The winners of the 2025 APRA Music Awards have been announced tonight at the Melbourne Town Hall celebrating the talented songwriters and music publishers that have achieved outstanding success in the past year.
Nashville-based hit-maker, Kylie Sackley, alongside co-writers Timothy Cooper and Justin Morgan, won the Most Performed Country Work for Cooper Alan’s Take Forever (Hally’s Song).
In 2024, country music sensation Alan made his highly anticipated debut in Australia, captivating audiences with his dynamic performances. First we saw him at CMC Rocks in Ipswich, and then again in October and November tour, where he headlined sold-out shows in Fremantle, Brisbane, and Auckland, and delivered high-energy sets at the Ridin’ Hearts Festival in Sydney and Melbourne.
Speaking to the winner Sackley had this to say
“I'm so grateful. I'm so unbelievably grateful, humbled, for this recognition. It is such an honour to represent Australia abroad. I have been trying to do that for 22 years. And I will continue. Thank you to my wonderful co-writers Justin Morgan and Cooper Alan. We sat down a month before Cooper's wedding with the intention of writing a wedding song, but we had no title, no music, and we did the old school way of just talking.
Talking for a while, learning his wife Hally and how we could honour her best in this song. And then we wrote it, and we kind of just left it to the universe, and, 40 plus million people, decided they liked the song, too. So I'm just, I'm so grateful. Oh, my gosh. Thanks to my Aussie family for so many, 22 to be exact, years of tears and sacrifice and, it's really hard to live abroad.
It it's hard to miss everything. It's so hard to miss tonight. Please know I'm there in spirit. But, yes, my Australian family, my Nashville family, Blake and Ruby, who brought so much joy and peace and fun to my life into my musical process again, I, I feel like I have the same fire I moved to Nashville with 22 years ago, and, anyone who's been in this a while knows that there's highs and lows, lots of ebbs and flows, and to be in this season, I'm having so much fun.
I hope you guys are too. And lastly, I just want to say I stepped out on my own after a 22 years of publishing deals and two years ago, started my own and Cooper Alan and ‘Take Forever’ was my second cut in my new catalog. Stepping out on your own is genuinely pretty ballsy. Some might say insane.
But I was ready to believe in myself. Maybe for the first time. Truly. And this song happened, and it exceeded so many expectations. And it told me I'm on the right path. So I just want to say to any of you out there, there's no one way to do this music thing. Keep freaking going. Get up, show up, give your all, and don't forget to have fun because music's about having fun.
APRA Australia I'm so grateful. Thank you, thank you, thank you for this honour. I love you all. I'm there in spirit. Thank you.”
Countrytown brings you Australia’s best country music news, interviews, charts and more every week! This post was authored by Countrytown and originally published on the Countrytown website. It has been re-published with permission.
