The 2019 longlist for the prestigious APRA Silver Scroll Awards have just been announced. Here’s the full list of 20 finalists, with the songs themselves to listen to.

This morning saw the announcement of the longlist for the APRA Silver Scroll, New Zealand’s most coveted music award, recognising outstanding achievement in the craft of songwriting. The top 20 was selected by a panel of nine fellow songwriters from over 200 entries, and includes the likes of SWIDT, Broods, Anika Moa and The Beths.

There’s a mixture of stalwart and new blood in the mix, alongside the social media hits (‘Soaked’) and internationally acclaimed singles (‘The Barrel’). Excitingly, there’s four rap songs among the top 20 as well – notable given the industry’s general lack of enthusiasm for recognising artists in that genre. What’s also notable is the inclusion of Alien Weaponry, just one year after they won the Maioha award (which celebrates te reo songwriting) at the same ceremony. Hell, there’s even a song that came out less than a month ago, whose video debuted just one week ago.

Previous recipients of the APRA Silver Scroll Award include Dave Dobbyn, Bic Runga, Ella Yelich-O’Connor & Joel Little, and Marlon Williams. This top twenty will be narrowed down to a top five after votes from the full APRA membership, and the award will be given out at Auckland’s Spark Arena on October 2nd.

The top 20, in alphabetical order, are:

‘Ahi Kā’, written by Lewis de Jong, Henry de Jong, and Ethan Trembath, performed by Alien Weaponry.

‘Buttercup’, written and performed by Anika Moa.

‘Can’t Help The Way’, written by Gabriel Everett, Ashleigh Wallace, Giorgio Scott, Josh Fountain, performed by Foley.

‘Diagonals’, written by Karoline Tamati, Brent Park, Brandon Haru, Julien Dyne, performed by Ladi6.

‘Digebasse (Enough)’ written by CHAII, Richard Bryan, and Frank Eliesa, performed by CHAII.

‘Dust’, written by Caleb Nott, Georgia Nott, and Thomas Schleiter, performed by Broods.

‘Enough’, written by Rebecca Mason Melrose, Harry Huavi, and Frank Edward Eliesa, performed by Miloux.

‘Extreme Highs’, written by Sarena Close, and Ryan Chin, performed by Mousey.

‘Happy Unhappy’, written by Elizabeth Stokes, performed by The Beths.

‘Just ‘Cause You Don’t Want Me’, written and performed by Mel Parsons.

‘Look Up’, written by Marika Hodgson and Troy Kingi, performed by SORRENTO.

‘No Emotions In The Wild’, written by Daniel Latu, Amon McGoram, and Isaiah Libeau, performed by SWIDT.

‘Old Images’, written and performed by Anthonie Tonnon.

‘Olympic Girls’, written by Hollie Fullbrook, performed by Tiny Ruins.

‘Ready Or Not’, written by Elijah Manu, Albert Purcell, Carey Bentley, and Izak Kennedy, performed by Church & AP.

‘Soaked’, written by Stella Bennett, Josh Fountain, and Djeisan Suskov, performed by Benee.

‘The Barrel’, written by Hannah Topp, performed by Aldous Harding.

‘The Sacred’, written and performed by Lydia Cole.

‘Where Were You When I Was All You Needed’, written by Michael Cathro, performed by Ha The Unclear.

‘Years Gone By’, written by Tom Scott, Hayden Dick, Julien Dyne, Guy Harrison, and Tom Dennison, performed by Avantdale Bowling Club.