OOC: All judges, I just posted a plug for my artist O'Bryan Richmond. I hope it isn't too late to vote for him. But please try your best to nominate him, again, I am so sorry for posting him a plug in so late.

Alicia Lena

Best Solo Artist (Female)
She broke into the music industry in February of 2010 and quickly became a household name, attracting the likes of Stephanie Fierce and Ryan Ross Hernandez for her debut album which has gone on to sell over 4 million copies worldwide. Despite the critical success the album stalled at a peak of 12 in the USA but it’s her single’s which have thrust her into the limelight, releasing four singles New York Love Affair (Feat. Stephanie Fierce) peaking at 22 in the USA, More Than You’ll Ever Know peaking at 17 in the USA, Party-Starter (Feat. Tisha Jackson) peaking at number 7 in the USA and Rooftops (Feat. Ryan Ross Hernandez) peaking at number 3 in the Top20 charts.
In September she announced a special extended edition of the album out in December.
She has achieved all of this in a short space of time and next year it’s set to continue.

Best Album
This Is Who I Am
http://www.therockstarga...=posts&m=83385#83385

Stacey Walton
Best Newcomer
It’s hard to believe that Stacey Walton only broke onto the scene in July this year. Making her major live gig debut supporting Cosmic Beauty Contest, and it’s been all rise since then. She’s toured as much as time has allowed and she’s gained massive backing for the rawness of her live shows.
She released her debut single A Tender Kiss in mid July to very little interest, struggling to chart, but it all changed in August when the song unexpectedly re-entered the chart and stormed it, peaking at number 2 on the Top20 and staying there for almost 3 months.
This helped through her into the consciousness of the music world and she followed the momentum by releasing her debut album, The Sun Always Rises which peaked at number 7 in the UK and has gone on to sell 3 million copies in a very short space of time.
She released her follow up single and despite the huge pressure it still became a huge success peaking at number 4 on the Top20.
But it’s been the critical support from her peers which has held her head and shoulders above any of the other newcomers, Artists spend their whole career striving to get the critical reception from their peers but it’s just somehow came so easy to Stacey Walton.

Best Solo Artist (Female)
See Above

Best Album
The Sun Always Rises
http://www.therockstarga....aspx?g=posts&t=5264

Best Single
A Tender Kiss
As stated previously the single failed to chart initially but in August it shot up the charts to number 2 in the Top20. It has stayed in the Top20 for almost 3 months and has stayed in the Top 10 for the majority of that period.
It has currently sold over 1 million copies and continue’s to sell at a vast rate.

Best Live Artist
Q Magazine Live Review - http://www.therockstarga...=posts&m=80898#80898

Live At the Roxy -
http://www.therockstarga...=posts&m=84468#84468

Live At the O2 Academy, London -
http://www.therockstarga...=posts&m=85311#85311

Live At the O2 Academy, Glasgow -
http://www.therockstarga...=posts&m=88329#88329

Live Manhattan, New York (MTV Special) -
http://www.therockstarga...=posts&m=91722#91722

Best Personality
She is considered one of the most entertaining performers in music and her offstage persona has made her a massive success along with work. She is loved by many for her Witty, Carefree attitude.

Jake Wilson
Best Personality
Jake Wilson is an unlikely success. Prior to his success in the music industry he was a fairly unknown actor/writer/director.
He became huge after the Hall Of Fame Awards and since then has hosted his own music chat show and is set to debut his brand new TV Drama.

OOC: I didn't even initially plug him :O

Fathers of Fury

Best Newcomer

Fathers of Fury, the new Alt-Rock band on the block. Everybody knows the story of how they reached where they are today. After entering Battle of the Bands and coming second, the boys worked harder than ever before to make sure that they could make a name for themselves. The four of them have been together for less than a year, but it seems like they have been together forever, anyone could tell you that who has bought thre highly-anticipated Debut Single Subtle Distractions. The boys just released there second single and have an album due in december. The most highly anticipated band of the year has arrived.

Thought I'd get a last minute plug for the most important award of all.

Sexiest male. This is just to clarify that Jason Smith is better than all of you.



It's hard being this sexy.

Although her over sexy image is now toned down to a more professionally sexy style, Brittany will always be considered a very sexy and beautiful face in the music industry

Edited by user 09 November 2010 08:56:36(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Best Solo Artist (male):

Ryan Ross Hernandez

Best performance in mainstream music:

Ryan Ross Hernandez; Has had released two commercially and critically successful albums, combining in over 12.2 million copies sold in the United States alone, with an additional 3.8 million records sold in the rest of the world. Both albums produced at least three hit singles each, four of which topped the US Hot 100 singles charts, including the hit single off of Dark Secret Love, "A Never-Ending Trip to Heartbreak", which won him a Birdie/IMA award for best single.

Best Single:

"A Never Ending Trip To Heartbreak" - Ryan Ross Hernandez
Peak Charting: USA #1, Europe #3, Australia & New Zealand #30, Canada #54

Lyrical Meaning

"The opening track off the Dark Secret Love album, and I think it was like the second or third song I wrote for the record. After I had written it I knew I had a direction for the record. It sort of brought together, very cohesively, what I was trying to achieve with the idea of heartbreak and love, sort-of bringing that war feel to a heartbreak. When you can't get through to somebody by loving them, the next choice is to get through to them hurting them and that is what A Never-Ending Trip to Heartbreak, is about. I don't recommend it. I'd recommend full on global thermal nuclear war, before I'd recommend trying to make a lady jealous on purpose. It doesn't end well. A Never-Ending Trip to Heartbreak, is the language of hurt. Some people just speak hurt. And it's even worse when you're in a relationship, if you could even call it that, where both people in it are always trying to one-up the other."

Music and structure

The song marked some changes from the music that Ryan Ross Hernandez was known for, which was the soft blues influence in his previous albums. Songs like this song from Dark Secret Love, along with "All You Need Is Love Is a Lie" and "Fight On Until the Darkness Over Takes Us" went more towards Hernandez's more rock-oriented sound, which he showed more on Dark Secret Love.

Musically, the guitar riff and overall sound are very similar to the U2 song "Bad". Hernandez has admitted that while "A Never-Ending Trip to Heartbreak," may in fact resemble "Bad", he was not intentionally referencing it while composing his song.

"The Half-Hearted Lover" - Ryan Ross Hernandez
Peak Charting: To Be Determined

Lyrical Meaning + Music and Structure

"It's my 'I wish I was born in the seventies ode, living in Laurel Canyon in LA', this is the song I would have written, if I had grown up listening to Tom Petty and Fleetwood Mac. It's about the complexity of where a lot of people are in their life right now. Where they're trying to figure out how much room they have to give another person. This song is sort of the self-study of not being sure and being of split-mind and heart. Right now I'm twenty-five, and I wanna run! I'm running! It's one of the most honest songs, lyrical songs on the record. It describes my feelings on love, pretty much to the point. It's not putting how I feel into a certain language of a song. It's pretty much how I feel."

Possessing a slight country tone, it's a perfect blend of Hernandez's past work into an excellent pop song, and the female harmony vocals behind him, make Ryan sound like some kind of powerhouse without ever trying to force his falsetto vocals. Hernandez churns out a rustic, Tom Petty two-note motif surrounded by a pleasant pop jangle to create one of the most single-ready songs on the record veering stylistically between glossy modern blues and, well, glossy modern pop; here his intent is to channel the sunny, clear (and resurgently fashionable) radio-friendly sounds of Fleetwood Mac or Tom Petty. Lyrically, Ryan is engrossed with his interpersonal struggles. Even he doesn't know where he's headed. On the lead single, the twenty-five-year-old confesses his halfhearted intents when it comes to love, and his inability of fully devoting his time to another person. Hernandez is still as quizzical and pensive as ever, but he has never been more immersed in the spotlight whilst doing so. Ryan proves on, The Halfhearted Lover, that he can still wield a guitar like a fifth limb, fashion catchy hooks or howl a quivering, feel-good falsetto just as well, or even better than he could two years ago. The single sounds just as terrific when Hernandez drops the seriousness, pondering and sending up his reputation as a rake; portraying the dude who kisses with one eye open, scanning for his next conquest. Lyrical brooding aside, the music stirs everything from subtle country twangs to bluesy licks and simple pop melodies to accompany a chorus that is sure to be stuck in your head after first listen. The Halfhearted Lover, solidifies Hernandez as an artist who can appeal to sixteen year old teenagers with high school love drama, just as much as housewives in their forties who's husbands don't spend enough time with them, and every woman demography between them.

Sexiest Male:

Ryan Ross Hernandez



Sexiest Female:

Ashley Perry



Personality:

Ryan Ross Hernandez; is there really a need for an explanation here? I think not. And if you do read any of his interviews.

Icon Award:

Ryan Ross Hernandez; He is considered one of the biggest and most influential artist of the twenty-first century. His known for single handedly bringing back blues music into the mainstream successful market and his artistic genre diversity that range from rock, pop, blues-rock, jazz, soul, and even small hints of country, have landed him major success with fans of all ages and musical tastes, even receiving praise from some of today's biggest rock and metal acts. His approach to making music is somewhat uncommon, as he is known for taking prolonged times to write albums, never forcing out songs and letting them come naturally to him. His songwriting is as real and raw as anything you'll ever hear sung out by his soft falsetto or his low tenor vocals and even breaks out from those vocal ranges to higher or lower ones depending on the lyrical progression. Also a unique style he has is building upon his music around the lyrics first and foremost then works on the composing of it on acoustic guitar later on. Despite only playing guitar on his albums, beforehand he demos his songs on guitar, piano, synthesizer, drum machines, vibraphone and omnichord, giving them to his respective backing instrumentalists for them to work around that. Additionally to his own solo work, he has collaborated with the big name likes of Jakey Comatose, Raven Comatose, Stephanie Fierce, Alicia Lena, Miss Vanity, and Regan Futrell, among others. And has done production work for Reckoner, PANIC! and Alicia Lena. He's a six-time IMA/Birdies winner.

Technical Ecstasy:

Ryan Ross Hernandez; He has gained a distinction as an accomplished guitarist over the course of his career, Rolling Stone named him one of this generations "New Guitar Gods" and compared his guitar playing to one of his idols Eric Clapton. His guitar playing skills have ranged from simplistic pop rock and acoustic rock chords in his debut album, to bluesy guitar licks including extended jam session during live concerts, to laidback soulful progressions and pretty much anything in between. Hernandez has even admitted in the past that he is able to hear a song only once and be able to cover it on guitar perfectly. His guitar playing ability ranges from a wide range of genres, referring to himself as a "learned musician, natural songwriter, and singer by luck". In one interview he even went as far as saying, "Listen, I can play you Wes Montgomery's Smokin' at the Half Note. I can play you Van Halen's 'Panama. But at the end of the day I'd rather play you Sting's If You Love Somebody Set Them Free or Eric Clapton's Wonderful Tonight. I'd rather rock-your-ass for four minutes than rock-your-ass for four then bore you out for another six. I can rock-the-fuck-out. I can jam as good as my guitar idols. If I was just a guitarist I would get a fifteen minute guitar solo down on tape, but I'm not so I know what people want to listen from me before they even do."

(note: I'm not plugging PANIC!'s nominations since they (I) don't deserve to win any award with them since I haven't roleplayed them this entire year, aside on maybe one or two occasions.)

OOC: I forgot to add a judging rule....JUDGES CANNOT VOTE FOR THEIR OWN ACTS....Apologies for omitting this yesterday.

PS. JUDGING OPENS IN FOUR AND A HALF HOURS!!!