Serving as an American Music Awards triple threat — pre-show performers, presenters and nominees — wasn’t enough for Hot Chelle Rae, who added a new award to their resume on Sunday night. The group behind “Tonight, Tonight” and “I Like it Like That” nabbed the honor of Sprint Best New Artist, as well.
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Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter on a rain drenched red carpet, Ryan Follese (vocals), Ian Keaggy (bass), Nash Overstreet (guitar) and Jamie Follese (drums) gushed about the possibility of bringing home a new piece of hardware during the Nov. 20 ceremony.
“If we win the award tonight for best new artist, we’re gonna freak out,” said Nash (yes, the brother of Glee‘s Chord Overstreet). Added Ryan, “It would definitely be the biggest milestone of our career thus far.”
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“I might have to give it to my parents as a Christmas present,” Ryan pondered. “It’s definitely the biggest accomplishment for us as a band and it shows our hard work is paying off.”
The group is set to release their second album, Whatever, on Nov. 29, which came together in a shocking two months. “The last year has been crazy and because of that, all of the emotions have been heightened that it’s enabled us to write and record music from a place that’s different for us,” Ryan told THR at the group’s red carpet style meeting on Saturday, Nov. 19.
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“You can’t go wrong with Teenage Dream,” Ian said of Katy Perry‘s record shattering album. “We even cover one of her sets when we play live.” The boys credit Perry’s No. 1 title track as one they wish they’d written, while Jamie piped in with love for LMFAO. “I’d like to have written ‘Party Rock Anthem,'” he confessed.
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“It’s a friendly competition,” the group later noted in the backstage press room. “When someone makes an amazing song, we know we have to do better than that next time.”
Later on in the night, THR ran into Keaggy as he arrived at the Jennifer Lopez after-party following a stop at the Rolling Stone bash. Of the band’s stellar and no doubt exhausting day, the bassist had this to say: “It was a trifecta of awesomeness.”
