight, too, including receiving the inaugural Global Impact Award, and he made sure to sing the praises of Aussie electronic music as a whole.
Image: Ninajirachi Credit: Girl in the Bandana
Worst: Nervous Hosts
Is hosting an awards show the toughest gig in showbiz? Probably. Poor Tim Blackwell and Concetta Caristo had a difficult task on their hands managing a boisterous crowd (more on that below) and time constraints, but they didn’t help themselves with forced interactions (sorry about your drink, G Flip), pointless interviews (sorry, JACOTÉNE), and people standing in front of the autocue machine (sorry, Timmy).
Best: Melanie Bracewell Becoming Taylor Swift
The Most Popular International Artist category is rather pointless, isn’t it? It was no surprise when winner Taylor Swift didn’t turn up or even send a video, which led to cringeworthy chuckles from the crowd when her name was read out. Kiwi comedian Melanie Bracewell, however, handled the moment with aplomb, making light of the situation without ever denigrating the artist.
Worst: Shut Up, Crowd
Look, we get it: awards shows are basically an excuse for an industry to get on the piss together. The increasingly tipsy crowd inside the Hordern Pavilion, however, interrupted several speeches as the night wore on, most notably an introduction by Baker Boy, and the constant hubbub didn’t help the hosts either. If you want to have a drunken chat, do it over a cigarette outside, like a human being.
Image: You Am I Credit: Vasili Papathanasopoulos
Best: You Am I
You Am I were an incredibly worthy addition into the ARIA Hall of Fame last night. Stars including Daniel Johns sent in touching video tributes to the enduring band, with Johns even admitting that Silverchair wouldn’t exist without the impact of You Am I. The band’s own speech was extremely emotional, with Tim Rogers breaking down at several junctures, as the immensity of the honour seemed to hit them.
Worst: You Am I
Just two songs? After all the turgid banter and overlong speeches and random videos, we get just two You Am I songs?! Not on, ARIAs, not on. A longer medley of classic hits would have been a fitting way to mark You Am I’s Hall of Fame inclusion, but organisers evidently had run out of free booze.
