Radio 16

At one point or another most of us have had that feeling from a loved one, friend or even maybe a co-worker, that we may not be seen for who or what we truly are. That we’re not good enough, that we are invisible.

Determined and inspiring sums up the way Sydney based singer-songwriter Aimee Hannan lives her life. Aimee found her love of country music at age ten, joining the local country music club. Soon after, Aimee was selected to open Lee Kernaghan’s ‘Hat Town’ tour in Gladstone Queensland. She then travelled the countryside competing in many festivals throughout Queensland and NSW with great success, as well as graduating from both the Junior and Senior programs at the CMAA Academy of Country Music.

Singing is a major part of Aimee’s life, but it became increasingly difficult to perform as she was struggling with a rare medical condition that was causing her heart to fail and soon became necessary for Aimee to have her leg amputated. Staying true to herself, Aimee was back on stage months later performing from her wheelchair until her prosthetic was made, then nothing could stop her.

After competing in Today’s Country Brand New Star competition, she connected with fellow artists Gina Jeffreys and Max Jackson and with their help co-wrote a collection of songs, some of which Aimee recorded on her debut album ‘Stronger’, recorded at Hillbilly Hut Studios with Simon Johnson.

Individual artists in their own right, SaraBeth and Glen Mitchell have come together to form the harmony powerhouse Royal South. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, the Texas and London natives have attracted the attention of renowned producer, Paul Worley, who brought us the The Chicks, Lady Antebellum, The Band Perry, and Martina McBride. Royal South has built a strong international fan base touring heavily across the United States, Europe, and beyond. Their new single, “You Weren’t Made for Me” is ready for radio today!

We’ve got the latest release from world-renowned Beverly Knight, The Queen of British Soul.

An original Christmas single, created for the soundtrack of The Loss Adjuster, the film features a star-studded cast of Dame Joan Collins, Martin Kemp, Luke Goss – Out December 1st

Queen of British Soul Beverly Knight has been one of the UK’s most consistent artists for over two decades, highlighted by gold and platinum-selling albums, 14 Top 40 hits, sold-out tours, 3 MOBO Awards, several Brit Award and Mercury Music Prize nominations plus even an Olivier Award nomination for her more recent formidable parallel career in musical theatre.

These two brothers from Byron Bay and Sydney have jointly collaborated on “Lonely Love”, a song that is the first of potential future joint productions.

Cody Miskin a.k.a. Ash the Kid is a 17 year old singer/multi-instrumentalist out of Byron Bay. He is a classically trained pianist, drummer and guitarist. Taking Influence from a wide variety of Artists such as Radiohead, The Kid LAROI, and The Weeknd, he has quickly developed his own sound.

Ford Miskin

Ford has spent the year of 2018 in Los Angeles producing with artists such as TY$, Lil Mosey, Whethan and Bipolar Sunshine. His sound takes many forms in Future Pop, R&B and Hip Hop. During the last year, his sound has evolved into a fusion of Rock, Dancehall, Hip-hop and R&B. After writing with many singers through the years he has honed in on his songwriting and began singing for himself. Since lock down he has been working almost exclusively with his brother Cody on the project ‘Ash the Kid’.”

Artist and trailblazer Miley Cyrus’ highly anticipated new album PLASTIC HEARTS is out now via RCA Records/Sony Music Entertainment Australia.

Miley’s seventh studio album features collaborations with Billy Idol, Joan Jett and Dua Lipa.

Miley has already released two singles from the album – ‘Prisoner’ feat. Dua Lipa, which was accompanied by a shamelessly campy rock video featuring the dynamic duo, and directed by Alana Oherlihy and Miley, plus Miley’ s summer hit ‘Midnight Sky’.

Iconic Rock & Roll photographer Mick Rock shot Miley’s cover art, which embodies the music and exemplifies Miley’ s sound, adding her to the list of legends Mick has photographed over the years including David Bowie, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Joan Jett and Debbie Harry.

Last night from the 2020 ARIA Awards, Sampa The Great took home three awards, Best Independent Release, Best Female Artist and Best Hip Hop Release for her 2019 debut album, The Return, culminating in a thrilling live performance from Botswana.

Filmed at dusk from a stone rooftop, Sampa The Great is joined by her live band and team of enigmatic dancers for a raw and stunningly choreographed performance of “Final Form”, the debut single from The Return LP. Zambian-born, Botswana-raised and now Melbourne-based, Sampa opened the performance with a powerful spoken word set to the introductory bars of album track “Freedom”, as the rapper and poet addressed notions of equality and representation within ARIA itself and the wider music industry. Not to be missed, replay the live performance here.

Sampa The Great was nominated for 6 x ARIA Awards including Best Video, Best Australian Live Act, Album Of The Year, Best Female Artist, Best Hip Hop Release and Best Independent Release for her 2019 album, The Return. “This award means a lot to me, because Hip Hop has been redefined in the past five, ten years in Australia. Young black artists, young people of colour, keep doing what you’re doing, keep bringing the stories to the forefront, because now we get to see a side of Australia that was never shown.” Sampa stated upon accepting her second title for Best Hip Hop Release. “I’m sending all my love to Black women who are in Hip Hop. It often feels isolated and masculine. You can step into whatever genre, and be you. You can define genres.” Taking out her final award of the night for Best Female Artist, Sampa said, “As someone who is wholeheartedly supported by some amazing women, it’s an honour to receive this award. I’ve done my best to represent who I am and who I’m growing to be, and show the beauty of where I’m from. Women deserve to be applauded, of different shapes, sizes and race, and I am honoured to be able to be applauded as well.”

In 2019, Sampa took home Best Hip Hop Release for “Final Form” at the 2019 ARIA Awards, alongside multiple other wins at the annual J Awards, including Video of the Year and Double J’s Artist of the Year, Best Hip Hop Act at the Music Victoria Music Awards and broke industry records by winning the prestigious Australian Music Prize twice in her career. The Return LP was made triple j packet Feature Album, Feature Album at Double J, FBi, Triple R, PBS, SYN, Radio Adelaide, RTR and 2SER, and received praise from the likes of The Guardian, NPR, Pitchfork, The FADER, Billboard, OkayAfrica, Michelle Obama and countless others. “Final Form” has since gathered over 11 million streams to date.
Last night’s 2020 ARIA Awards arrive after a momentous year for Sampa, which includes becoming the first solo artist and female musician to win Best Live Act at the National Live Music Awards and becoming BET Amplified first-ever global artist. Alongside a remix of The Return track, “Time’s Up” with new verses from New York rapper Junglepussy, Sampa appeared on The Avalanches’ recently released single “Take Care In Your Dreaming” alongside Denzel Curry & Tricky, as well as Baker Boy & Dallas Woods on “Better Days”. Entertaining audiences across the globe by playing festivals like Glastonbury, Splendour in the Grass and Laneway, Sampa has performed virtually for AFROPUNK, Black August and the Roots Picnic and consistently keeps in the company of greatness, supporting the likes of Kendrick Lamar and Ms Lauryn Hill.

Re-live a historic moment for Sampa The Great today, as she commemorates her 3 x ARIA Award titles, taken from 6 x nominations, with a show-stopping live performance that reaffirms her powerful message and creative vision for a music industry that celebrates all artists in years to come.

Indie pop darling Silver Sphere is releasing her new track “Football Game” on Wednesday, November 25th, along with an official video.

Speaking on the track she says:

“I actually wrote the chorus of this song in high school. Originally titled ‘dark long drive’ the working title changed to “football game’ when I was reworking the song with Dylan Brady. I felt like I had to pay homage to my Friday night-football game high school days and the drama they brought with them. This is a coming of age song while also being satirical toward the idea of all American high school life.”

She hails from a planet called The Silversphere and fell in love with an “earth-boy” around which her recent EP “all my boyfriends” is based. At 21 years old Silver Sphere has garnered over 13M Spotify streams as well as having performed at the Lavapalooza online festival earlier this year and supporting Omar Apollo on his North American tour.

Edgy pop chanteuse Nicole Millar today releases her hypnotic new single, ‘Boring!’. Equal parts sweet and sassy, the track was created with Juno-Award winning Canadian artist bülow and song writing collective The Six (Charli XCX, Clean Bandit, Marshmello & Anne Marie)

Speaking of the track, Nicole says : “Boring! is about searching for thrills in different places – needing something more, something exciting. During lockdown, I needed to think of new ways to write songs – I usually collaborate with artists in the studio, but this year I have been going back to my roots of writing with artists online, and to beats.”

“Boring! is a bit more bouncy and fun than some of the tracks I have put out, but in a time of darkness I think people need something fun… and with summer being in Australia I’m really excited to pump this in the car on the way to the beach.”

Watch the visualiser for ‘Boring!’ created by Tiffany Williams (Kota Banks, Ninajirachi, CXLOE) HERE

‘Boring!’ is the fourth release in a collection of new output from Millar marked by its shift into an increasingly captivating, defined and mature sound. Millar’s 2018 debut album ‘Excuse Me’ spawned the viral hit ‘Blindfolded’ (8 million+ combined streams) and ARIA Gold-accredited single ‘Tremble’ (11 million+ combined streams).

The rise of Aussie country rocker, Ben Ransom, continues with his brand new single, “Raise Some Hell”.

The song is an unadulterated anthemic crowd pleaser with one ultimate goal … that is, to get you up out of your seat, chanting and singing from the very first line!

Dabbling with samples and using the hook from Steam’s 1969 classic, “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye”, the song sways into country rock turf made popular by artists such as Bon Jovi and Jimmy Barnes. Quite simply, it’s sex and raw country rock at its absolute best!

“Raise Some Hell” is the focus single from Ben’s forthcoming and highly anticipated new album, “Brave New World”, released on Friday 29th January 2021.

After the upheaval and unpredictability of 2020, the title “Brave New World”, felt like the perfect one to not only reflect the combination of songs embodied on the release but how we will navigate this new world we are now living in.

“We finished recording the album in 2019 and were waiting for the right time to release it … and then 2020 came along! Ironic that it would appear to fit right in to the context of what we’ve all been living through this past year”, says Ben.

Following the year that was – it’s now time to “Raise Some Hell”

Following the release of highly anticipated third album Love Goes and hit single Diamonds Sam releases a beautiful Christmas song, The Lighthouse Keeper, written with and produced by Labrinth. The song features an accompanying animated video conceptualised and directed by Sam. This is the second time Sam and Labrinth have united having worked together on the eponymous album title track ‘Love Goes’; which was brought to life last month with a very special live streamed performance at Abbey Road Studios, watch it back here. Sam said ‘If any year could make me look forward to the sounds of Christmas, it would be 2020 as more than ever before we are yearning to be around our friends and family once again. Christmas symbolises that for me and earlier this year I was inspired to write a Christmas love song. Labrinth and I poured our hearts into this one and it has honestly been pure joy to create and make.’ Sam released their debut album In The Lonely Hour in 2014, certified 6x platinum in Australia, 2x platinum in the USA and 8x platinum in the United Kingdom, going on to earn four Grammys, it positioned Sam as the hallmark voice of their generation. A year later, they wrote and performed Writing’s On The Wall, the theme song for the Bond film Spectre, winning them both a Golden Globe and an Academy Award. In 2017, they matched earlier successes with the sophomore record The Thrill of It All, which topped the charts across the globe. The Lighthouse Keeper marks a heartfelt send off to 2020 for Sam with much more to come from them in 2021.