Sisqo Wins Big at Billboard Awards
December 6, 2000 -- LAS VEGAS — It was almost a foregone conclusion that Sisqo would leave Sin City with at least one prize from the Billboard Music Awards on Tuesday night. But by the end of the event, held at the MGM Grand Arena, the "Thong Song" singer had walked away with six of them, including nods for Male Artist of the Year and New Artist of the Year, earning more awards than any other artist.
"I really wasn't expecting to beat Eminem, not to mention Marc Anthony," he said backstage. "It was a pretty stiff lineup."
(For a complete list of winners, click here.)
His platinum head covered the entire evening, Sisqo explained that he was giving cornrows a shot and "going through a bad hair month." More importantly, he also confirmed that the reported problems with his band, Dru Hill, continue. "We are not recording anything right now," he said. "Egos clashed, and we couldn't figure it out and pull it together." But all is not lost in the Dru World Order — his mates will appear on Sisqo's forthcoming album, Return of the Dragon, due in spring 2001.
Country crooner Faith Hill, whose three awards included the Hot 100 Single of the Year honor for "Breathe," said that she couldn't be bothered by detractors who think she has sold out country music. "That's irrelevant to my career," she said. "I've always focused on my career and trying to grow as an artist. Critics have always had those little lines and sentences about me, and now that my career is so big, it's in bigger print."
And Baha Men percussionist Colyn "Mo" Grant explained that his group, which earned a pair of awards, has no problem with the manner in which his band hit the big time with the sports anthem "Who Let the Dogs Out." "We've been around the block a few times; we just happened to get our break right now," he said. "We had a gut feeling with this song. This song was going to be the song to open the doors for us, because we've been knocking on the door for a long time. Lots of people just know the song, now we want to let them know there's a band called the Baha Men."
Boxer Oscar de la Hoya, who presented an award with Toni Braxton, confirmed that he plans to release another album, probably next year. "We're looking at bringing out an English album, an all-pop album," he said. "This isn't just one album that I want to do. This is a career that I want for the rest of my life."
His podium partner Braxton, the Female R&B/Hip-Hop Artist of the Year, announced that she is hoping to start working on a new album next March and is considering touring as well. "That's my favorite part," she said. "It's my adrenaline rush. I have my microphone, my audience. It's like when you're on a roller coaster."
After earning three awards, including one for Best New Duo/Group of the Year, the members of 3 Doors Down happily said they planned on celebrating with "a lot of drinks." Frontman Brad Arnold added that though the band remains focused on touring and promoting its hit album, The Better Life, it's also "slowly" writing new material.
Artist of the Year Destiny's Child, whose members took home four awards in all, stole the show onstage and said backstage that winning a Billboard award means the world to the group. "They're so accurate, based on record sales and airplay," said Beyoncé Knowles. "You know you made it when you made a Billboard award." Knowles also addressed the personnel shift and lawsuits that have followed Destiny's Child in the course of the year. "We feel like nothing that we've been through has ever been negative. It's always made us stronger. We're at our height right now. The group is so solid. We're No. 1; we've been No. 1 for four weeks. There is no negative thing — it always makes you stronger. It makes you positive. That's why the next album is called Survivors, because we believe we are survivors." The new album, she said, is tentatively set for a Feb. 13 release.
Creed, whose Human Clay has lurked near the top of the charts for the past 62 weeks, landed the honor for Rock Artist of the Year.
"It's been a long time coming," bandleader Scott Stapp said soberly. "We've been around about six years now, under the radar, touring, and album sales have always been the same. We just haven't had the media exposure and the attention. We're rolling with it. It's exciting." And having earned this honor, he added that he and his two bandmates plan on taking a well-deserved break and unlike most of the other artists that made appearances, don't plan on filling up their date books anytime soon. "For the first time in five years, there's nothing on the schedule."