How five New Zealand songwriters made history at the Silver Scrolls

The five finalists for APRA New Zealand’s prestigious Silver Scrolls songwriting prize are – for the first time in its 52-year history – all women. 

The shortiist is:

• Close Your Eyes by Bic Runga (written by Bic Runga and Kody Nielson).

• Green Light by Lorde (written by Ella Yelich O’Connor, Jack Antonoff, and Joel Little). Published by Native Tongue Music Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing Australia P/L, EMI Music Publishing Australia Pty Ltd.

• Horizon by Aldous Harding. Published by Native Tongue Music Publishing 

• Life Of The Party by Chelsea Jade (written by Chelsea Jade Metcalf and Leroy Clampitt). 

• Richard by Nadia Reid. Published by Kobalt Music Publishing.

All five, selected from 20, have found recognition outside New Zealand, mostly for the strength they display in their willingness to be vulnerable and the way their songs have become soundtracks for their fans’ own lives.

Runga, who was last year inducted into the NZ Hall of Fame, won the Silver Scroll in 1997 with her Australasian hit Sway. 

Close Your Eyes, written with partner Kody Nielson (Silicon, UMO, The Mint Chicks) was the title track of her fifth album, mostly covers of songs that shaped her. 

Close Your Eyes .was one of two songs on the record that were self-penned and., she says, is about going your own way, finding joy in the little things, and love enduring through time.

Ella Yelich O’Connor and Joel Little won the Silver Scroll in 2013 for Royals. 

Green Light reflects not only the chaos of a relationship that’s gone sour but “the start of 12 months in my life when I moved out of the (family) home to my own place and was in the middle of all that freedom and independence.”

Self-described “gothic folk” writer Aldous Harding’s Horizon is a goodbye song, where she offers a mirror to the other person’s life and her own life, “and I’m taking one of them away, and that’s me.”

The daughter of is folk singer Lorina Harding, was discovered busking on a street by fellow musician Anika Moa, and this year released her Party album in Europe through 4AD.

On Life Of The Party, first-time finalist, Chelsea Jade’s faced up to coping with the fact that she was no social butterfly and the reasons why, and at the same time hoping it wouldn’t alienate people.

Born Chelsea Jade Metcalf 28 years ago in Auckland, the self-described “dream pop” artist (formerly of Teacups and Watercolours who dropped out of art school twice, now lives in Los Angeles.

Richard, a stand-out from Nada Reid’s sophomore album Preservation, was a testament to how far she’d come as a writer.

With lines as “taking back the hand that is mine” the confessional song used religious imagery to pack more of a punch: I am on the cross of forgiveness/ He wanted it final/ Finally”

Based in Dunedin, Reid was 15 when she taught herself to play guitar and started writing. 

The winner of the Silver Scrolls will be chosen by APRA’s 1,000 New Zealand members, and announced on September 28 at the Dunedin Town Hall.

Past winners have included Ray Columbus, Hammond Gamble, Shona Laing, Dave Dobbyn, Don McGlashan, Neil Finn, Chris Knox, Brooke Fraser, The Naked And Famous, Tami Neilson, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, and Thomas Oliver. 

The other awards presented on the night are:

APRA Maioha Award, celebrating exceptional waiata featuring te reo Māori

SOUNZ Contemporary Award, celebrating excellence in contemporary composition

APRA Best Original Music in a Feature Film Award

APRA Best Original Music in a Series Award

APRA will also be inducting a songwriter/s into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame.

The awards will be broadcast on Radio New Zealand, Freeview Ch 50 and Student Radio Network, and online at RNZ’s website as well as The Spin Off.