SHAH ALAM: Shila Amzah and Liza Hanim emerged big winners at the Anugerah Industri Muzik 23 (AIM23) Sunday night.
The duo bagged Best Vocal Performance In A Song (Duo) and Best Original Soundtrack In A Film/Drama for their pop duet Bahagiakan Dia.
Another major winner was Ernie Zakri who took home Best Vocal Performance In A Song (Female) for Sinar Mata Hati and Best Pop Song and Best Song for Goodbye Hello, a duet with her husband Syamel Fodzly.
Sarawakian pop queen Dayang Nurfaizah won Best Engineered Song and Best Musical Arrangement In A Song for Tudung Periuk and Best Engineered Album for Belagu.
Best New Artiste went to Vanessa Reynauld for her song Buat Ku Sempurna, while Arddley Nicholas took home Best Vocal Performance In A Song (Male) for Pilu.
VE took home Best Vocal Performance In A Song (Group) for Tunggu, while Janna Nick's Gatal won Best Music Video.
Best Pop Ethnic Song and Best Album Cover went to Ziha Salleh's Adat Kasih while Datin Alyah's Thank You Allah won Best Nasyid Song.
Best Rock Song went to Sekumpulan Orang Gila's Tugu Ugut, and Joe Flizzow won Best R&B/Hip-Hop Song for Ciao.
For the Best Pop Electronic/Dance Song category, Late Night Frequency took the trophy for Fun, Lust, Love, while Sophia Zuhri won Best Local English Song for Game Of Charades.
Uriah See's Wu Ren Qian Shou De Xin Fu won Best Local Chinese Song, Keisya Levronka's Tak Ingin Usai won Best Malay Song Performed By A Foreign Artiste, and Yonnyboii's Yonny won Album Of The Year.
The Lifetime Achievement Award or Anugerah Seri Wirama went to veteran music producer Tan Su Loke.
The three-hour AIM23 was held at the Shah Alam City Council Auditorium at 9pm and broadcast live on Astro Ria.
Co-hosted by Sherry Alhadad, Awal Ashaari and Azad Jazmin, the award categories were presented by Wany Hasrita, Khai Bahar, Datuk Syafinaz Selamat, Noryn Aziz, Jaclyn Victor, Ferhad, Datuk Adi Putra, Syamsul Yusof, Sasi The Don, Reshmonu, Mawi, Shahir Zawawi, Datuk M. Nasir and Ziana Zain, among others.
The entertainers for the evening were Datuk Seri Siti Nurhaliza, Aina Abdul, Nikki Palikat, Marsha Milan Londoh, Liza, Ella, Amir Masdi, Ernie, Hafiz Suip, Janna, De Fam, Kaka Azraff, and Vanessa who sang their hit songs.
The event's organiser, the Recording Industry Association of Malaysia's (RIM) chairman Rosmin Hashim said that the 105 nominees were picked by 113 judges from 650 nominations.
"The large number of nominations can be attributed to the longer 18-month eligibility period for new song and album releases, Jan 1 last year to June 30 this year," said Rosmin.
"It is also an indication that the music industry is on its way to recovery post-pandemic."
The judges headed by Datuk Mokhzani Ismail included composers and lyricists Rozman Shafie or LY, Fauzi Marzuki and Datuk Acis.