We Celebrate Deva Mahal Making The Top 5 Finalists For The 2026 APRA Silver Scroll Awards

“The esteemed peer-voted award has reached its 61st year of being passed through the hands of New Zealand’s finest songwriters. The APRA Silver Scroll Award | Kaitito Kaiaka offers a unique chance for songwriters to be acknowledged by their peers for their songwriting craft.”

– APRA –

This year, our very own Deva Mahal has been nominated for her 2026 single Someone’s Daughter.

A rare combination of masterful songwriting and breathtaking vocal talent, Deva Mahal was born with blues in her blood. Deva has spent the last few years in Aotearoa diving deeper into her craft as a composer as well as cultivating her skills as a producer, collaborating closely with Ōtautahi-based producer Chris Wethey.

Politically and emotively charged, Someone’s Daughter sears the heart, with Deva’s soaring vocals fiery with feeling, then delicate with heartbreaking softness, as she sings about her deep sense of rage at the murder of Breonna Taylor and all of the Black women that have lost their lives as a result of police brutality in the US.

“I wanted to tear them all down with my voice,” says Deva. “To write something that could pierce through their souls and demand that our humanity be seen and respected. I’m demanding your attention in this song and daring you not to feel something profound. I’m demanding that you see us. See Black women and all marginalized women as humans who deserve to feel safe in this world. We are not just a statistic, a body, a number. Every one of us is someone’s daughter.”