Lopez Blogs

I guess tonight was "big Saturday" with a couple of major music awards ceremonies, so firstly here are the results of the NRJ Music Awards, held (as ever) in Cannes tonight:

Francophone Revelation of the Year: Joyce Jonathan
International Revelation of the Year: Justin Bieber
Francophone Female Artist of the Year: Jenifer
International Female Artist of the Year: Shakira
Francophone Male Artist of the Year: M. Pokora
International Male Artist of the Year: Usher
Francophone Group/Duo of the Year: Justin Nozuka & Zaho
International Group/Duo of the Year: The Black Eyed Peas
Francophone Song of the Year: M. Pokora - "Juste Une Photo De Toi"
International Song of the Year: Shakira - "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)"
Concert of the Year: The Black Eyed Peas
Music Video of the Year: Lady Gaga & Beyonce - "Telephone"
Hit of the Year: Flo Rida feat. David Guetta - Club Can't Handle Me
NRJ Award of Honour: David Guetta

So...shamefully I've been out of the loop as far as French music goes, over the last couple of years so many of the nominees didn't really mean anything to me. However I'm very familiar with the names of the winners...Matt Pokora is still as popular as ever. Although "Juste Une Photo de Toi" is OK I guess, it doesn't excite me in the way that, say, "Elle Me Controle" or "Dangerous" did (and still do) but that's probably more to do with the fact that I'm really, really, REALLY fed up with landfill r'n'b - in any language - please make it stop! Although I'd probably take Matt over all the British rubbish if I had to choose.

Very happy for Jenifer though, even though she beat my all-time fave French female Mylene. Talking of whom, she made her long-awaited appearance tonight - but why did she have to spoil it by miming? At least Jenifer sang live!

Oh, and major points deducted for those awards to the Black Eyed Peas - a band I used to like, believe it or not, but now I hate them with a passion.

Meanwhile, over in Gothenburg it was time for the P3 Guldgalan - and (of course) it was Robyn's big night...

Guldmicken (Best live artist): Robyn

Best artist: Robyn

Best song: "Dancing on my own" - Robyn

Best group: Johnossi

Best newcomer: Tove Styrke

Best dance act: Skudge

Best hiphop/soul: CarlitoBest pop: This Is Head

Best rock/metal: Khoma

One of the more fascinating things about this award ceremony was Orup and the Spiderdogs' medley of the Best Song nominees - click on the link at http://sverigesradio.se/sida/default.aspx?programid=3964

Results courtesy of http://www.expressen.se/:

Årets album: Robyn: "Body talk"
Årets artist: Håkan Hellström
Årets låt: Robyn: "Dancing on my own"
Årets grupp: Johnossi
Årets kvinnliga artist: Robyn
Årets manliga artist: Håkan Hellström
Årets kompositör: Klas Åhlund och Robyn
Årets textförfattare: Håkan Hellström
Årets nykomling: Oskar Linnros
Årets producent: RedOne
Årets barnalbum: Orkester Pop
Årets dansband: Lasse Stefanz
Årets folkmusik/visa: Blandade artister - "Sonja Åkesson tolkad av"
Årets hårdrock: Watain
Årets jazz: Dan Berglunds Tonbruket
Årets klassiska: Zilliacusperssonraitinen
Årets specialutgåva: Peter LeMarc
Årets svenska internationella framgång: RedOne
Årets urban/dance: Familjen
Årets innovatör: Iamamiwhoami
Vinnare av årets hederspris: Dag "Dagge" Häggqvist
International artist breakthrough of the year: Donkeyboy.

Above: Oskar Linnros (and his new moustache) celebrate being named the year's best newcomer. And deservedly so!

So....I'll be posting my thoughts over the next couple of nights, as I don't have much time to write my full post just now.

Well, firstly, massive congratulations to Robyn - "Body Talk" was a truly ambitious and prolific experiment. To produce and release such a body of work over the space of a year deserved to be rewarded. Along with Shakira, Robyn is probably the most significantly talented female artist in the world today, yet her music doesn't receive the same level of hype or attention as the overrated and ubiquitous Rihanna and Katy Perry. But we all know by now - Sweden does it better! Well done Ms Carlsson :)

Of course anything I'm going to write about the Grammis will inevitably be clouded by my own taste and judgement, and regular readers will know what I'm going to say: no awards for Salem Al Fakir, which was incredibly disappointing for me, although I don't think the man himself will be too bothered as I remember a quote from him in the past that he "doesn't make music to win awards". But the recognition would have been nice nonetheless. At the time the nominations were announced, I was pretty stunned that there were only two nominations - for best male artist and best song. At the same ceremony 3 years ago, the same singer received a whopping 9 nominations and took home 4 awards. At that time he was critically acclaimed and reasonably well-known, yet not a household name.

When we fast-forward three years, something changed. Salem became that household name thanks to his "great experiment" i.e. appearing in Melodifestivalen. He released a reasonably experimental third album, but it would appear that the nominating committee took the advice of that album's title, "Ignore This" and did just that. The message here would appear to be, 'appear in Melodifestivalen and say goodbye to a Swedish Grammy'. So enjoy your moment, Lasse Stefanz, for it may not come again...!!

For like all music awards ceremonies, the Grammis would seem to be more about the critics' favourites rather than what's popular. Or indeed, what's "pop" - thank goodness we have the refreshing alternative of the Scandipop Awards for that!

Yet it's also an award ceremony full of contradiction. For all the bias towards the "credible" artists/lyricists, many of whom write and sing in Swedish, this year's big winner was an artist who writes and sings in English, and who is both commercially successful and a critics' fave. That's probably the big difference between Sweden and Britain: Sweden is proud to celebrate its artists' successes, particularly beyond Swedish borders - so that award for the ubiquitous RedOne is no surprise - whereas in Britain, when you become successful, the media turn against you.

Another artist who is loved by the critics and is hugely successful at the same time, is this year's triple-winning Håkan Hellström. Despite this, he has never really appealed to my taste although I can understand his crowd-pleasing popularity thanks to his anthemic rock singalongs.

A major shock in the 'best group' category, I thought - the seemingly unstoppable Kent, who made one of their best albums in years, being beaten by the relatively new but very promising Johnossi. I guess this is maybe a sign that the awards jury are looking to the future rather than the past?

Happy to see Donkeyboy win an award in the international category. I didn't know they had this category in the Swedish Grammis, as I thought it was just for Swedish artists and when I saw the result at first I was rather puzzled by this, as the last time I looked, they were Norwegian!

I would have liked to have seen Oskar Linnros win more than one award - and indeed, I'd have liked Daniel Adams-Ray to win one too. Oh well I guess there just weren't enough awards to go round :)) but seriously, the competition was very strong this year and whether or not you agree with the winners, you can't deny that Sweden has such a strong and varied music scene that there is something for everyone. So, even though my favourite artist didn't win anything, I was still very happy with most of the winners and almost all of the nominees. Congratulations to all the winners!

The Swedish music industry's annual prizegiving ceremony takes place on 17th January at the Royal Opera House in Stockholm. Today, the remaining nominations were announced following yesterday's announcement of the best single nominees. Here is the full list of categories and nominations (courtesy of www.musikindustrin.se):

Årets album (Album of the year)
HÅKAN HELLSTRÖM - 2 STEG FRÅN PARADISE
OSKAR LINNROS - VILJA BLI
ROBYN - BODY TALK
SÄKERT! - FACIT
THE RADIO DEPT. - CLINGING TO A SCHEME

Årets artist (Artist of the year)
HÅKAN HELLSTRÖM
JOHNOSSI
OSKAR LINNROS
PETTER
ROBYN

Årets barnalbum (Children's album of the year)
DAN BORNEMARK - LILLA TRAMS
JOHANNA OCH KÖKSKVARTETTEN - JOHANNA OCH KÖKSKVARTETTEN
KRÅKAN OCH BUSARNA - EN JÄTTELITEN LÅG HÖG
ORKESTER POP - STAVA MED SKÄGG
PELLE HÖGLUND OCH JOHAN SUNDSTRÖM - TORE BLAND AFRIKAS DJUR

Årets dansband (Dansband of the year)
LARZ-KRISTERZ - SMÅ ORD AV GULD
LASSE STEFANZ - TEXAS
ROLANDZ - JAJAMEN
THE PLAYTONES - ROCK 'N' ROLL DANCE PARTY
TITANIX - DRÖMMAR FÅR LIV

Årets folkmusik/visa (Folk music)
BLANDADE ARTISTER - SONJA ÅKESSON TOLKAD AV
FIRST AID KIT - THE BIG BLACK & THE BLUE
JONAS KNUTSSON - BLÅSLÅTAR
OLA MAGNELL - ROLÖS
TONI HOLGERSSON - IBLAND KALLAR JAG DET KÄRLEK

Årets grupp (Group/band of the year)
DUNGEN - SKIT I ALLT
HÄSTPOJKEN - FRÅN DÄR JAG ROPAR
JOHNOSSI - MAVERICKS
KENT - EN PLATS I SOLEN
THE RADIO DEPT. - CLINGING TO A SCHEME

Årets hårdrock (Hard rock)
GHOST - OPUS EPONYMOUS
KHOMA - A FINAL STORM
PASCAL - ORKANEN NÄRMAR SIG
SABATON - COAT OF ARMS
WATAIN - LAWLESS DARKNESS

Årets jazz
DAN BERGLUNDS TONBRUKET - TONBRUKET
GORAN KAJFES - X/Y
MAGNUS CARLSON & THE MOON RAY QUINTET - ECHOES
ODDJOB - CLINT
PETER ASPLUND QUARTET - ASPLUND MEETS BERNSTEIN

Årets klassiska (Classical)
ELIZABETH PITCAIRN & HELSINGBORGS SYMFONIORKESTER - TOMMIE HAGLUND: HYMNS TO THE NIGHT
GÖTEBORGS SYMFONIKER / MARIO VENZAGO - HILDING ROSENBERG: SYMFONI NR 3 & 6
HELEN SJÖHOLM, RUSSELL WATSON M.FL. - KRISTINA AT CARNEGIE HALL
MATS BERGSTRÖM & GEORG RIEDEL - SÅNGER UTAN ORD
ZILLIACUSPERSSONRAITINEN - WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART: DIVERTIMENTO

Årets kompositör (Composer of the year)
ANNIKA NORLIN OCH HENRIK OJA - FACIT
HÅKAN HELLSTRÖM - 2 STEG FRÅN PARADISE
KLAS ÅHLUND & ROBYN - BODY TALK
OSKAR LINNROS - VILJA BLI
PERNILLA ANDERSSON - Ö

Årets kvinnliga artist (Female artist of the year)
ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF - SINGING FROM THE GRAVE
BRITTA PERSSON - CURRENT AFFAIR MEDIUM RARE
PERNILLA ANDERSSON - Ö
ROBYN - BODY TALK
SÄKERT! - FACIT

Årets låt (Song of the year)*
ANNA BERGENDAHL - THIS IS MY LIFE
DANIEL ADAMS-RAY - GUBBEN I LÅDAN
ERIC SAADE - MANBOY
ERIK GRÖNWALL - HIGHER
JOHNOSSI - WHAT'S THE POINT
MOHOMBI - BUMPY RIDE
OSKAR LINNROS - FRÅN OCH MED DU
ROBYN - DANCING ON MY OWN
SALEM AL FAKIR - KEEP ON WALKING
SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA – ONE
* Vote at www.expressen.se

Årets manliga artist (Male artist of the year)
DANIEL ADAMS-RAY - SVART VITT OCH ALLT DÄREMELLAN
HÅKAN HELLSTRÖM - 2 STEG FRÅN PARADISE
OSKAR LINNROS - VILJA BLI
SALEM AL FAKIR - IGNORE THIS
THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH - THE WILD HUNT

Årets nykomling (New artist of the year)
ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF - SINGING FROM THE GRAVE
CEO - WHITE MAGIC
FIRST AID KIT - THE BIG BLACK & THE BLUE
OSKAR LINNROS - VILJA BLI
SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA - UNTIL ONE

Årets producent (Producer of the year)
ADRIAN LUX
JOAKIM ÅHLUND & HÅKAN HELLSTRÖM
KLAS ÅHLUND
MAX MARTIN
RED ONE

Årets specialutgåva (Special award)
BLANDADE ARTISTER - SONJA ÅKESSON TOLKAD AV
MIKAEL WIEHE - ALDRIG BLI SOM NI - SÅNGER OCH SYNVINKLAR
NATIONALTEATERN - LÄGG AV! HISTORIEN OM NATIONALTEATERN
PETER LEMARC - STARKARE ÄN ORD - SAMTLIGA ALBUM 1987-2008 OCH MER DÄRTILL
THE ARK - IN FULL REGALIA

Årets svenska internationella framgång (Swedish international success)
DUNGEN
MAX MARTIN
RED ONE
ROBYN
SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA

Årets textförfattare (Lyricist of the year)
ANNIKA NORLIN - FACIT
HÅKAN HELLSTRÖM - 2 STEG FRÅN PARADISE
OLA MAGNELL - ROLÖS
OSKAR LINNROS - VILJA BLI
PLURA JONSSON - KÄRLEKENS VÄG - EN MÄSSA

Årets urban/dance
BOEOES KAELSTIGEN - TANUM TELEPORT
FAMILJEN - MÄNSKLIGHETEN
PETTER - EN RÄDDARE I NÖDEN
PH3 - PH3 LÖSER ETT FALL
SWEDISH HOUSE MAFIA - UNTIL ONE

Årets innovatör
IAMAMIWHOAMI
JOHNOSSI
MAGNUS WEIDESKOG
NOMY
ROBYN

So...the river of creative musical talent continues to flow in Sweden, and the competition is tighter than ever as all the "big guns" released albums over the past year, whilst some new names arrived on the scene. One of those new names - 'new' as in 'new solo artist' anyway - Oskar Linnros, has seven nominations, as does Robyn, whilst Håkan Hellström has six nominations.

It's (almost) all good. There's just one thing wrong, and if you're a regular reader of this blog then it won't take long for you to guess what that is.

Only two nominations for Salem Al Fakir. Whilst I'm delighted that he was nominated at all, I am still very disappointed that he only received two nominations when he deserved so many more this year, after producing a stunning album, "Ignore This". I guess the jury just took the album title a bit too literally....or could it be that after his appearance in Melodifestivalen and reaching a whole new audience, maybe he's just not "cool" enough anymore to be nominated? Yet there are some very commercially successful acts in the list....oh well, let's just say I'm not happy, and I don't understand why he's been overlooked in the artist/album/lyricist/composer/producer categories.

At this point you're all probably saying "get over it!" but you know what I'm like by now.....and I just want to clarify that I'm very happy with most of the nominees - especially Oskar, Daniel, Robyn and Kent. One thing is for sure - Sweden can be very proud of its musical talent.

Årets artist
Daniel Adams-Ray – Svart vitt och allt däremellan
Håkan Hellström – 2 steg från paradise
Oskar Linnros – Vilja bli
Robyn – Body talk pt. 1
Säkert! ­– Facit

Årets grupp
Hästpojken – Från där jag ropar
Johnossi – Mavericks
Kent – En plats i solen
Swedish House Mafia – Until one
The Radio Dept. – Clinging to a scheme

Årets nykomling
Anna von Hausswolff
First Aid Kit
Jasmine Kara
Royal Republic
Tove Styrke

Årets låt
Daniel Adams-Ray – Gubben i lådan
Johnossi – What's the point
Oskar Linnros – Från och med du
Robyn – Dancing on my own
Salem Al Fakir – Keep on walking
Swedish House Mafia feat. Pharrell – One (Your name)

Guldmicken (tilldelas årets bästa liveakt)
Familjen
Hoffmaestro
Håkan Hellström
Melissa Horn
Robyn

Årets dans
Alexi Delano – Samlad produktion
Avicii/Tim Berg – Samlad produktion
Harald Björk – Bigfield
Skudge – Samlad produktion
Swedish House Mafia – Samlad produktion

Årets hiphop/soul
Carlito – Guldburen
Jasmine Kara – Blues ain't nothing but a good woman gone bad
PH3 – PH3 löser ett fall
Supersci – Timelines
Trainspotters – Dirty north

Årets pop
Anna von Hausswolff – Singing from the grave
Robyn – Samlad produktion
The Radio Dept. – Clinging to a scheme
The Tallest Man on Earth – The wild hunt
This is Head – 0001

Årets rock/metal
Ghost – Opus eponymous
Khoma – A final storm
Pascal – Orkanen närmar sig
The Baboon Show – Punk rock harbour
Watain – Lawless darkness

Another date for your diaries - one of Sweden's hottest music award ceremonies will take place on Saturday 22 January 2011 at Lisebergshallen in Gothenburg. I refer of course to the P3 Guldgalan!

The nominees will be revealed at a press conference at the beginning of December, by which time we should also know about the artists performing at the ceremony. Of course there are always surprises too, like the January 2010 Guldgalan performance by Staygold featuring Spank Rock, Robyn and a certain Damien Adore....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA9UA3CSnms

More information at http://sverigesradio.se/cgi-bin/press/artikel.asp?artikel=4138656

The 31st annual Rockbjörnen awards ceremony, organised by the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, and voted for by the public, took place in Stockholm last Wednesday, 1st September. The focus of this year's awards was on live music, and included the recent series of virtual concerts - "Live-löpet" - which as you know I had mixed feelings about :) anyway this year's ceremony took place in a tent on Djurgården and had a little 'downmarket' feel to it, but, hey, rock n' roll!!

Only it wasn't really too rock n'roll: the ceremony should maybe have been renamed "Popbjörnen" as many of the acts, whether nominated, winners, or performers, were more on the 'pop' side.

The ceremony was presented by Linda Sundblad who brought the right amount of rock-chick glamour to the evening with a selection of costume-changes, some more bizarre than others!

My major problem with the show this year was that it was just far too long, at over three hours. The length of the show didn't justify the amount of awards being given out - and more time seemed to be spent on mingling/backstage interviews than actual 'awarding'.

Anyway, onwards to the first award of the evening, for Årets Svenska Låt - best Swedish song of the year. Of course you'll know which song I wanted to win in this category - "Keep On Walking" by Salem Al Fakir, which, for me, is the best Swedish song of the year. However, the public vote went to "Från Och Med Du" by Oskar Linnros, who launched his solo career earlier this year and has had a phenomenally successful summer. His debut album's been well-received by both critics and the public alike. If Salem hadn't won in this category, I wanted Oskar to win it so I was pretty happy with this result.

In any awards ceremony where the public vote is involved, it's inevitable that the acts with the biggest fanbase end up with the prize. And so it was for Årets Konsert - concert of the year. The award went to Tokio Hotel, who still have a massive fanbase, although personally speaking I'm not so keen on their music as I used to be. The award was presented by Aftonbladet's music columnist Markus Larsson, I wouldn't imagine Tokio Hotel would get much airplay on his CD player....anyway the band weren't there to pick up their award as they are touring at the moment so accepted their award with a video message.

The next award - Årets Utlandska Låt - international hit of the year - also went to Tokio Hotel with "World Behind My Wall" which I can't recall being such a big hit in the Swedish charts, but that's fan power for you, yet again.

This year's awards featured a few live interludes, the first being by the always-reliable and always-wonderful The Ark. Ola was as 'understated' as ever and had two costume changes. If I remember rightly, they played "Take A Shine To Me", "Superstar" and then "Calleth You, Cometh I", which, if I'm honest, overstayed its welcome a little. Or maybe I just wasn't in such a good mood, I don't know :)

As I said earlier, there was a bit too much time spent on backstage/mingling interviews but it wasn't all bad, as some of the celeb-spotting was fun - oh look, there's Måns Zelmerlöw looking very nice in a black coat! - and Sean Banan was, um, "bringing up the rear" (you wouldn't get that at the Brit awards would you!!).

But back to the awards: Årets svenska livegrupp - best Swedish live group - went to...Kent. Oh, quelle surprise. I do like them, but it does get a bit predictable with them winning all the time.

Årets kvinnliga liveartist - best Swedish female live artist next. And the award goes to....Robyn! Oh what a good choice! However she wasn't there to pick up her award as she is on tour, but sent a video message.

Next live act on stage was none other than Eric Saade, with "Masquerade", "Break of Dawn" and finally, the song which he'll always be remembered for - "Manboy". He performed a very professional set and gave a better live performance than I was expecting from him: very professional.

Mingle time again....and who should be interviewed next? Only Salem and Nassim Al Fakir, who looked as if they were both having a lot of fun. (Salem was also interviewed later by Linda Sundblad). It was nice to see Lina and Tess from Alcazar there too, but there was no sign of Andreas...

A word about some of the people presenting the awards - comedienne Nour El-Refai used some colourful language, whilst Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, accompanied by fellow politician Maria Wetterstrand, revisited Bildt's Grammisgalan 2008 comedy jacket fashion disaster :)))

The prize for - Årets festival - Festival of the year - went to the organisers of Peace and Love.

Then it was time for the second award of the evening for Swedish music's brightest new star, Oskar Linnros - Årets Genombrott - Breakthrough Artist of the Year. Well done Oskar!!

Next live act of the evening was Tove Styrke. The Idol 2009 runner-up is now launching her solo career with her debut single, the very catchy "Million Pieces". She has so much charm and charisma, but something seemed to go very wrong during her performance and it all went off-key. I wondered if she maybe lost her earpiece or was there another problem with the sound?

More mingling, then...

...the final award of the evening, the award for Årets svenska manliga liveartist - Swedish male live artist of the year. Again I'd hoped that Salem Al Fakir would win this one, he's had a fantastic year during which he has won the hearts of the Swedish people, and had a long, successful summer tour. However, it's another one of those categories where the presence of Lars Winnerbäck is enough to guarantee an award. I don't really understand Winnerbäck's appeal, but each to their own, I suppose.

The final live act of the evening was Hoffmaestro & Chraa. I'd heard of them, but hadn't heard their music before. It felt as if there was about 20 of them on stage (!) and they certainly provided a lively conclusion to the evening's proceedings.

OK, time for some photographs. These red-carpet and onstage shots are all courtesy of Swedish celeb-spotting website www.stureplan.se - enjoy!

Above: man of the moment, Oskar Linnros.

Above: Eric Saade.

Above: Måns Zelmerlöw.

Above: my vote for Årets svenska livegrupp....Salem, Adam, Jakob and Nisse!

Above: The Ark.

Above: Oskar Linnros and Linda Sundblad.

Above: Carl Bildt and Maria Wetterstrand's complementary comedy jackets.

Above: Eric Saade, on stage.

Above: Tove Styrke on stage.

Kim Kardashian 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards

62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards Arrivals Kim Kardashian arrives at the 62nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards held at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on August 29, 2010 in Los Angeles, California.

Nominations closed yesterday for all the categories in Aftonbladet's annual 'people's music prize' which this year has been given a "live" twist.

The final nominees were revealed today....of course I'm very very happy about some of them ;)

Of course with any poll which involves public voting, you don't always get a deserved winner, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the Swedish public gets it right this time!

BEST SWEDISH MALE LIVE ARTIST:
Salem Al Fakir
Oskar Linnros
Lars Winnerbäck
Eric Saade
Ola Svensson

My choice: An entertainer, a showman, and an outstanding live artist with the potential to be a worldwide superstar. In other words...Salem Al Fakir!

BEST SWEDISH FEMALE LIVE ARTIST:
Robyn
Melissa Horn
Amanda Jenssen
Anna Bergendahl
Agnes

My choice: I can't really see past Robyn for this one, although Amanda is a strong challenger.

BEST SWEDISH LIVE GROUP:
Kent
Mando Diao
Hoffmaestro & Chraa
The Ark
In Flames

My choice: Again, good category - I'd be happy with The Ark, Kent or Mando Diao.

BEST SWEDISH SONG OF THE YEAR:
Från Och Med Du – Oskar Linnros
Keep On Walking – Salem Al Fakir
Unstoppable – Ola
Nothing Without You – Mando Diao
Manboy – Eric Saade

My choice: No contest - "Keep On Walking", which actually is the best Swedish song of this year. However, as with the Swedish Grammys, this can be one of those categories where you should never underestimate an artist's fanbase, which can often result in an inferior winner.

BEST INTERNATIONAL SONG OF THE YEAR:
Tokio Hotel - World Behind My Wall
Lady Gaga - Bad Romance
Justin Bieber - Baby
Lady Gaga - Telephone
Lady Gaga - Alejandro

My choice..."ra-ra-roma-ma.." however I fear the worst, thanks to the incomprehensible popularity of J***** B*****. But then I'm not a 10 year old. Even if I was a 10 year old, I'd still find his popularity incomprehensible...!

BEST BREAKTHROUGH ACT:
Oskar Linnros
Eric Saade
Anna Bergendahl
Justin Bieber
Andreas Grega

My choice: Oskar Linnros - he is totally deserving of this award. But once again, unfortunately I fear the worst, 'baby, baby, baby, oohhhh..' :(

BEST CONCERT
Tokio Hotel
Mando Diao
Lady Gaga
Kent
Lars Winnerbäck

My choice: He's not in this category :( so in his absence I'd be happy with either Kent, Mando Diao, or Gaga.

BEST FESTIVAL
Peace & Love
Getaway
Sweden rock
Metaltown
Arvika

My choice: Peace & Love. I seem to remember it had a pretty good line-up.

OK so those are my choices, I'll probably be wrong as usual with most (or all) of them! Good to see Oskar Linnros getting three nominations - that's a nice birthday present for him as he is 27 today (happy birthday Oskar!!) There's an interview with him in today's Aftonbladet: http://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/musik/rockbjornen2010/article7622790.ab

Needless to say, Aftonbladet's Markus Larsson has his own views on the nominations: http://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/musik/rockbjornen2010/article7623770.ab

Scarlett Johansson Tony Awards

Scarlett Johansson 64th Annual Tony Awards Media Room Actress Scarlett Johansson The Sports Club/LA on June 13, 2010 in New York City.

Catherine Zeta Jones Tony Awards

Catherine Zeta Jones 64th Annual Tony Awards Media Room Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones Sports Club/LA on June 13, 2010 in New York City.

Scarlett Johansson 2010 MTV Movie Awards

Scarlett Johansson 2010 MTV Movie Awards Show Betty White, Sandra Bullock, Bradley Cooper and Scarlett Johansson speak onstage at the 2010 MTV Movie Awards held at the Gibson Amphitheatre at Universal Studios dated June 6, 2010 in Universal City, California.

Marisa Miller Guys Choice Awards

Marisa Miller Spike TV's 4th Annual 'Guys Choice Awards' Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, CA dated June 6, 2010.