Genesis Owusu wins 2021 Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Comp

‘Gold Chains’ by Genesis Owusu, co-written with Andrew Klippel, Kieran J Callinan, Michael Di Francesco and Julian Sudek wins $50,000 cash prize.

2nd place $10,000 – ‘Mikey Might’ by Jerome Farah

3rd place $5,000 – ‘Time I Love To Waste’ by MAY-A, co-written with Robby De Sa and Christian Lo Russo

$5,000 AMPAL Emerging Songwriter Prize – ‘Move’ by Baker Boy, co-written with Dallas Woods, James Iheakanwa and Willie Tafa

10 Honourable Mention prizes of $1,000 awarded to runners-up including Amyl and The Sniffers, Yirrmal, Budjerah, ASHWARYA and more.

First place in the 2021 Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition goes to Canberra’s Genesis Owusu for the stunning ‘Gold Chains’, co-written with Andrew Klippel, Kieran J Callinan, Michael Di Francesco and Julian Sudek.

Courtesy of APRA AMCOS, Alberts and Sony Music Publishing, Owusu and his collaborators win a $50,000 cash prize, the largest first place prize for any songwriting competition in the world.

The groove-laden single’s lyrics explore the trade-offs that come with music industry fame, with the chorus repeating ‘When it looks so gold, but it feels so cold inside these chains.’

Owusu said the song was “inspired by life, the music industry and the reality of certain situations compared to outside misconceptions of them.”

‘Gold Chains’ made Barack Obama’s annual Favorite Music playlist and Owusu and band performed it for their US late night TV debut on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Second place and $10,000 courtesy of Banki Haddock Fiora goes to Melbourne artist and songwriter Jerome Farah for the soulful ‘Mikey Might’, a song that addresses racial identity with lyrics 'Way too white to be a black kid, right? / Not enough to live that white kid life, am I ever gonna feel right?'

Farah is a double APRA Music Award-winner for co-writing Kian’s hit ‘Waiting’, but it took him seven years to build the confidence to release ‘Mikey Might’.

“Just want to say thank you to the Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition for picking ‘Mikey Might’. Being recognised and appreciated for the art I create is an experience and makes the countless hours and effort feel worth it. Couldn’t feel more grateful!” Farah said.

Third-place winner MAY-A is a songwriter and singer to watch. She takes home $5,000 courtesy of Aon for the indie-pop tune ‘Time I Love to Waste’, co-written with Roberto De Sa and Christian Lo Russo. It’s a song she wrote on the same day as her Honourable Mention winner ‘Apricots’. Both were “inspired by falling in love for the first time in high school with a girl and dealing with a lot of queer discovery,” she said.

“Feeling very blessed to win third place. I didn’t think I was very good so it’s nice to be told otherwise (haha),” MAY-A said.

Last year’s second place winner Baker Boy (Danzal Baker) wowed the judges again, this time with his buoyant single ‘Move’ winning the $5,000 AMPAL Emerging Songwriter Prize, provided by Australasian Music Publishers Association Limited (AMPAL). The unpublished songwriter and artist co-wrote the song with Dallas Woods, James Iheakanwa and Willie Tafa.

For the second year in a row the prize money extended to ten Honourable Mention winners from the Top 40 finalists list. Each receives a runner-up prize of $1,000, courtesy of an anonymous donor wishing to help songwriters during the pandemic. From that list is Budjerah’s collaboration with MAY-A ‘Talk,’ Yirrmal’s soon-to-be-released ‘Shining Light’, Gang of Youth’s ‘unison’, Amyl and The Sniffers’ ‘Guided by Angels’ and more.

The funds generated from the $50 per song entry fee go to the impactful work of Noro Music Therapy Australia. Since the competition began in 2009, entrants have contributed nearly $1.6 million, including this round’s $192k, which helped the organisation move into a new space.

“Congratulations to the winners!  I would like to recognise and thank all the entrants, our sponsors, judges and the dedicated team of volunteers that make the Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition the success it continues to be,” said Noro CEO Belinda Leonard.

“I’d like to acknowledge the sponsors for their generosity: Alberts, APRA AMCOS and our new sponsor Sony Music Publishing. Thank you to Banki Haddock Fiora, Aon and AMPAL, and to first-time sponsor Jaxsta for their promotional support. And, to the anonymous donor who made the top 10 honourable mentions possible, we thank you whole heartedly.

 “As the recipient of the funds raised from the entry fees, Noro are extremely grateful for the generosity, especially this year. 

“We have had two very tough years due to COVID-19 with very limited income from our clinic fees as many of the people we work with are especially vulnerable and haven’t been able to attend their sessions.  This has been compounded by our fundraising efforts being decimated.

“Prior to COVID-19 we had committed to fitting out a huge new clinic space to house our team and help meet the growing need for our services, and I’m pleased to share that we moved in to this amazing space in January. We simply would not have been able to do this without the generosity from the Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition,” she said.

Named after the iconic songwriters and founding members of The Easybeats, Harry Vanda and the late George Young, the long-running competition has honoured a range of songwriting talent: Thelma Plum in 2020, Matt Corby and Dann Hume (2019), Amy Shark (2018), Gretta Ray (2016), Husky Gawenda (2014), Isabella Manfredi (2013), Kimbra (2011) and Megan Washington (2009), as well as top finishers including Baker Boy, Ruel, Kaiit, Sarah Aarons, Gotye, Meg Mac, and Gang of Youths frontman David Le’aupepe.

This year’s judging panel included influential artists, producers, media and music industry professionals including KLP, Jenny Morris, Anna Lunoe and reps from Double J, Jaxsta, The Industry Observer, Billboard, Warner Music Australia, Universal Music Australia, EMI Music Australia and more.