The 2010 BET Awards Nominations have been released on Tuesday and our girl Mel has been nominated for a few of them. Check out all her nominations below

Best Female R&B Artist
Beyoncé
Mary J. Blige
Melanie Fiona
Alicia Keys
Rihanna

Best New Artist
Justin Bieber
Melanie Fiona
Nicki Minaj
Wale
Young Money

Video of the Year
Beyoncé f/ Lady Gaga – Video Phone
B.o.B. f/ Bruno Mars – Nothin’ On You
Melanie Fiona – It Kills Me
Jay-Z & Alicia Keys – Empire State of Mind
Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West – Run This Town

Centric Award
Melanie Fiona
Maxwell
Chrisette Michele
Monica
Sade

Melanie Fiona has little in her roots that would suggest a career as a soul singer. She hails from Canada and has West Indian roots. Still, she’s created a sound that blends familiar melodies with brash lyrics and strong vocals.

Fiona recently stopped by NPR while touring the U.S. to promote her new album, The Bridge.

“I always feel like music should be a universal language,” Fiona told NPR’s Michel Martin, host of Tell Me More. “I [did] this album to just feel good and have people all over enjoy it.”

People seem to be getting the message. Fiona’s hit single, “It Kills Me,” spent nine weeks at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard R&B singles chart. And she’s landed opening gigs with Kanye West and Alicia Keys.

Fiona says she tries to be honest in her lyrics, which often address her relationships with men.

“I am a bit of a hopeless romantic,” she says. “I really do have a faith and a belief in love, and when I love, I love hard.”

Fiona says she wants her songs to empower fans, but that she also wants to remain true to herself.

“I’ve refused to compromise who I am for anyone else,” she says. “And I’ve been that way in my music, I’ve been that way in my life and I absolutely feel that way about being that way in a relationship.”

Fiona credits her unique cultural upbringing and the support she’s received from friends and family, as well as those within the music industry, for her success. In fact, she says clinging to her roots is the secret to her success.

“Here I am, this Caribbean-bred, born Canadian, breaking into an American music industry,” Fiona says. “I had to find my way. I had to figure out who I’m going to be rather than having certain executives and producers dictate to me who I should be.”

GO HERE to listen to the audio.

Source: NPR.org

Mel can be up for a MMVA! She can be the final nomination for favorite best new artist. All you have to do is drag her name to the empty box. Click the image below to vote for our girl!

Check out Mel’s new video for her latest single, AYO. It’s awesome. Be sure to request the song on your local radio station.

On Sunday, Mel performed at the Jazz In The Gardens at Miami Gardens. 10+ photos were added to the gallery. She was seen performing , giving interviews and backstage. Her look was adorable don’t you think?

The gallery has been updated with new photos of Melanie from last week attending Gotham Magazine’s annual gotham gala hosted by Alicia Keys and she also took part of Music Unites Benefit concert for empowering women through music by performing at the event.

Alicia Keys hosts Gotham Magazine’s Annual Gotham Gala (3/15/10)


Music Unites Empowering Women Through Music Benefit (3/16/10)

In case you missed it earlier like I did, Here is Melanie’s performance of ‘It Kills Me’ on Ellen.

Mel will appearing on Ellen today (March 22nd) and she did a remix to her song, ‘Ayo’ just for Ellen backstage in her dressing room. Cute! Be sure to tune in. Check your local listings for times and channel.

Grammy-nominated newcomer Melanie Fiona will perform this Sunday at Miami’s fifth annual Jazz in the Gardens concert at Sun Life Stadium.
I spoke recently with the Canadian-born, Guyanese singer-songwriter who says there isn’t one label that describes her sound so she calls it Pop Soul. “It has the soul of the old school and the feel of popular music,” she says. It’s a bridge of genres and eras.”
That explains the title of her debut album, The Bridge, which thus far has produced two hot singles, “Give It To Me Right” and “It Kills Me”.

Here’s what Melanie had to say about the Grammy nomination and her career so far.

How did it feel to be nominated for a Grammy for your first album, The Bridge?

MF: It’s incredible. To know that the Grammy committee recognized me in the vocal category is a dream come true. As a new artist, I was so happy I cried. I am so excited about the possibilities. If I can do this so early in my career the possibilities are endless. I never dreamed of being famous in any way. I just knew I wanted to sing.

As a single, independent woman, I was bothered by the lyrics “I don’t need to be on my own” in “It Kills Me”, but you sing that song with such passion, does that passion come from personal experience?

MF: The girl who sings “It Kills Me” is the same girl who sings “Give It To Me Right”. Each song represents a side of women. We’d be lying to ourselves and the rest of the world if we said we’ve never been broken down or vulnerable. Those are the moments that help us become strong and independent women. I’ve been in relationships where I was afraid to be my myself, so dependent on love and what I thought it was with the wrong person, I totally shifted my perception of life and what I wanted for myself. It’s a tough thing. I grew up with a such a strong mother, but I found myself in relationships where I said, “This is not right this is not who I am.” Everybody’s been there when you know you’re in love with the wrong person but you couldn’t leave.

Did you write any of the songs on the album?

I wrote and co-wrote. I wrote both “Give it to Me Right” and “It Kills Me” with (co-producer) Andrea Martin. We sat in a room, spoke about life, spoke about our experiences. Working with a songwriter was a new thing for me. Previously, I was doing all my music on my own. It was great experience for me to share my story, to share my feelings with somebody who could help me express them lyrically.

There is lot of variety among the 12 tracks on The Bridge, which sample songs from as far back as the 1960s. “Please Don’t Go” samples from “Jimmy Mack” a pop-soul song by Martha and the Vandellas; “Monday Morning” sounds like Hall and Oates’ “Maneater”; “Give it to Me Right”, my favorite song on the album, samples from The Zombies’ “Time of the Season”, and “Ay Yo” has a Caribbean vibe. Still you definitely make each song your own. Who came up with the concept to have so many different sounds on the album?

MF: It was a very organic, very natural, very unplanned thing. It was the point that it was allowing me to display and express all of my differences in culture, heritage, the music I grew up listening to. I could sing all of these different songs because I’ve lived all of these different characters and feelings. I’m not one of those girls. I’m all of those girls. I’m not one of those cultures. I’m all of those cultures. That’s why the album’s called The Bridge. It bridges cultures, it bridges, genres, it bridges people through music.

You are Canadian-born but your parents are Guyanese. How have these cultures influenced your music?

My dad played lots of soca, calypso and reggae. Heritage is a big part of who I am. I grew up traditionally around all West Indian people, but I’m first-generation Canadian.

What can we expect on the next album?

I’m extremely excited. I feel like the diversity on this album allows me to go anywhere I want to on the next album. I’ve got some great ideas and I can’t wait to get in the studio.

What can we expect Sunday?

Expect a live high-energy show. Expect to live the songs on the album in person through emotional highs and lows. It’s fun, it’s energetic, it’s sexy. I love to perform I hope people are there to have a good time and celebrate good music.

Source: PBPulse.com

Not-so-overnight success: The accolades that have poured in for Melanie Fiona since the release last fall of her debut album, The Bridge (248,000 copies sold), only seem to have arrived in a rush. The Canadian singer/songwriter spent years trying to get traction in an industry that couldn’t pigeonhole her sassy, retro-flavored soul. Her No. 1 R&B hit, It Kills Me, an emotional, true-to-life song about clinging to a toxic love affair, earned her a Grammy nomination for best female R&B vocal, a spot in the We Are the World: 25 for Haiti ensemble and an opening slot on Alicia Keys’ The Freedom tour, which stops tonight at Madison Square Garden.

Her drive to succeed: “I always felt my story was like The Little Engine That Could,” Fiona says. When she found out she was up for a Grammy, “it felt like after all the nights, all the fights, all the struggles, all the singing in my hairbrush as a little girl — this moment makes it completely worth it.”

Born to sing: Fiona, 26, was born in Toronto to Guyanese immigrants with a love of music. Her father was a guitarist in a soul/reggae band, and her mother liked to sing. As a baby, “I couldn’t go to sleep without music in my crib. My mom would have to blast the speakers, so they kind of knew that music was going to be a very big part of my life.”

Getting her feet wet: While in high school, Fiona began dabbling in the Toronto music scene. Her first record was the island-influenced Somebody Come Get Me (released under the name Syren Hall), which wound up on the Reggae Gold 2008 compilation. But by that time, she had been discovered by The Bridge co-executive producer Carmen Murray, who brought her to Los Angeles to record in 2007.

A label to call home: Her demo attracted the attention of several labels, but she signed with Steve Rifkind’s SRC/Universal Motown because of his willingness to let her be herself. “Other labels loved me but wanted to take me in XYZ direction. I had to choose between who I really was and who somebody else wanted me to be.”

Finding her muse: Though she has been writing her own songs for years (she also co-authored Dem Haters for Rihanna), being introduced to Andrea Martin— who has written hits for Toni Braxton, Monica, En Vogue and Leona Lewis— took her to a higher level. “I really learned about the art form. It was one of the best things that could have happened to me.”

Emotional connection: She knows she’s not the first person caught in a relationship that’s no good but can’t be let go. “It Kills Me was my vessel to express all the pain,” she says. “When we recorded it, all of my team who heard me sing that song were like, ‘What are you going through?’ ”

Kanye calls: Before The Bridge’s release, Kanye West invited her to open on the European leg of his Glow in the Dark tour. “He was by the stage watching and, of course, our equipment failed,” she says. “I’m thinking I’m going to get kicked off the tour. But he pulled me aside and said, ‘You’re great, you’ve got it.’ Watching him keep the crowd’s attention taught me a lot about the energy you need to have for people to remember your show.”

More ‘Freedom’: “With Kanye, I had 10 minutes. Now (on Keys’ tour), I have more like 30-35 minutes. The tour is very much geared toward women. Alicia’s fans are going want to hear me sing and be able to feel the music.”

Source: USAToday.com