The MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist. It’s an award an artist can only win once in his or her career. It means that out of the huge crop of new artist to release a video every year, you were the best (or your fanbase is the best at voting, but we’re not trying to split hairs here.)
While some BNA winners go on to have flourishing careers years down the line, some fizzle and have to count that win as their one moment of glory before they entered the sad and lonesome world of a has-been.
As we get ready to see who will be crowned Best New Artist at the 2010 VMAs, going down Sunday, September 12, (Justin Bieber, Jason DeRulo, Broken Bells, Nicki Minaj, and Ke$ha were all vying for the awards), we’ll take a look at where a few past Best New Artist winners are now and see if they’re still the best.
Name/Year: a-ha – 1986 – Take On Me
Then: Admit it. You use to dance in the mirror to a-ha’s ‘Take On Me.’ The song was irresistible and its video was innovative back then.That’s the only reason I won’t scream foul over ‘Take On Me’ beating out Whitney Houston’s ‘How Will I Know.’
Now: a-ha is still touring and releasing albums — their latest album was released on 2009 — but they haven’t had a hit nearly as ubiquitous or lasting as ‘Take On Me.’ Whitney Houston, on the other hand…
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Name/Year: Fiona Apple – 1997 – Sleep To Dream
Then: Fiona Apple was no doubt inspired by the previous year’s Best New Artist winner, Alanis Morissette. Apple’s ‘Sleep To Dream’ was the epitome of teen angst perfection. But above having one great song to fall back on, she had an album that would go down as a classic. No wonder she beat out other huge (for 1997) acts like Hanson with ‘MmmBop’ and Jamiroquai’s brilliant ‘Virtual Insanity.’
Now: Sadly, Apple’s debut album, Tidal, was as big as she got. That night at the VMAs could be seen as her undoing. When she accepted her award, she went of a b*tchy tirade against the commercialization of music and the media choosing what’s cool. Hanson wouldn’t have done that.
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