The winners of triple j‘s 15th annual J Awards have been announced.
Matt Corby has taken home Australian Album of the Year for his record Rainbow Valley, a lush and soulful second album from the singer-songwriter in a stacked nomination pool that included Stella Donnelly’s Beware of the Dogs, Thelma Plum’s Better in Blak and Northlane’s Alien, among others.
“While Matt Corby’s debut album Telluric wrestled with his new-found fame, on Rainbow Valley he is clearly an artist at his peak,” commented triple j Music Director Nick Findlay.
“With effortless confidence and richly-textured songwriting, Matt shows his undeniable skill and vision as a musician. The finished result is nothing short of brilliance, making it a very deserving winner for the 2019 J Award.”
Meanwhile, Unearthed Artist of the Year has gone to Tones and I – a not entirely unexpected result given the songwriter is arguably one of this year’s biggest homegrown success stories. It’s difficult to think of an Aussie artist who’s had a bigger year, or a more meteoric rise.
Sampa the Great has been awarded the Double J Artist of the Year Award, capping off a huge year for the hip-hop artist with the release of debut album The Return back in September after a series of stellar mixtapes and an extremely powerful live show.
Plus, director Sanjay De Silva has won the triple j and Rage Australian Music Video of the Year Award for his work on Sama the Great’s ‘Final Form’, a vibrant and expressive clip shot on location between Zambia and Botswana, where Sampa was born and raised.
Finally, the inaugural You Done Good Award has gone to Cloud Control’s Heidi Lenffer for founding Feat., a world-first initiative that gives local artists the opportunity to invest money into renewable, solar energy to offset their touring output on the environment.
You can see the full list of nominations here.
