Posts Tagged “everybody's a winner”
everybody's a winner
The list of winners from last night's BET Awards is full of fascination and surprise for any nerd who can't help but care. Did the right "feat. T-Pain" win Best Collaboration? (Yes.) Is Missy Elliott doing better than any female artist who actually released an album in the last year? (Lil' Mama was robbed!) Did UGK deserve "Best Group" and "Best Video" more than Playaz' Circle and Ashanti or was it just a tribute to the passing Pimp C? (Both.) Kanye over Lil' Wayne? (Weezy will have to settle for Viewer's Choice.) Chris Brown over Ne-Yo? (A tragic tear under a tilted hat.)
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everybody's a winner
The UK magazine Mojo loves to look back as it looks forward, so it's probably no surprise that its Mojo Honours, the reader-generated awards given out last night, were led by Duffy's "Mercy," a cauldron of throwbacks that flounced away with the evening's Song Of The Year Award. In addition to a few cursory nods in the direction of new-ish music (Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! won Best Album, while Led Zeppelin got the Best Live Act nod for its one show earlier this year), a bunch of seemingly interchangeable laurels went to Mojo staples.
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"Mojo" Takes The Idea Of Everyone Being A Winner Very Seriously
The UK magazine Mojo loves to look back as it looks forward, so it's probably no surprise that its Mojo Honours, the reader-generated awards given out last night, were led by Duffy's "Mercy," a cauldron of throwbacks that flounced away with the evening's Song Of The Year Award. In addition to a few cursory nods in the direction of new-ish music (Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! won Best Album, while Led Zeppelin got the Best Live Act nod for its one show earlier this year), a bunch of seemingly interchangeable laurels went to Mojo staples.
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everybody's a winner
It could be residual inspirational song ear-cheese from last week's American Idol finale, but on first listen I was pretty convinced that Dima Bilan's "Believe," which won the 2008 Eurovision song contest on Saturday night, was an amalgam of this country's Lite-FM staples of the past 12 years—the Enrique Iglesias opening, the bits of Lonestar's "Amazed" and Mariah Carey's various mid-'90s ballads that are strewn throughout. (Although the yoga-ish dancing is, uh, quite original.) Finding out that the recorded version of the track was produced by Timbaland was merely the icing on my "this song would not exist without the songs it is made up of" cake, and it should serve as an ominous sign that the iconic producer has moved on from simply ripping himself off to taking "inspiration" from the songs that his earliest productions provided a radio respite from. More »
Eurovision Gets Timbalanded
It could be residual inspirational song ear-cheese from last week's American Idol finale, but on first listen I was pretty convinced that Dima Bilan's "Believe," which won the 2008 Eurovision song contest on Saturday night, was an amalgam of this country's Lite-FM staples of the past 12 years—the Enrique Iglesias opening, the bits of Lonestar's "Amazed" and Mariah Carey's various mid-'90s ballads that are strewn throughout. (Although the yoga-ish dancing is, uh, quite original.) Finding out that the recorded version of the track was produced by Timbaland was merely the icing on my "this song would not exist without the songs it is made up of" cake, and it should serve as an ominous sign that the iconic producer has moved on from simply ripping himself off to taking "inspiration" from the songs that his earliest productions provided a radio respite from. More »
sore winners
Sure, Kenny Chesney may have won his fourth straight Entertainer Of The Year Award at last night's Academy of Country Music Awards, but he's not all that happy with it! Why? Because he feels like the newly introduced element of fan voting has turned the award "into a sweepstakes to see who can push people's buttons the hardest on the Internet," instead of recognition from the winner's peers. If he'd added in "and a gimmick to cheaply drive up traffic to whatever Web site is hosting the awards for future purposes of advertising pitches," I would be in 100% agreement with him!
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Kenny Chesney Is Not All That Impressed By The Wisdom Of Crowds
Sure, Kenny Chesney may have won his fourth straight Entertainer Of The Year Award at last night's Academy of Country Music Awards, but he's not all that happy with it! Why? Because he feels like the newly introduced element of fan voting has turned the award "into a sweepstakes to see who can push people's buttons the hardest on the Internet," instead of recognition from the winner's peers. If he'd added in "and a gimmick to cheaply drive up traffic to whatever Web site is hosting the awards for future purposes of advertising pitches," I would be in 100% agreement with him!
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everybody's a winner
Miranda Lambert's Crazy Ex-Girlfriend took home the Album Of The Year prize at last night's ACM Awards, which were held in Las Vegas. Sugarland, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, and Kenny Chesney each won two awards on the evening; among Chesney's hardware was the Entertainer Of The Year Award, which was voted on by some half-million fans in the first year that the ACM opened the award-giving floodgates to the masses. Lest you think that Chesney's win was some sort of margarita-lubricated fluke, know that this is actually the fourth straight year he's won the award. Because everybody loves a party! Full list of winners after the jump.
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Miranda Lambert Is The Academy Of Country Music Awards' Kind Of Crazy
everybody's a winner
While I'm a good boy about keeping up with the pop singles chart, when it comes to classier, indie-oriented stuff I tend to focus on the familiar. Last night I hunkered down with Sun Kil Moon's April, The Gutter Twins' Saturnalia, and Portishead's Third, all great albums from artists who made their biggest impression well over a decade ago. So it's not a total surprise that I hadn't heard any of the five nominees for the Mojo Honours' Breakthrough Act Of 2008. But it gave me an excuse to get familiar with singles from Duffy, Foals, Bon Iver, Pete Molinari, and the Last Shadow Puppets.
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The Mojo Honours Help A Lazy Blogger Break Through
While I'm a good boy about keeping up with the pop singles chart, when it comes to classier, indie-oriented stuff I tend to focus on the familiar. Last night I hunkered down with Sun Kil Moon's April, The Gutter Twins' Saturnalia, and Portishead's Third, all great albums from artists who made their biggest impression well over a decade ago. So it's not a total surprise that I hadn't heard any of the five nominees for the Mojo Honours' Breakthrough Act Of 2008. But it gave me an excuse to get familiar with singles from Duffy, Foals, Bon Iver, Pete Molinari, and the Last Shadow Puppets.
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everybody's a winner
Last night's CMT Music Awards—the country-music television network's version of its sister network MTV's Video Music Awards—veered into "a little more than slightly excruciating" territory when co-host Miley Cyrus tripped her way through a Taylor Swift intro in which she talked about texting the glittery-guitar-hoisting country protege incessantly, an endless setup to what would be one of many "ha ha, Dad, I'm paying your bills!" zingers that the Hannah Montana star sent in the direction of her father/svengali, "Achy Breaky Heart" singer Billy Ray Cyrus. (Yes, he performed the line dance that sent him and his mullet to stardom back in 1992, the same year his cash cow was sired.) The opening skit, in which Trace Adkins and his really greasy mop tried currying favor with everyone from Donald Trump to the three remaining Presidential candidates in order to get passes to the show, also mined that route; its final punchline was that Billy Ray was making extra scratch by scalping tickets, which were of course hot properties because of his daughter's presence. That girl is going to be so messed up in three years. Full list of winners—which includes three awards for Kellie Pickler, two for Taylor Swift, and one for that super-creepy video where Jon Bon Jovi and Leann Rimes make out—after the jump.
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The CMT Awards Take "One-Hit Wonder" Jokes To An Uncomfortable New Level
Last night's CMT Music Awards—the country-music television network's version of its sister network MTV's Video Music Awards—veered into "a little more than slightly excruciating" territory when co-host Miley Cyrus tripped her way through a Taylor Swift intro in which she talked about texting the glittery-guitar-hoisting country protege incessantly, an endless setup to what would be one of many "ha ha, Dad, I'm paying your bills!" zingers that the Hannah Montana star sent in the direction of her father/svengali, "Achy Breaky Heart" singer Billy Ray Cyrus. (Yes, he performed the line dance that sent him and his mullet to stardom back in 1992, the same year his cash cow was sired.) The opening skit, in which Trace Adkins and his really greasy mop tried currying favor with everyone from Donald Trump to the three remaining Presidential candidates in order to get passes to the show, also mined that route; its final punchline was that Billy Ray was making extra scratch by scalping tickets, which were of course hot properties because of his daughter's presence. That girl is going to be so messed up in three years. Full list of winners—which includes three awards for Kellie Pickler, two for Taylor Swift, and one for that super-creepy video where Jon Bon Jovi and Leann Rimes make out—after the jump.
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everybody's a winner
Starbucks fave and allegedly swoonworthy singer-songwriter Feist was the big winner at last night's Juno Awards—you know, the Grammys of Canada?—sweeping the Single of the Year, Album of the Year, and Pop Album Year categories and taking home the awards for Artist of the Year and Songwriter of the Year as well. But the fans were not having any of it, handing Michael BublĂ© his only award of the night through voting on the Juno Web site. Yeah, you tell them what side of the smooth-music coin you like, people of Canada! Full list of winners—which is absent of the words "Avril," "Lavigne," and "Celine," but does have Finger Eleven and Ozzy Osbourne—after the jump.
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Feist Feels The Weight Of Toting Around Five Juno Statues
Starbucks fave and allegedly swoonworthy singer-songwriter Feist was the big winner at last night's Juno Awards—you know, the Grammys of Canada?—sweeping the Single of the Year, Album of the Year, and Pop Album Year categories and taking home the awards for Artist of the Year and Songwriter of the Year as well. But the fans were not having any of it, handing Michael BublĂ© his only award of the night through voting on the Juno Web site. Yeah, you tell them what side of the smooth-music coin you like, people of Canada! Full list of winners—which is absent of the words "Avril," "Lavigne," and "Celine," but does have Finger Eleven and Ozzy Osbourne—after the jump.
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everybody's a winner
The NME—which has taken to branding itself as "The World's Fastest Music News Service," which I guess is their way of sidestepping allegations about its accuracy—will hold the American version of its Shockwaves Awards on April 23 in Los Angeles, and you aren't invited. But don't worry! You can stream the whole thing on MySpace, thanks to one of those partnership deals that press releases trumpet as "exclusive" and jaded eyes read as "last-ditch attempts to make people on this side of the pond care about a brand that doesn't really mean much to them unless they're really into overly breathless prose and/or Billy Childish."
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"NME" Attempts To Establish Its Brand In US By Piggybacking Off Other Brands
The NME—which has taken to branding itself as "The World's Fastest Music News Service," which I guess is their way of sidestepping allegations about its accuracy—will hold the American version of its Shockwaves Awards on April 23 in Los Angeles, and you aren't invited. But don't worry! You can stream the whole thing on MySpace, thanks to one of those partnership deals that press releases trumpet as "exclusive" and jaded eyes read as "last-ditch attempts to make people on this side of the pond care about a brand that doesn't really mean much to them unless they're really into overly breathless prose and/or Billy Childish."
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everybody's a winner
Last night, the PLUG Independent Music Awards—the only awards show in town where having categories honoring "Album Of The Year" and "Indie Rock Album Of The Year" seems both indulgent and redundant—were presented at Terminal 5, in a ceremony that was hosted by Patton Oswalt, apparently ditched last year's dumb skits, and culminated in a Nick Cave show. While there weren't many surprises in the list of honorees (apparently, many people who vote in Internet music polls like the Arcade Fire and live in New York City), I'd like to give a special shout-out to Online Record Store Of The Year iTunes, who proved that the right combination of canny song placement and driving the labels crazy with your success can give you bucketloads of cred among the indie cognoscenti. Full list of winners after the jump.
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The PLUG Awards Give The Kids One More Chance To Honor The Arcade Fire
Last night, the PLUG Independent Music Awards—the only awards show in town where having categories honoring "Album Of The Year" and "Indie Rock Album Of The Year" seems both indulgent and redundant—were presented at Terminal 5, in a ceremony that was hosted by Patton Oswalt, apparently ditched last year's dumb skits, and culminated in a Nick Cave show. While there weren't many surprises in the list of honorees (apparently, many people who vote in Internet music polls like the Arcade Fire and live in New York City), I'd like to give a special shout-out to Online Record Store Of The Year iTunes, who proved that the right combination of canny song placement and driving the labels crazy with your success can give you bucketloads of cred among the indie cognoscenti. Full list of winners after the jump.
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everybody's a winner
Hot on the heels of its Alex Turner-loving, George Bush-hating awards show last week, the NME has decided that it's going to bring a version of the NME Awards to the United States, and that said awards will be "in recognition of great American alternative talent past, present and future." The voting process—which is going on right now, and which will allow the magazine to harvest even more e-mail addresses in its attempt to become a force in the American "alternative/independent" music scene, even though the precise definition of that slashed term is still a bit dodgy thanks in part to the past few years' watercolor-like runniness between "indie" and music that is actually, y'know, independent—will culminate in a private ceremony held in Los Angeles next month. (What, you thought that voting would get you in? Silly kids! That's not how pseudo-event-styled democracy works!) The full list of categories that you can nominate artists for, after you offer up your name, address, year of birth, and blood type to the mag's publishers, is after the jump.
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NME To Bring Its Incessant Arctic Monkeys Lauding To The US
Hot on the heels of its Alex Turner-loving, George Bush-hating awards show last week, the NME has decided that it's going to bring a version of the NME Awards to the United States, and that said awards will be "in recognition of great American alternative talent past, present and future." The voting process—which is going on right now, and which will allow the magazine to harvest even more e-mail addresses in its attempt to become a force in the American "alternative/independent" music scene, even though the precise definition of that slashed term is still a bit dodgy thanks in part to the past few years' watercolor-like runniness between "indie" and music that is actually, y'know, independent—will culminate in a private ceremony held in Los Angeles next month. (What, you thought that voting would get you in? Silly kids! That's not how pseudo-event-styled democracy works!) The full list of categories that you can nominate artists for, after you offer up your name, address, year of birth, and blood type to the mag's publishers, is after the jump.
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everybody's a winner (except the hoosiers)
The only awards show anywhere that could pit Hero Of The Year Pete Doherty against Villain Of The Year George W. Bush: The NME Shockwaves Awards, the 55-year-old ceremony that honors the breathless British tabloid's favorite—and least favorite—artists and albums. The Arctic Monkeys came up as the big winners this time out, winning Best Band, Best Video, and Best Track (but losing Best Album to the Klaxons); also the Manic Street Preachers were awarded the Godlike Genius Award, which will no doubt get some old-school Britpop fans out of the messageboard woodwork. Of course, the NME being "cheeky" means that there were some least-faves as well, and among them are Worst Band recipients the Hoosiers (who I keep thinking are "the Hooters") and the Worst Dressed honoree Amy Winehouse. Full list of winners after the jump. [NME]
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The NME Shockwaves Awards: Those Brits Sure Do Like The Arctic Monkeys
The only awards show anywhere that could pit Hero Of The Year Pete Doherty against Villain Of The Year George W. Bush: The NME Shockwaves Awards, the 55-year-old ceremony that honors the breathless British tabloid's favorite—and least favorite—artists and albums. The Arctic Monkeys came up as the big winners this time out, winning Best Band, Best Video, and Best Track (but losing Best Album to the Klaxons); also the Manic Street Preachers were awarded the Godlike Genius Award, which will no doubt get some old-school Britpop fans out of the messageboard woodwork. Of course, the NME being "cheeky" means that there were some least-faves as well, and among them are Worst Band recipients the Hoosiers (who I keep thinking are "the Hooters") and the Worst Dressed honoree Amy Winehouse. Full list of winners after the jump. [NME]
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everybody's a winner
In the shadow of the Grammys and their tributes to the aged come the nominations for the Kids Choice Awards, the Nickelodeon-sponsored awards for tween faves that have somehow been around for 21 years. While the four music-related categories do include single nods to Disney stars Miley Cyrus (Best Female Singer; she's also up for Television Actress) and the Jonas Brothers (Best Music Group, where they're up against Boys Like Girls, Fall Out Boy, and Linkin Park), the true winner is somehow Fergie, who is up against Cyrus in the Best Female Singer category and whose "Big Girls Don't Cry" is a nominee for Best Song, a category where three of the four nominees have the world "Girl" in them. Full list of music nominees after the jump.
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The Kids Choice Awards: More Songs About Girls
In the shadow of the Grammys and their tributes to the aged come the nominations for the Kids Choice Awards, the Nickelodeon-sponsored awards for tween faves that have somehow been around for 21 years. While the four music-related categories do include single nods to Disney stars Miley Cyrus (Best Female Singer; she's also up for Television Actress) and the Jonas Brothers (Best Music Group, where they're up against Boys Like Girls, Fall Out Boy, and Linkin Park), the true winner is somehow Fergie, who is up against Cyrus in the Best Female Singer category and whose "Big Girls Don't Cry" is a nominee for Best Song, a category where three of the four nominees have the world "Girl" in them. Full list of music nominees after the jump.
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