From The Straits Times    |

UPDATE 4.50 PM, 23/05/2013

To make sure that you don’t miss a thing at the Social Star Awards 2013 as it happens, see the full schedule for the night here.

Social Star awards 2013

Aerosmith and Japanese YouTube star Hikakin will collaborate for a performance tonight at the Social Star Awards 2013. PHOTO: STARCOUNT

Fans will be able to watch a live broadcast of the award ceremony live on Starcount’s YouTube channel from 9pm.

9pm: The show opens

9.05pm: Presentation of Music Solo Artist award

9.09pm: Aerosmith perform

9.23pm: Presentation of Sports Person award

9.30pm: Presentation of Music Group award

9.33pm: Carly Rae Jepsen performs

9.42pm: Presentation of Game award

9.43pm: Wrecking Crew (Japan) perform

9.53pm: Presentation of Film award

9.55pm: Asian girl band Blush perform

9.58pm: Sports Team award is presented

10.05pm: Presentation of Brand award

10.08pm: Psy performs

10.13pm: Presentation of TV Star award

10.18pm: Sky Blu performs

10.22pm: Presentation of Social Media Show award

10.25pm: American R&B singer Eric Benet performs

10.35pm: CeeLo Green performs

10.40pm: Presentation of Actor award

10.44pm: Presentation of Almighty award

10.50pm: Psy performs again, closing the show

PUBLISHED ON 7.16 PM, 22/05/2013
There was a steady stream of stars at the Social Star Awards press conference — Carly Rae Jepsen, Psy, Aerosmith and more performing stars talked and chatted with journalists at Marina Bay Sands this afternoon.

The press event held at the Sands Theatres today was a star-studded lead-up to the Social Star Awards, happening at the same venue on May 23.

Organised by Starcount, the award ceremony is the first of five to come, with the aim to “recognise just how influential (celebrities) have become through social media”; in short, the stars with the millions of fans of Facebook, Twitter and more.


Carly Rae Jepsen, Psy and Aerosmith at the Social Star Awards press event

At this award ceremony, what the fans think truly matters. Every tweet, Facebook share, view and comment will count towards deciding the winners of the night.

From admissions from the self-confessed Jumbo Seafood fan (it’s Psy) to the ever-quotable Aerosmith, we chart the highlights of the press conference here.

Carly Rae Jepsen has “alligator skin”
At the press conference, the “Call Me Maybe” star says she wants to make music that “feels sincere”; and that at the same time, she needed to have “alligator skin” to make it through all the criticism thrown her way.

“It’s about making clear the difference between helpful advice and people being mean,” she says, based on her experiences in Canadian Idol; she was one of the top three finalists in Season 5.

psy, gangnam style, aerosmith, carly rae jepsen, cee lo green, jessica alba, jeremy piven, lmfao, skyblu, redfoo, singapore, soc
Carly Rae Jepsen in Singapore

As a principal’s daughter, Jepsen says she was never a wild child. When she played Sandy at her high school’s Grease musical, she was fine with her role, until “good girl” Sandy took to leather.  

Still she stuck through, got her breakthrough with the mega-hit while according to her, “sticking true to who you are” — the same advice she would give to aspiring singers.

 

Psy’s love for seafood
Before “Gangnam style”, Park Jae-sang (better known as Psy) confessed that he knew little about computers. His twin daughters idolised his wife so much more than him.

But according to him, “just one song, in 10 months, everything changed”. Psy used to vacation in Las Vegas; now he makes trips to the city to win awards.

psy, gangnam style, aerosmith, carly rae jepsen, cee lo green, jessica alba, jeremy piven, lmfao, skyblu, redfoo, singapore, soc
Park Jae-sang (Psy) in Singapore

Last week, he met action star, Jackie Chan, who told him: “You’ll inherit (my) legacy.” His daughters were screaming in delight at his last performance in Korea — because daddy was “flying in the air”, on wires.

Having shot to fame with that “strange dance”, Psy will soon perform his latest hit “Gentleman” and more in Singapore at the Singapore Social 2013 concerts on May 24.

While Psy admits frankly that he “cannot ‘beat’ Gangnam Style — miracles don’t happen twice,” he’ll still want to spread the love of Korean pop far and beyond. “There’s normal and abnormal Asians … I’m another kind of Asian.”

When quizzed on his favourite Singapore restaurant, Psy hesitates, he remembers a seafood restaurant but not the name of it.

But that question doesn’t leave his mind. He prompts his minder a second, and then a third time about finding it out during the press conference. Then he remembers, and says decisively: “Jumbo Seafood” to the applause of the audience.

 

Aerosmith likens themselves to Peter Pan
For a rock band that feigns ignorance about social media — “what internet?”, they deadpan — Aerosmith has planned plenty of Twitter-related fan involvement for the week.

The band plans on screening videos, photos while they perform a track on stage (track still undecided), based on whatever the fans send them through Twitter.

psy, gangnam style, aerosmith, carly rae jepsen, cee lo green, jessica alba, jeremy piven, lmfao, skyblu, redfoo, singapore, soc
Aerosmith in Singapore

As Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler puts it, “the reason’s Aerosmith’s been such a successful band is because we break down the walls of things.”

“We still like to get pissed off, and have passion and do s— that no one else will do. When we get on stage, we’re going to mash it up with some of the best. You’re going to see it for the first time ever, and it’s going f—— beautiful!”

When quizzed on their longevity in rock music — they’ve been performing for over 40 years now — Tyler replies: “I live vicariously through the music … Plus women do something to me too (that) I can’t explain.”

In reference to not only Peter Pan, but also Oscar Wilde’s only novel, the Aerosmith singer quipped about his agelessness: “I jumped out of Dorian Gray’s picture.”

 

herworldPLUS will be covering the Social Star Awards 2013, as it happens; follow us on Twitter and Facebook for the latest red carpet and behind-the-scenes news.

The Social Star Awards will take place at the Marina Bay Sands Theatres on May 23, 2013; the Singapore Social 2013 concerts are to be held at The Meadow, Gardens By the Bay on May 24 to 25.

For more information, go to www.starcount.com. Follow Starcount on Twitter and Facebook for more updates.