Australian MTV Awards Make Me Feel Better About America

Dan Gibson | April 28, 2008 3:30 am

On the days when I’m trying to entertain you people with the blogging, I get a little depressed sometimes about American music. Spend any amount of time looking through music coverage in daily or weekly newspapers or trade magazines, and it’s hard to see a bright side as miserable acts fly up the charts. On the other hand, Australia’s MTV Awards were this weekend, and their popular music seems to suck more than ours, so chin up, buddy!

Meet Delta Goodrem (whose name unfortunately sounds like a Scientology term), a 23 year old former soap star who dominates the Australian charts and who won the Video of the Year award for “Believe Again”. The track was apparently inspired by classical music and modern adult contemporary music, and the video was the most expensive in Australian music history. Goodrem is engaged to a former member of banal British boy band Westlife, which seems just about right. Apparently, she’s looking to make a break into the American market, and with that horrible Leona Lewis song everywhere, her success seems more plausible everyday, so be forewarned.

I should have made a spoiler alert earlier for anyone planning to catch tonight’s broadcast featuring stars such as Mischa Barton on the satellite, but the Australian artist award went to the Veronicas, an duo made up of identical twins who are sort of a less interesting version of t.A.T.u.

Is there a country left with a musical output I can look to wistfully as being so much better than America’s? France? The Philippines? Togo? Anywhere?

Stars turn out as Pop reigns at the MTV Australia Awards [New Zealand Herald]