And he stole it again when he won the award for Best Maori Album; he stood stoically while his supporters performed an impromptu haka in his honour, he gave his fellow nominees a hongi and spoke exclusively in te reo Maori.
That, and the te reo Maori introduction Kanoa Lloyd gave the award, is what the NZ Music Awards needs more of, amongst a few other things.
After the awards, the Herald Entertainment team gathered and discussed what we loved, hated and would do to improve them. "More Teeks" was the general consensus.
Another was: Different hosts. Jono and Ben's "humour" failed to translate for the second year in a row - their bits are bits we've all seen before (quite literally, thanks to Jono getting naked at every opportunity).
They had a brief shining moment, courtesy of Scribe being a good sport and making fun of his own legal woes, but after that, it was all tattoos, t-shirt guns and election jokes which stopped being funny on election night.
There are, reportedly, changes afoot. A source told the Herald on Sunday that Recorded Music NZ, which produces the awards, is looking to make them more of an industry event, which could mean anything from trimming the guest list fat to excluding the public.
It also reportedly wants to recognise the new ways in which we consume music, including downloading and streaming.
For the most part, these changes make sense. Last year I sat at a table with Real Housewife of Auckland Anne Batley Burton and this year every second person I saw seemed to be a cast member from The Bachelor or Married at First Sight.
There are more corporate bigwigs than you can shake a wine glass at and now that I think about it, I'm not sure if I actually saw a single musician save for a brief passing in the ladies' loo.
But if it extends to leaving the public on the street, that's a bad call. The fans are what make this event. While said corporate bigwigs are chugging back wine and chatting among themselves, it's the fans in the stands who bring some genuine excitement to proceedings.
And acknowledging digital media is a must. This year's Highest Selling Album went to The Koi Boys for their album Meant To Be, in a year which saw Lorde dominate international charts.
But Lorde's fans aren't buying CDs, they're streaming and downloading. You know who's buying CD's? The parents of Lorde fans. And guess who the Koi Boys cater to?
It's understood no actual decision has been made on those changes, but another one is going ahead: J&A Productions, which has produced the Music Awards for the last 14 years, is stepping down.
What that means for the future of the awards or what they will look like is unclear, but at the very least, my hopes are on new hosts.
The dream team? Kanoa Lloyd and Anika Moa.
Because the industry, the ceremony, the TV production and the country, could do with having two head-strong, beautiful, Maori wahine in charge, who speak te reo Maori and who are actually hilarious.
They're the complete antithesis to Jono and Ben and frankly, it's about time.
And now that Lorde's - very deservedly - won all of this year's awards for Melodrama, next year, let's focus on everyone else.
SWIDT released one of New Zealand's greatest hip-hop albums of all time, Teeks and Aldous Harding brought entirely new sounds to the New Zealand music landscape. Fazerdaze, Devilskin, Nadia Reed, Ladi6 - this year's nominees were incredible but were overshadowed by the international behemoth that is Melodrama.
Also, let's incorporate more of our different cultures, like Teeks' moments on stage or Opetaia Foa'i's stunning opening show. This country loves to wheel out a kapa haka group to impress international visitors, so why not give them a chance to shine on our own national stage as well?
Oh, and one more thing: Let's break that awful tradition of having beautiful women stand nameless in the background like props on which to rest the awards. It's a tradition which - as far as I can tell - is from ceremonies like the Oscars, and given the state of Hollywood's treatment of women, it's a trend we need to buck, quick smart.
• How would we fix the Music Awards? Listen to the Herald's entertainment squad address the ceremony's issues and discuss how we'd fix them in the latest edition of TimeOut Talks.
