The Queensland Music Awards were held Wednesday night at the Fortitude Music Hall,  celebrating the highs and lows of the past year in the Queensland music industry, with 700 guests and 30 awards to give out.

Up and coming indie pop icon Sycco, signed to label Future Classic, was awarded the Song of the Year and best of Pop for their latest single ‘Dribble’, a tune which personifies their unique style of alt-pop.

Meanwhile, Brisbane’s lauded indie rock band Ball Park Music took away the Album of the Year category with their self-titled sixth album, after having just torn the house down at Brisbane’s Riverstage for Summer Sounds.

R&B artist Miiesha had the most successful night of anyone, taking home three awards in total for Indigenous, Soul/Funk/RnB, and Remote categories for her track ‘Twisting Words’. The song features on her debut album ‘Nyaaringu’, an album chronicling Miiesha’s experience as a proud Pitjantjatjara and Torres Strait Islander woman through the smooth sounds of RnB, Gospel, and Soul.

More big winners included Jesswar in the Hip Hop/Rap category with their blistering critique of music industry gatekeepers, ‘Venom’.

Jaguar Jonze won the Folk/Singer-Songwriter category for the second year in a row with ‘MURDER’, a cinematic concept piece about killing poisonous relationships.

QMusic Chief Executive Angela Samut said: “This year’s QMAs was a true celebration of what has become an incredible local music industry, one that our state can be proud of, both culturally and as a key export industry.”

“With a massive 30 categories, our winners represent the true breadth of talent around our state and no doubt include superstars to follow in the footsteps of our Queensland greats that have gone on to change the music landscape globally.”

Ball Park Music performing at the Queensland Music Awards, 5 May 2021. (Image: Simone Gorman-Clark)

Beckah Amani, a soul-folk singer from the Gold Coast who has been likened to Nina Simone, took out the Emerging Artist Award and the 2021 Billy Thorpe Scholarship, a $10,000 prize to support emerging artists to record their next release.

Minister for the Arts Leanne Enoch congratulated Amani on her win:  “The judging panel were impressed with her incredible story and believe that this funding will help Beckah continue her work over the next 12 months,” Enoch said.

“The Palaszczuk Government supports live music in Queensland, including with annual funding to QMusic, and the Billy Thorpe Scholarship.”

Other big wins came from Queensland’s internationally renowned artists Keith Urban, who won the Highest Selling Album award for ‘The Speed of Now – Pt 1’ and Amy Shark, who won the Highest Selling Single Award for the second year in a row with ‘Everybody Rise’.

The Electronic/Dance category went to Young Franco for ‘Juice (feat Pell)’, These Four Walls won the Heavy category with ‘White Lies’, while Hope D took out the rock category for her single ‘Second’ and Melody Moko’s ‘Like Hank Would’ was the best of Queensland’s Country music for 2021.

Ending the night, the People’s Choice Awards were awarded to the best music venues around the state. The Tivoli was awarded Metro Venue of the Year while Regional Venue of the Year was awarded to the Sunshine Coast’s The Nightquarter and finally, Festival of the Year was given to cultural icon Woodford Folk Festival.