Cueshé, Rivermaya, Rachelle Ann top MYX Awards

Hale and Bamboo topped the nominations with five nods each and were expected to go home with the lion’s share of trophies. But when the envelopes were opened at the First MYX Music Awards held at Onstage Greenbelt in Makati City last Tuesday, June 6, the voting fans came up with a very different story. Hale and Bamboo, the big guns of 2005, went home empty-handed. The MMA had instead Cueshé, Rivermaya and Rachelle Ann Go as leaders of its first batch of happy awardees.

Rivermaya dominated the evening by winning for Favorite Music Video. This is the top MYX music award and it went to You’ll Be Safe Here. The Rico Blanco composition bested The Day You Said Goodnight by Hale; Mang Jose by Parokya ni Edgar; Gemini by Sponge Cola; and Hari ng Sablay by Sugarfree. The song, which was originally used in the TV series Spirits, also won for Rivermaya the Favorite Media Soundtrack trophy.

Cueshé, which must be the most successful recent import from the Visayas, won three out of its four nominations. These were for Favorite Artist, Favorite Group and for Stay, as the Favorite Song. The band lost to Yasmien Kurdi as Favorite New Artist. Meanwhile, Rachelle Ann Go was easily the belle of the ball as the only female nominee to bring home two awards. She won over rivals Barbie Almalbis, Sarah Geronimo, Kitchie Nadal and Nina for Favorite Female Artist, and her song From the Start was named Favorite Mellow Video.

The MYX Music Awards was conceived to strengthen the music channel’s commitment to the welfare of Filipino music. Save for one category, the Favorite International Video which went to the Pussy Cat Dolls’ Don’t Cha, everything else was geared towards honoring the works of our very own artists. Then true to its slogan of Your Choice, Your Music, MYX allowed the fans and televiewers to choose the winners via sms/text messaging.

The voting period took place during one month and MYX made the particularly brilliant move of putting the daily scores out on TV until a week before the announcement. This generated suspense and fostered competition among fans who were not about to let their idols lag behind in the tally. So they voted and voted and voted. Here are the other winners:

Rock Music Video: KLSP by Sponge Cola

Choice Urban Video: Tula by Gloc9

Remake: I Need You by Mark Bautista

Male Artist: Erik Santos

Indie Artist: Sandwich

Collaboration: Burn by Nina with Christian Bautista

MYX Live Performance: M.Y.M.P.

Guest Appearance in a Music Video: Anne Curtis in I Need You by Mark Bautista.

The MYX awards night was a truly star-powered one with most of the nominees present and lots of celebrity guests. Leading the pack was the pretty and hip-looking Sharon Cuneta, the first MYX Magna awardee and presenter of the Music Video of the Year award that went to Rivermaya. And because Sharon was the honoree, her favorite leading man Christopher de Leon came to perform his version of her classic theme song Bituing Walang Ningning in the show’s stunning tribute to the Megastar.

If you wish to see this, plus all that happened and who were there, for yourself, the MYX Music Awards will be shown tomorrow on MYX, Your choice, Your music.