Originally published at Nylon

Billboard’s annual Women in Music Awards are meant to bring women in the music industry together, instead of doing what the Internet loves to do and pit them against one another. The result is always a memorable night, full of inspiration. Seeing our favorite ladies get the honors they rightly deserve is always a treat, but this year’s ceremony was extra touching, as Billboard honored new loves and pop culture mainstays.

Missy Elliott was honored with the Innovator Award after bumping back on to the scene with both a Super Bowl performance and a new single. In a touching speech, Elliott not only detailed her own struggles and successes, but thanked the performers who helped pave the way for her: “I want to thank all those women who came before me, and I don’t know if y’all know how important that is to me because they kicked down the door for me to be able to walk through.”

Both Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez also accepted awards, the Rulebreaker Award and the Charttopper Award, respectively. While Gomez gave a short and sweet speech on the transformative period in her life that resulted in Revival, Lovato talked a little bit more about her history of being a rule breaker: “Another thing that reminded me of the Rulebreaker award is when I was in the first grade, this boy named Antonio Wallace, he came up to me and he said ‘girls suck!’ and I was all hyped up on Spice World and stuff, so I punched him in the face and I said ‘girl power!’ Needless to say, [I’ve] kinda always been a rule breaker, even since the first grade.”

However, the icon of the night proved to be Lady Gaga, as she accepted her Woman of the Year Award from her mother. Before a harrowing performance of her latest single, “Til it Happens to You,” Gaga sat behind her piano and offered a simple, heartwarming piece of advice: “If you work really hard you can just do anything.”

Lady Gaga’s always been an awe-inspiring live performer, but this one is extraordinary. Watch the full video of Gaga accepting her award and performing below.

Em Rossi new single “Madness” is getting some radio airplay and is featured on the American Airlines and United Airlines inflight show. Her new track was produced by Jim McGorman (Avril Lavigne, Michelle Branch, Shakira) and uniquely blends alternative, lounge, & jazz as well as a hooky horn line that reminisces Cake ‘Never There’. Having recently opened up for The Tenors at The Sessions at Willow Grove, this 17 year old singer-songwriter shows a lot of promise.
evan@experiencerecords.com, info@emrossi.com

Adele on YouTube, Adele on the Facebook news feed, Adele on top of Google searches, Adele on TV, Adele trending on Twitter, and Adele sells out tour. It’s Adele EVERYWHERE. Is Adele’s presence becoming overbearing? It doesn’t matter, she isn’t going anywhere, for at least a while.

As we speak, Adele is nearing 6 million copies of her latest ’25’. Miraculously, the album is selling near a million a week. Not the singles, but the entire album. No doubt, Adele will top the Forbes rich list in 2016. This a season that Adele will always remember. The season that Adele ruled the world.

Los Angeles 4-piece indie band Twin Oaks released the new album ‘White Noise” that is packed with impressive tracks including ‘Animal’, ‘Ghosts’, and the title track ‘White Noise’. The band masterfully mixes electronics & instrumentation while creating memorable haunting melodies. The new album is a follow up to the previous self released album ‘Lions Den’ which found airplay on college radio, and made the indie blog top 2014 lists. Twin Oaks has shared the stage with acts such as Wartime Recitals, Those Folk, and Bear On Fire.
info@twinoaksmusic.com

Texas singer-songwriter Ellen Hinton who goes under the moniker Ellen Once Again is seeing success with songs placements. Ellen who was inspired by Whitney Houston & Bill Withers in her formative years has developed into a top tier indie pop songwriter. Her bubbly-vintage sounds have been featured on television shows including Glee & Manhattan Love Story while her “I’m Feeling Lucky” appears in the new Hershey’s Deluxe commercial. Ellen notes “I want people to be encouraged and inspired when they listen to me,” she says. “It’s about spreading love through music.”
info@ellenonceagain.com