MTV Announces the Nominees in the Worldwide Act Category of the "2011 MTV EMA"

LONDON and NEW YORK,  Oct. 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- MTV today announced the five nominees that will compete in the all-new Worldwide Act category at the "2011 MTV EMA". For the past five weeks, MTV has given fans across the globe a chance to vote for their favorite hometown artists, all to help that local act secure the nomination and represent their respective region at this year’s EMA. Starting today, these five nominees will go head to head in one last round of voting in an effort to earn the Worldwide Act distinction. The five global finalists are: Britney Spears (North America); Lena (Europe); BIGBANG (Asia Pacific); Abdelfattah Grini (Africa/India/Middle East); and Restart (Latin America).

Hosted by multi-talented singer and actress Selena Gomez, the “2011 MTV EMA” will premiere Sunday, 6th November at 9PM CET* from Belfast, Northern Ireland. In the U.S., the show will premiere on Tr3s: MTV, Musica y Mas on Sunday, November 6th at 6:00PM ET/PT, and on mtvU on Monday, November 7th at 12:00PM ET/PT. The “2011 MTV EMA” is sponsored by Dell, Replay, Hyundai and Swatch.

The Worldwide Act category celebrates diversity and the breadth of all the music that MTV has to offer by nominating incredible artists from all corners of the world. Fans can vote at www.mtvema.com until 11:59PM CET on Friday, 4th November, and the Worldwide Act winner will be announced at the show in Belfast.

About the Nominees for Worldwide Act

Britney Spears (North America)
It’s hard to believe it was way back in 1999 when Britney Spears of Kentwood, Louisiana, first took the stage at the MTV EMA. That year, the fresh-faced former Disney star took home trophies for Best Female, Best Pop Song, and Best Breakthrough Artist. Since then, she’s grown up a lot...and though she’s weathered some very public ups and downs in her personal life, today she’s triumphantly back on top of her game.

Winner of the EMA for 2008 Album of the Year and Act of 2008, Britney has been ranked by Billboard as the top-selling female artist of the 2000s’ first decade. And her latest album, Femme Fatale, has seen three singles crack the Top 10 on the U.S. charts: 'Hold It Against Me', 'Till the World Ends'—which earned her the 2011 VMA for Best Pop Video—and 'I Wanna Go'. The 29-year-old mother of two has wowed fans on her Femme Fatale tour this year, reinforcing her status as a true pop icon.

Lena (Europe)
With her song ‘Satellite’, 19-year old singer Lena won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2010 and achieved big publicity and chart success all throughout Europe. Her album ‘Good News’ went platinum in Germany, and she set a record debuting three songs in the top five of the German singles chart. Lena has already won two ECHO awards in 2011—now she wants to catch hold of the EMA.

BIGBANG (Asia)
BIGBANG is the hottest band in Korea, consisting of members G-DRAGON (aka GD), T.O.P, TAEYANG (aka SOL), SEUNGRI (aka V.I.), and DAESUNG (aka D-Lite). With their urban-originated music and flamboyant fashion style, BIGBANG is a boy band that is loved by not only teenagers but also older age groups. With the breakthrough single “LIE”, BIGBANG became the most wanted in Korea’s music industry. While such hit singles as “Last Farewell”, “Day By Day” and “Sunset Glow” topped various charts in Korea for weeks, BIGBANG became the most influential artist in Korea.

Their latest EP Tonight went on to become a chart-topper upon its release on many Korean music charts. The album also became the first K-pop album to reach the top 10 on the U.S. iTunes chart and is the only non-English-language album in the top 100. Big Bang won the Best 5 New Artists award from the 24th Japan Gold Disc Awards as well as the Best New Artist. The group received the awards for Best Pop Video and Best New Artist at the MTV Video Music Awards Japan 2010.

Abdelfattah Grini (Africa/India/Middle East)
Abdelfattah Grini began singing at the age of 13. He dresses like a rapper or a graffiti artist, but when he opens his mouth to sing, the 26-year-old’s rich voice has the power to transport the listener to back to the debonair days of Mohamed Abdel Wahab and Abdel Halim Hafez. It is hard to believe that the hard-working musician, who resides and works mainly in Egypt, has only been a professional singer for four years. It all began in 2007, when he became one of the winners on an MBC talent show called Album Program. Two singles were released in April 2008, resulting in a compilation called Rashed Wa Ahbabou with over 21,000 copies sold. This quickly led to the release of his first official album, titled Ya Khsartak Fy Ellayaly, four months later. Currently working on his fourth album with MBC’s Platinum Records, Grini has sold up to 30,000 copies of his award-winning albums, and his YouTube music videos have millions of views each. With his upcoming work, he plans to experiment with electronica and fuse modern and classical sounds.

Restart (Latin America)
Restart is one of the youngest and most successful bands in Brazil. With only 3 years of existence, they gathered a legion of fans all over the country. The enormous success in Brazil started a very well succeeded expansion to Latin America, where they already have a huge amount of fans specially in Argentina, where they had a mini-tour with sold out concerts, last July. Their happy songs and colorful style contribute for the success of these 4 young guys, who already won lots of awards all over Brazil, including 5 awards in MTV Brazil’s VMB 2010 (Artist of the Year, Hit Song of the Year, Pop Artist of the Year, Best Music Video and Breakthrough Artist of the Year).

About the 2011 MTV EMA
The 2011 MTV EMA will be hosted by Selena Gomez. Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Coldplay, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jessie J, LMFAO and Snow Patrol are confirmed to perform, and Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi, Jenni “JWOWW” Farley and Awkward star Ashley Rickards are confirmed to present. Queen will be honored with this year's Global Icon award and will also take the stage for a special performance. More performers and presenters will be announced in the coming weeks. Viewers can vote for their favorite EMA artists by visiting www.mtvema.com. Lady Gaga leads the pack of EMA nominees with six nods, with Katy Perry and Bruno Mars following closely behind with four nominations. Adele, Justin Bieber and Thirty Seconds To Mars are each up for three awards. Other EMA nominees include Foo Fighters, Snoop Dogg, My Chemical Romance, Jennifer Lopez, LMFAO, Jessie J, Beyonce, Coldplay, Eminem, Arcade Fire, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Far East Movement, Kanye West, Linkin Park, Wiz Khalifa and Kings of Leon. Richard Godfrey and Bruce Gillmer are Executive Producers for the “2011 MTV EMA.”  For all MTV EMA news and announcements, check out EMA on Facebook and follow us @ EMA Twitter.  For MTV EMA press materials, please visit press.mtvema.com.

*check local listings; the show will air tape delayed in some markets.

About MTV:
MTV is the world’s premier youth entertainment brand.  With a global reach of more than a half-billion households, MTV is the cultural home of the millennial generation, music fans and artists, and a pioneer in creating innovative programming for young people.  MTV reflects and creates pop culture with its award-winning content built around compelling storytelling, music discovery and activism across TV, online and mobile.  Outside of the United States, MTV is part of Viacom International Media Networks, a division of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms.  For more information about the 2011 MTV EMA, please visit press.mtvema.com.

SOURCE Viacom International Media Networks