Monday, November 05, 2007

Celine Dion wins the world

The World Music Awards - older readers will remember these as an easy way for ITV to fill some of the deader night-time hours in the mid-1990s; laying claim to the "world" of the title solely by virtue of being held in a place that record company bosses fancied a tax-deductible trip to.

They're still going, you know. This year, they were in Monaco (lovely at this time of year, we understand), and they gave Celine Dion an award for "an outstanding contribution to music". And it's well deserved. She's not released an album for over 18 months, and the world of music really has been a better place for it.

Even more unlikely, Mika won five awards: new artist, male entertainer, pop/rock male artist and U.K. artist. These are, of course, awards handed out by the IFPI based on sales, so in a way you can't argue with them. But even so, let's argue with them: Mika? Are you serious?

Avril Lavigne - who, yes, we still feel has been eclipsed by the march of time - picked up bestselling pop/rock female artist and bestselling artist for the region of Canada.

Completing the comedy line-up, Akon took three prizes, although nothing for getting caught up in hilarious coincidences. Best male R&B artist, internet artist and artist from Africa were his prizes.

It says a lot about the IFPI worldview that "Canada" and "Africa" are both considered equal regions.

The other winners included:
* Pop Female – Rihanna
* Entertainer of the year – Rihanna
* Regional Award, U.S. – Justin Timberlake
* Regional Award, Australia – Silverchair
* Regional Award, China – Jay Chou
* Regional Award, Ireland – U2
* Regional Award, Middle East – Amr Diab
* Regional Award, Spain – Miguel Bose.
* Legend - Patti LaBelle


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Silverchair? SILVERCHAIR?!

If anything, shouldn't they have been getting the Quick-they've-been-going-for-a-dog's-age-and-they've-got-a-Greatest-Hits-coming-out-so-make-up-an-award-that-sounds-a-bit-grand 'legend/lifetime/outstanding/hall-of-fame' gong?

I still remember Alf Stewart hilariously referring to them as 'Silvertable' in an early 'Home and Away', about fifteen years ago.

Tim F said...

Patti LaBelle?

That's the embodiment of the let's-give-an-award-to-the-most-famous-person-we-can-persuade-to-show-up principle.

Did she perform a medley of her greatest hit?

Unknown said...

"Regional award, Ireland - U2"

Is that some kind of sinecure?

Anonymous said...

Eclipsed by the march of time, WTF?


AVRIL LAVIGNE NOW HAS THE MOST NO. 1 TOP 40 HITS THIS DECADE, Source: BILLBOARD.COM

Avril Lavigne has ascended to a lofty pedestal: The 22-year-old now has the most No. 1 top 40 hits this decade at "five" and is the No. 2 artist in the 14-year history of Nielsen BDS, behind Mariah Carey's six chart-toppers. —Chuck Taylor (Billboard.com)

It's official - see weblink:
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/content_display/reviews/singles/e3i6337374c02990aa382432d13494ab554

Anonymous said...

Eclipsed by the march of time, WTF?

Avril was the best selling female artist in the world in 2007, according to World Wide Albums.

http://www.worldwidealbums.net/

Simon Hayes Budgen said...

Yes, eclipsed by the march of time.

All you've really done is post a link showing how easy it is to get a number one these days.

Post a Comment

As a general rule, posts will only be deleted if they reek of spam.