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Kiwi singer Ladyhawke shows off her ARIA after the awards ceremony - Source: ONE News -
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New Zealand born artist Ladyhawke has been crowned the breakthrough artist of 2009.
Ladyhawke, whose real name is Phillipa Brown, claimed the ARIA awards for breakthrough artist - single for her track My Delirium and breakthrough artist - album when the awards were handed out at Sydney's Acer Arena on Thursday night.
She said she it was exciting to be recognised for her first solo album.
"I wanted to write exactly the sort of music I would want to listen to myself," she said.
"I've always been a huge pop fan and I wanted to experiment with pop and push myself and see how far I could go."
Earlier Troy Cassar-Daley was recognised with the best country album award for his record I Love This Place.
Controversy
It's been a bumpy road to the ARIA Awards for Kiwi artist Ladyhawke, but she had the last laugh with two trophies in the bag.
The New Zealand singer caused controversy when she was nominated for five ARIA Awards because she was born and raised across the Tasman, and is now based in London.
But Brown lived in Melbourne and Sydney for four years, and formed the group Teenager with Nick Littlemore of Pnau and Empire of the Sun.
Brown said she didn't want to get involved in the trans-Tasman controversy.
"I have no idea the way the ARIAs work as far as the finer details go," she told media backstage after accepting the awards.
"I was incredibly honoured to be nominated. I think it's a shame that there was a bit of a dark shadow cast on it because I didn't mean for that to happen and I didn't want to upset anybody or offend anyone.
"I feel bad but confused, because I'm not sure the way this whole thing works."
Brown said it had been an amazing year for her since releasing her self-titled solo album.
"I wanted to write exactly the sort of music I would want to listen to myself," she said.
"I've always been huge pop fan and I wanted to experiment with pop and push myself and see how far I could go.
"I think it's really cool because I never thought of myself as a pop star or a pop type person."
