ARIA Awards 2025 winners: Amyl & The Sniffers and Ninajirachi dominate

How sweet it must be to be Amyl & The Sniffers right now.

The band are back in Australia after a hectic tour schedule that has seen them wow crowds on the world's biggest stages in support of their third album, Cartoon Darkness.

Most nights for the next few weeks, they will play to tens of thousands of people in support of their heroes, AC/DC, at stadiums around the country.

Even the high-profile cancellation of their recent Fed Square concert did not dent their momentum too badly.

The band turned a frustrating situation into a celebration of Melbourne, its bars and live music scene, and it earned them some valuable kudos when the tide could easily have turned against them.

Now, they are heading home with four very pointy trophies to pop on their mantelpiece.

The Melbourne band just won Album of the Year, Best Group, Best Rock Album, and Best Cover Art at tonight's ARIA Awards at Sydney's Hordern Pavilion. Not bad for a band that deals in profane and pummelling garage rock.

Who are Amyl & The Sniffers?

"We're really not that good at speeches," Amy Taylor said when accepting the award for Best Rock Album.

Most would disagree.

While Amyl's no-nonsense hard rock is beloved by many, it is Taylor's onstage presence that wins over most.

"I know you only liked it cos I was flashing my titties," she had quipped earlier in the night while accepting the award for Best Cover Art.

That larrikin cheek is part of her immense appeal, but Taylor also uses her position to make noise about issues important to her.

"As the new prime minister of Australia, I'd like to say all immigrants are welcome, I'd like to say land back, the dole's going up, and every pub gets a million dollars," she said when accepting the award for Album of the Year.

She brings that same energy to the live stage — no matter how big the platform.

The band's recent appearance at Coachella was dominated by Taylor's profession of love to those often persecuted.

"I just want to extend my love and support to all the trans people, all the gay people, all the black people, all the immigrants — illegal and legal — and everybody else, including women and the f***in' men, because everybody's getting f***ed up from it.

"I'd also like to extend my heart to the people in Palestine and the people in Ukraine, because f**k dying in any capacity and f**k getting murdered by other people for bullshit."

The band's live shows are riotous. Limb flailing, high-energy affairs where cuts and bruises are common but, again, a spirit of inclusion pervades.

Much of that is down to Taylor's willingness to call out abuse and the zero-tolerance approach to poor behaviour at gigs.

"It's tough out there for women. But I'm not a pussy and I'll fight everybody and anybody about it," she said at a keynote address at Brisbane's BIGSOUND last year.

Who is Ninajirachi?

"A lot of people have probably never heard of me before tonight," Ninajirachi said while accepting the award for Best Solo Artist.

It might feel like Ninajirachi's outstanding success in recent months has come from nowhere.

You do not need to look too deeply to understand that her acclaimed debut album is the result of years of hard graft.

The 26-year-old Central Coast DJ, songwriter and producer — real name Nina Wilson — has been making music for years.

First coming to the attention of triple j as part of their Unearthed High initiative in 2016, Ninajirachi has spent the ensuing years leading up to the release of her debut album working on her craft through live shows, remixes, single releases, and that all-too-familiar grind that every artist knows too well.

Tonight, Nina won three ARIAs, taking home the Breakthrough Artist, Solo Artist, and Independent Release Awards.

"To win a breakout award in 2025 is really funny and awesome," she said in her acceptance speech, acknowledging the years she had spent in the game so far.

These awards cap off an incredible couple of weeks for Ninajirachi, who was awarded the $50,000 Australian Music Prize earlier this month, followed by triple j's J Award for Album of the Year the following week.

Reflecting the breadth of Australian music culture

What does the dominance of Amyl and Nina mean about Australian music in 2025?

There is probably a reasonable argument to be made about the dominance of women at this year's ARIAs and how it reflects the sorely needed change currently happening not just in the music industry but in society overall.

But that feels too close to virtue signalling and too far from reality, which is that women are making the most interesting and exciting music right now.

Taylor is easily the best front-person in the country right now — perhaps the world. Her infectious songs are about haters, partying, and the malaise of modern life, while her rock-solid band deliver blow after blow of muscular hard rock.

On a similar note, no Australian producer was making music as fresh, fun, and fearless as Ninajirachi was on her debut album, I Love My Computer, this year.

There are elements of nostalgia for a not-long-gone era in both its music and general aesthetic, and while it is a love letter to technology in many ways, her more human reflections — like navigating burnout and embracing self-confidence — hit in just the right place.

Historically, some have levelled criticism at the ARIA Awards for representing a kind of modern musical monoculture that does not so much speak to the reality of Australian music on the ground. Some years have been better than others.

Awards ceremonies are, of course, forever doomed to disappoint fans of the myriad artists who are inevitably overlooked. But tonight's two big winners feel representative of the most engaging and exciting creative work being made in the country right now.

With a strong number of the major awards going to women or female-led bands playing music that receives no recognition from commercial media, this ARIAs got that little closer to reflecting the reality of music for those in the mosh pits and on the dance floors rather than in the boardrooms.