Rashmi Shastri - World Music Awards 2006

World Music Awards @ Earl's Court 15th November 2006

The 18th World Music Awards took place Wednesday 15th November 2006 at Earl’s Court in London, UK. Most of the fans waiting outside since the night before were there solely for the legendary Michael Jackson. The Red Bull and Vodka was overflowing and the atmosphere was vibrant. We headed straight to the red carpet inside the venue to see who and who wouldn’t turn up to show off what they were wearing.

At first there were many Z-list celebrities and nobodies posing on the red carpet and you knew they were nobodies because they had plenty of time to chat to the cameras. Things started to pick up as Chris Brown stopped to speak to us, “I’m really looking forward to my tribute performance to Michael Jackson, and it’s a real honour to be here. I’m working on my new album at the moment and I also hope to work with Michael [Jackson] on a record. Baby, I wanna talk to you later!” Chris Brown performed the Michael Jackson hit ‘Thriller’ at the awards ceremony but the performance was nowhere near exciting as the rehearsal was.

Paris Hilton walked past and looked stunning but didn’t speak to anyone since she was on her diamond studded mobile phone for most of the night. Jordan, or Katie Price as she likes to be called, entered with Peter Andre but it seemed she had no time to speak to anyone and dragged Peter along with her even though he was more willing to chat. We had the delightful view of Michelle’s [Liberty X] bum crack while her partner Andy lovingly tried to pull her dress up. Even Tommy Hilfiger stopped by with a gorgeous woman on his arm and when asked what he was wearing he classically replied, “I’m wearing myself tonight!” Victoria Silvestedt looked beautiful but as she came closer and started speaking to the press I realised her cleavage is unbelievably wrinkly, explanations anyone?

Beyonce (who also won the World's Best R&B Artist award) opened the show with Déjà Vu and gave it all the energy she got. Her performance definitely got everyone in the mood for a show. She later returned to perform Irreplaceable which is most probably where Mary J. Blige was supposed to perform but she was nowhere in sight. Lindsay Lohan, the host of the evening, didn't do much hosting and looked like a fish out of water while she was. There were also performances from Nelly Furtado, Enya, Katie Melua and Faithless.

Michael Jackson entered the stage to accept the Diamond Award for selling over 100 million copies of his 'Thriller' album from Beyonce and there were at least 10,000 cheers in the venue. That was the moment everyone had been waiting for. He accepted his award graciously and thanked London, his fans and his children. A bit of backstage gossip, he was apparently driven in a car straight to the stage inside the venue. After Michael Jackson exited, Rihanna entered. The poor girl was greeted with deafening boos and jeers as she took to the stage to perform 'Unfaithful' because the fans were expecting a performance from Michael Jackson. Understandably, she started very shakily but picked up towards the end.

Michael Jackson finally took to the stage for what has been rumoured to be the last time he was to perform in public. The stage was covered with children accompanying him singing 'We Are the World.' The emotion was running high and I saw many people crying and screaming in the audience. There is no doubt that it was an historical moment.

Back at the press room I spoke to Maxi Jazz from Faithless and asked him what the awards meant to him, “There’s no such thing as a type of music being better than another. These award shows have five nominees and one winner which means there are four losers but there are no losers in music, they wouldn’t be there if they weren’t already seriously popular. Real artists don’t take the winning and losing seriously, thank goodness.”

Nelly Furtado was giggling like a school girl dressed in a stunning white Versace gown, “I’m very happy to win World’s Best Pop/Rock Artist this year. Performances are sometimes stressful but it’s so nice to go up and accept an award and relax! The difficult thing is going up and down the stairs in a long gown but it’s definitely been a pleasure for me.”

While grabbing my last Red Bull and Vodka for the night I bumped into Heidi from the Sugababes who told me, “I’m having a great time so far and on top of that we got to present an award tonight!”

It can’t be denied that the show was star studded but I definitely have mixed opinions on the performances. Overall, it was a great night even though my feet were hurting me so much (I might be a bit of a lightweight for heels) I walked barefoot from London Bridge all the way home and collapsed on my bed at 1am.

Nelly Furtado

Heidi from the Sugababes

Louisa Lytton a.k.a Ruby from Eastenders

Tim Kash of MTV News

Tommy Hilfiger

Chris Brown rehearsal of 'Thriller'