Marlon Williams scores two top Silver Scrolls finalist spots
APRA has named the five finalist songs for the Silver Scroll Award as well as the top three waiata in line for the Maioha Award.
Indie folk singer Marlon Williams’ 1960s-inspired ‘Aua Atu Rā’ and kapa haka waiata ‘Korero Māori’ are finalists of the APRA Silver Scroll and Tohu Maioha awards.
The songs are from his fourth studio album, Te Whare Tīwekaweka, which was the catalyst for the Lyttelton songwriter to reconnect with his whakapapa. Williams won the Silver Scroll in 2018 for his song 'Nobody Gets What They Want Anymore'.
Fazerdaze aka Amelia Murray also scored a finalist spot for the peer-voted Silver Scroll for ‘Cherry Pie’ - the lead single from her second album Soft Power, which won Album of the Year at the Aotearoa Music Awards.
The 2025 APRA Silver Scroll finalists: Fazerdaze (Amelia Murray), Marlon Williams, JessB, band There's a Tuesday and Mazbou Q.
Supplied, Ian Laidlaw, Bandcamp, Andi Crown Photography
Indie rock band There’s a Tuesday’s ‘Margo’ (from their debut album Blush), Kenyan-New Zealand artist JessB’s self-empowerment anthem ‘Power’ and Mazbou Q’s ‘TORQUE’ were also named on the Silver Scroll top five.
The other finalists for the Maioha Award, which recognises the art of contemporary Māori music and celebrates kaitito creating waiata in te reo Māori, are Dillastrate for ‘Kei Whati Te Marama’ and MĀ for ‘Pūhā me te Porohewa’.
The Maioha Award finalists: Rapper-singer-producer MĀ, Dillastrate duo Henare 'H' Kaa and Tim Driver and singer Marlon Williams.
Supplied / Meeting House, NicNak Media, Steven Marr
Ōtautahi band Dillastrate, consisting of Henare 'H' Kaa and Tim Driver, described their waiata as a “tribute to our wāhine - who go through so much”. It featured in the fifth anniversary Waiata Anthems release in 2024.
Last year, powerhouse Anna Coddington's bilingual waiata 'Kātuarehe' won the Silver Scroll while Jordyn with a Why's 'He Rei Niho' took home the Maioha Award.
The winners for the 2025 APRA Silver Scrolls, including for the SOUNZ Contemporary Award and Screen Music Awards, will be celebrated at the Christchurch Isaac Theatre Royal on 29 October.
The winners and finalists are chosen by the APRA membership (which consists of 10,000 New Zealand songwriters).
