Aotearoa Music Awards 2025: Must-see moments from the show

At the Aotearoa Music Awards last night, we had a blast from the past with montages of iconic artists from the past 60 years, political side-eyes, and Lorde dropping a new music video just an hour before appearing on the red carpet.

Here are the moments that stood out.

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Politics was well and truly noted this year. In the crowd were National’s Paul Goldsmith, Green Party’s Tamatha Paul, Labour’s Jenny Salesa, National’s Chris Bishop, and Green Party’s Kahurangi Carter.

"Yes, I said them in a weird order so you wouldn't know when to boo,” co-host Jesse Mulligan told the crowd. But the co-hosts were interrupted before moving on: "Chlöe! Chlöe!” the crowd yelled back. They realised Chlöe Swarbrick was also present in the audience.

That’s not all though – it became a night for talking about current affairs. Best Māori artist of the night Stan Walker had people on their feet with his ‘Māori Ki Te Ao’ performance as Toitū Te Tiriti flags waved from every corner.

Despite having been away from home for a while, Lorde made it known she was keeping an eye on things. She thanked Walker for his moving performance.

"Just watching from overseas this year as te reo Māori is defended in the way it is, is so inspiring for me. It's so beautiful, I'm so grateful for everyone in this room for doing that.

"Are we going to honour that Treaty or what?" Lorde said, as the crowd erupted in cheers and applause.

Earth Tongue duo Gussie Larkin and Ezra Simons weren’t around to accept the award, but it was a very wholesome moment when Simons’ mother rocked up, holding the award front and centre for all to see as she spoke.

Callum Devlin from filmmaking duo Sports Team, who is seen recording on the side as all this is unfolding, wanted a moment to say something for Simons. It was a scream into the void that left Jesse Mulligan looking quite confused.

Host of The Sampler Tony Stamp gave us a possible explanation, saying Simons makes a similar noise on one of their records. The duo made the Great Haunting record - which won them best group - during pandemic lockdowns and while binge-watching '70s and '80s horror movies. "Well I think he's a shoo-in for next year's multi-media award," Mulligan remarked as he gathered his thoughts.

People’s Choice award winners Devilskin’s mouths dropped when their name was called out. "Can we have a metal category next year then, can we?," Paul Martin prompted the organisers.

There was also a blast from the past in his acceptance speech, as Martin brought up Jesse Mulligan’s brush with metal at the age of 13 when he was part of a band called Vomit Socks. The co-host quickly wrapped it up with "well I think that's all we've got time for".

On a more serious note, it wasn't the first time categories were an issue for the awards. In 2016, Aaradhna gave away her hip-hop award saying she believed she was placed in that category because of her ethnicity. Last year saw the introduction of Te Manu Mātārae Award, which recognises two New Zealand artists that have made a significant contribution to the music landscape. This year that went to record producer 9Lives (Maxwell Jardine) and L.A.B.

Hori Shaw once again represented the classic Kiwi bloke on stage at the AMAs. Last year, he turned up in gumboots.

This year accepting the Breakthrough Artist award, he showed up in his hunting attire, saying he’s comfy that way and prefers it over suits, pointing at the crowd in the front row. He (of his own accord) revealed there was also a bit of blood on his crocs from last night’s hunting adventure.

“F---, I love New Zealand, [you] don’t hear chur cuz at the MTV Awards, folks. Welcome to Aotearoa,” Jesse Mulligan quipped at the end of Shaw's very humble speech.

Jian Liu is open for some genre-bending collabs.

The academic and musician who took out Best Classical Artist said: "I think music, it doesn't matter we do, it takes a lot of passion and a lot of dedication ... and I hope we can jam together sometime, if you need a pianist," he told the crowd as they erupted in cheers.

And reggae band L.A.B – who took home Te Manu Mātārae Award - seemingly took him up on the offer, saying: "We were thinking we would have a jam with Jian Liu after this."

Co-host Kara Rickard poked fun at her colleague, RNZ Afternoons host Jesse Mulligan, multiple times throughout the show. She reminded the audience that last year he somehow forgot to hand over an award to Corrella. As the band came up to collect the award this year, Rickard joked she was holding it to pass on.

"It's always a mystery to me how I'm going to f--- up this year and this year it didn't involve Corrella so far," Mulligan said, later adding his gig isn’t as easy as it appears when a clip of that moment is shown for the audience.