What you need to know
- Apple has announced its first-ever Apple Music Awards.
- It's "a celebration of the best and boldest musicians of 2019" and their impact.
- Billie Eilish came out on top-spot, winning Artist, Album and Songwriter of the Year.
Apple has announced its first-ever Apple Music Awards, celebrating "the best and boldest" musicians of 2019. Its great news for Billie Eilish, who took a grand-slam Artist, Album and Songwriter of the Year.
Apple announced its new awards in a press-release (opens in new tab) December 3, detailing several awards handed out, as well as the news that Artist of the Year Billie Eilish will be performing live from the Steve-Jobs theatre on December 4.
Introducing the Apple Music Awards, a celebration of the best and boldest musicians of 2019 and the enormous impact they have had on global culture this year. The Apple Music Awards honour achievements in music across five distinct categories and winners are chosen through a process that reflects the service's editorial perspective, combined with what customers around the world are loving most.
Awards for Global Artist, Songwriter and Breakthrough Artist of the year were hand-selected by Apple Music's global editorial team, whilst the awards for Album and Song of the Year are based on Apple Music streaming data. The awards were given as follows:
- Artist of the Year - Billie Eilish
- Album of the Year - "WHEN WE FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?" - Billie Eilish
- Songwriter of the Year - Billie Eilish, FINNEAS (Eilish's brother)
- Breakthrough Artist of the Year - Lizzo
- Song of the Year - "Old Town Road" - Lil Nas X
The actual award given to the aforementioned artists is pretty special. It's a custom 12-inch silicon wafer suspended between a sheet of glass and aluminium. It also has copper layers "patterned by ultraviolet lithography" to connect the transistors. The result is pretty cool, see for yourself.
As mentioned, Apple plans to celebrate its inaugural Apple Music Awards with a special performance from Billie Eilish at the Steve Jobs Theatre at Apple Park. Apple says "the show will be unlike anything ever seen from this unanimously crowned Artist of the Year...". That performance will take place on December 4, 6:30 p.m PST.
