Known affectionately as the MMVAs, the iHeartRadio MuchMusic Video Awards took place in Toronto this weekend, honouring the best and hottest Music Videos. Co-hosting this year were Brampton’s own Alessia Cara and Joe Jonas, the latter who has appeared on multiple occasions dating back to his days with his fraternal trio.
In town for the occasion were a litany of talent including performers Imagine Dragons, Arkells, Camila Cabello (formerly of Fifth Harmony), Julia Michaels, Iggy Azalea, Jessie Reyez, Lorde, Post Malone, DNCE (Jonas’ new band) and Niall Horan (formerly of One Direction).
Presenting awards this year are a who’s-who of television among the intended target audience of the awards show including KJ Apa (Riverdale), Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black), Brandon Flynn (13 Reasons Why), Keke Palmer (Scream Queens), Dove Cameron, Lilly Singh, Nikka Bella, Darren Criss (Glee), Kat Graham (Vampire Diaries), Shay Mitchell (Pretty Little Liars), Carly Rae Jepsen, Bea Miller and supermodel Martha Hunt.
Shutting down a portion of Queen Street at the famed Bell Media headquarters, fans lined the streets and braved the rain for the Red Carpet. The evening’s biggest winners included: A Tribe Called Red ft. Yasiin Bey, Black Bear and Narcy – R.E.D. for Video of the Year, Shawn Mendes – Mercy for Best Pop Video and iHeartRadio International Artist of the Year went to Lorde.
Most Buzzworthy Canadian Artist was awarded to Drake, who beat out Justin Bieber, Shawn Mendes, The Weeknd and Alessia Cara.
We spotted some of the stars of the 2017 iHeartRadio MuchMusic Video Awards around town this weekend. Check out our Snaps!
Ziggy Igs. She’s the realest. #IggyAzalea in town for the #MMVAs #MuchMusicVideoAwards
A post shared by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
A post shared by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
A post shared by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
A post shared by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
A post shared by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
A post shared by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
The lovely #KatGraham, of #VampireDiaries at #MMVAs. #MuchMusicVideoAwards
A post shared by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
A post shared by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
#TorranceCoombs (#Reign) x #AlyssaCampanella (Miss USA) at the #MMVAs. #MuchMusicVideoAwards
A post shared by Mr. Will Wong 📸 (@mrwillwong) on
See a complete list of winners here.
(Photo/video credit: MUCH/Mr. Will Wong)
She’s grown-up so much! Lorde has been away from the spotlight for a bit now but the time away has done lots for her maturity wise. She sings candidly about a break-up on new single GREEN LIGHT, which actually is pretty exceptional. Accompanying the single is a gorgeously-shot Video. She’s effortless, cool and we feel like we really are getting a piece of her broken heart here in this Clip from Director Grant Singer.
See the Video:
We don’t believe it’s already been four years since she burst on the scene!
Lorde‘s upcoming album MELODRAMA will be released Summer 2017.
(Photo/video credit: Universal Music/Mr. Will Wong)
The 56th annual GRAMMY Awards took place tonight at Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles – Music’s Biggest Night! The Stars came out in droves and in what was an odd, exciting Red Carpet, we saw an assortment of Helmets and Hats donned on some of the biggest names in Music including the likes of Madonna, Daft Punk, Yoko Ono and Pharrell, who lit Twitter afire with his exaggerated RCMP-like Hat. The Fashion Entrepreneur, Producer and Singer/Songwriter not only won in the Category of Best Producer (Non-Classical), but won coveted Record of the Year and also Best Pop Duo/Group Performance with his Daft Punk Collaboration, Get Lucky.
French Electronica Duo Daft Punk made only their second-ever televised Performance tonight – a momentous Occasion with Stevie Wonder joining them and Pharrell. What made the Night extra-special however was their huge Wins for coveted Top Honour of Album of the Year, Best Electronic/Dance Album and Best Engineered Album with their 2013 Disc, Random Access Memories. In total, they won five GRAMMYs night individually and in collaboration.
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis who debuted only last year, too were the Kings of the GRAMMYs this year, sweeping the most important Rap/Hip-Hop Categories including Best Rap Album, Best Rap Song (Thrift Shop), Best Rap Performance (Thrift Shop) and Best New Artist. In addition, the Duo stole the Show tonight partnering-up with Queen Latifah and Pop Legend Madonna for a much-talked-about Performance of Same Love, which saw 33 Couples of all Orientations being wed at the Event as Queen Latifah officiated the Ceremony. Madonna then joined on-stage in a white Suit and Cowboy Hat singing the Hook to her Hit Open Your Heart.
Watch the Performance below:
Although surprisingly she wasn’t nominated for Best New Artist, shy 17-year-old New Zealand Sensation Lorde more than made-up for that with a huge win for Best Solo Pop Performance with her Hit Royals. The Track also won coveted Song of the Year and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a huge sales boost next week for her 2013 Debut, Pure Heroine. In a succinct pair of Speeches where she seemed genuinely shocked to win, she thanked her fellow Nominees Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, Sara Bareilles and Justin Timberlake for being inspirations in her own Music. She also accepted with her Co-Writer/Producer Joel Little, letting him do most of the talking.
Katy Perry turned several heads tonight in her Valentino Dress which was adorned with Musical Notes, in addition leaving an impression with her eerie and theatrical Performance of latest Single, Dark Horse.
Taylor Swift undisputedly had the best Red Carpet Look tonight, wearing well an elegant chain-linked Gucci Dress. She performed her Track All Too Well, complete with head-thrashing, finished with a mood-appropriate pensive smirk versus her usual enthusiastic show of gratitude post-Performance. Although she wasn’t a Winner tonight, she was up in for prestigious Album of the Year with her Disc Red, released in October 2012.
Watch Swift perform All Too Well:
Canada also fared well this year at the GRAMMYs, with our own Michael Buble nabbing his fourth GRAMMY with his Disc To Be Loved in the Category of Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. Jennifer Gasoi won Best Children‘s Album with her Throw a Penny in the Wishing Well.
Nominations were announced tonight in Los Angeles at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live for the 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards, rung-in with a Concert from several potential Nominees.
Leading the way was Hip-Hop Impresario and Multimedia Mogul Jay-Z with an impressive nine nominations, while four Artists tie in second spot with seven nominations apiece – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Pharrell, Justin Timberlake and Kendrick Lamar. Toronto’s Drake has us well-represented, nabbing a total five nominations.
Missing surprisingly in the category of Best New Artist is New Zealand Teen Sensation Lorde, whom howmever is recognized in some of the more major categories. After several comparisons between Sara Bareilles’ Brave and Katy Perry‘s Roar, many eyes will be on the Best Pop Solo Performance category as both are pitted against one another for Pop Music Glory.
See Perry‘s Toronto-recorded performance Roar acoustically at the Nominations Concert:
Nominees are as follows in some of the Evening’s most-watched categories:
Best New Artist
James Blake
Kendrick Lamar
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Kacey Musgraves
Ed Sheeran
Album Of The Year
The Blessed Unrest — Sara Bareilles
Random Access Memories — Daft Punk
Good Kid, M.A.A.D City — Kendrick Lamar
The Heist — Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Red — Taylor Swift
Song of the Year
Just Give Me A Reason — Pink Featuring Nate Ruess
Locked Out Of Heaven — Bruno Mars
Roar — Katy Perry
Royals — Lorde
Same Love — Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Featuring Mary Lambert
Record Of The Year
Get Lucky — Daft Punk & Pharrell Williams
Radioactive — Imagine Dragons
Royals — Lorde
Locked Out Of Heaven — Bruno Mars
Blurred Lines — Robin Thicke Featuring T.I. & Pharrell Williams
View a complete list of Nominees here.
The 56th Annual GRAMMY Awards air Sunday, January 26, 2014 on CBS at 8:00 PM EST.
(Photo credit: Universal Music)
It was a great year for Pop Music in 2013. DJ Earworm recaps it best and in what is becoming an annual Pop Tradition, the San Francisco-based Mash-up Artist has just unveiled his United State of Pop 2013 Megamix. And he never disappoints! Although a bit less energetic and a bit darker than previous year’s, this is definitely among his best.
The Mix includes Billboard Magazine‘s Year-End Top 25 Songs and this year we have:
Avicii feat. Aloe Blacc – Wake Me Up
Bruno Mars – When I Was Your Man
Capital Cities – Safe & Sound
Daft Punk feat. Pharrell Williams – Get Lucky
Eminem feat. Rihanna – The Monster
Florida Georgia Line feat. Nelly – Cruise
Imagine Dragons – Radioactive
Imagine Dragons – Demons
Jay-Z feat. Justin Timberlake – Holy Grail
Justin Timberlake – Mirrors
Justin Timberlake feat. Jay-Z – Suit & Tie
Katy Perry – Roar
Lady Gaga – Applause
Lorde – Royals
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Ray Dalton – Can’t Hold Us
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis feat. Wanz – Thrift Shop
Miley Cyrus – Wrecking Ball
Miley Cyrus – We Can’t Stop
OneRepublic – Counting Stars
P!nk feat. Nate Ruess – Just Give Me A Reason
Rihanna – Stay
Robin Thicke feat. Pharrell & T.I. – Blurred Lines
Swedish House Mafia feat. John Martin – Don’t You Worry Child
Taylor Swift – I Knew You Were Trouble
Will.I.Am feat. Britney Spears – Scream And Shout
Check it out in full below:
Pop Music’s new It Girl is perhaps the unlikeliest of all. Alternative-Pop Sensation LORDE (nee Ella Yelich-O’Connor) might only be 16-years-old, but the New Zealand-born Singer/Songwriter already has a U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Number One Hit under her belt in Royals. And believe me, times are real tough right now the likes of Katy Perry, Rihanna, Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga all gunning for glory with singles in heavy rotation on our Airwaves – hence, LORDE‘s feat is all the more impressive.
The luscious-locked Songstress known for her brilliant Lyrics and rich-timbered Mezzo-Soprano, arrived in the City last night after a heavy Promo Blitz in New York City last week for Debut Disc, Pure Heroine – now in stores. She is scheduled tonight to play at Danforth Music Hall, where several Fans were seen queueing many hours in advance for a preferred spot.
Several reports from Fans around the World are consistent in that her Handler’s are extra-protective (and rightfully so) of their prized Artist with Fans trying to access her for Autographs and Photos – only a lucky few have succeeded and it is rumoured that her Autograph currently has a value upwards of $250. After declining requests earlier in the day at an appearance and stunning performance on 102.1 The Edge, several left empty-handed, but alas later in the day she was more than accommodating when she was spotted heading out to dinner.
A soft-spoken LORDE, dressed in an exquisitely-cut Trench Coat on a humid October Day, was sweet enough to stop to pose for Photos with Fans with a smile, expressing her appreciation for their support. I am sure I’ll look back at this one day and remember this is the day I met the iconic LORDE; she certinaly is headed for greatness.
Download LORDE‘s PURE HEROINE on iTunes now here!
See our Snap below:
One of 2013’s most eagerly awaited Debut Discs comes from New Zealand’s LORDE (née Ella Yelich-O’Connor), who at the age of 16 is stirring-up just the right amount of buzz in anticipation of her debut Disc Pure Heroine, set for release October 1, 2013 domestically via Universal Music Canada.
Just this past week, she became the first Woman since 1996 to top the Billboard Alternative Songs Chart with her debut Single, a minimalist Electro-Pop Moment titled Royals. She also accomplished the same feat on the Canadian Alternative Rock Charts, performing well also on the Canadian Hot 100 and US Billboard Hot 100 Charts, meaning the Track successfully has crossed-over to Pop Radio.
The harmonies are Freddie Mercury-esque, the Lyrics are Hip-Hop, feeling oddly familiar yet certifiably fresh. I won’t deny there’s a bit of Lana Del Rey there, but LORDE definitely has an accessibility that will gain her potentially more Fans Stateside. I’m awful excited to hear what’s coming next as she is quoted as crafting a “cohesive” Disc.
For advertising opportunites please contact mrwill@mrwillwong.com