Many Americans spent Wednesday night hitting up the bar, as the day before Thanksgiving is also the biggest drinking night of the year. Australians, not celebrating such holidays, watched the ARIAs, the nation's major music awards show. Sia and Chet Faker were the most decorated members of the land down under by the time the night was over, according to Billboard.
Sia took home four trophies, more than any other performer, throughout the course of the evening. That included the biggest award, Best Album, for her 2014 release 1000 Forms of Fear, as well as awards for Best Female Artist, and Best Pop Release and Best Video for her single "Chandelier." Alas the performer wasn't able to attend (and generally avoids such publicity anyhow). She lamented "getting s--t" for being a "no-show" but presenter Katy Perry promised that she would ensure Sia got her awards. Of course, the performer immediately sent out tweets promising ARIAs to the first four people to send her proof of them doing a good deed.
Chet Faker didn't quite grab as many pieces of hardware as Sia but his two trophies make him the most decorated of the male musicians at the show. He won Best Male Artist and Best Independent Release for his album Built On Glass.
Other notable awards went to Iggy Azalea for Breakthrough Artist (she was also not at the show but buddy Charli XCX picked it up for her). Sheppard, an act less familiar to listeners in the states, won for Best Group.
It's easy to pooh-pooh the ARIAs in the face of overblown showcases such as the American Music Awards but not many gigs can land both One Direction AND 5 Seconds of Summer, as last night's ceremony involved performances from both.
