When it comes to music awards shows, there are many that you may have heard of, The Grammys, Billboard Music Awards, The VMAs, The Brit Awards. Awards shows are a great time for those who love music to come together, vote for the bands that they love most that deserve recognition, and argue with the final decisions when someone we didn’t vote for gets picked in the end. For those of us who find ourselves online in the “bandom” side of social media, there’s a new awards show that’s up-and-coming and catered just for us: The AP(not)MAs.
Bandom has been around for decades, and thanks to the rise of the internet and social media, it’s come to be a rather large community of people. To outsiders it can look pretty overwhelming, there’s new memes every few minutes and the occasional fight that sometimes escalates so much it starts trending on social media platforms. But to those of us who are well experienced in the bandom universe (AKA have learned the etiquette of how to interact with others in the social media spaces, and when to ignore the drama on the timeline) bandom is a home of people all with the same interests as us. And what better way to celebrate this home than an awards show that will somehow bring us all together for a little while, while also fighting for the chance to prove our favorite band (or bandom moment) is the best?
As the year draws to a close, the AP(not)MAs nominations forms open up with categories waiting to be filled out by fans and what they think deserves to be voted on that year. This year’s nominations form boasted 15 categories revolving around notable members of the scene, underrated bands, and the top moments that plagued social media in the scene this year. After a week of nominations, the voting rounds open for one week and thousands of voters fight for the chance that their top pick will win. This year featured extra campaigning efforts from fans and the nominated bands alike, as voting fraud was banned in this year’s competition.
Finally, it’s time for the awards to be presented, which has been a special treat over the last couple of years, featuring special guests from the scene, including Awsten Knight (Waterparks), Lucas Woodland (Holding Absence), and the Scene Queen, to present a few of the categories.
Melodic Magazine had a brief chat with Valerie about the story behind the AP(not)MAs and the fun that has surrounded them over the past couple of years.
What inspired you to start the APnotMAs?
I made a TikTok back in 2020 – and I can’t even remember what prompted me to talk about it – but it was about the APMAs, how chaotic they were, and how much I wished AP would bring them back.
People in the comments were saying how much they missed it, too, and I thought to myself, ‘hmm…..wouldn’t it be kinda funny if I did a fake APMAs voting form, just as a joke?’ So I made one, made a post about it, and thought maybe 20 people would vote.
Over 1,000 people did. I was genuinely flabbergasted to see how excited people were about voting in this badly designed Google form. It was an absolute blast, so when the next year rolled around, I thought, why not make this an annual thing? The rest was history.
What’s your favorite thing about hosting the awards?
By far, seeing just how excited and involved the scene gets!! I’m continuously surprised when I go to approach an artist to ask them to present, and I include a little blurb about what the AP(not)MAs are, and they reply back like, girl, we know.
It’s both the coolest and most bizarre thing in the world – to know people are making signs, shirts, and posters to campaign for this silly little idea I dreamed up. Whenever I see photos from people campaigning at shows, or even videos of someone spending their M&G time talking to a band about it, it’s completely surreal. It makes me so happy to know that something I love doing makes people just as happy, too.
What’s the wildest moment that you’ve had so far when hosting them?
In 2023, I saw the Waterparks twitter account reply to one of my tweets about the APnotMAs….. but no one had tagged them. As a joke, I tweeted “since you’re apparently up in my ap(not)mas shenanigans awsten if you see this do you want to announce the winner of most insane parx/parxie moment on monday.” The next thing I knew, Awsten was in my DMs to coordinate.
Until that point, the concept of having artists get involved – or really guest presenters of any kind – simply had never occured to me. I never imagined this thing that I started as a joke would turn into something real enough for artists to actually take it seriously as something worth engaging with. That was really the lightbulb for me – holy shit, this has somehow become a thing.
Who’s on your dream list of future presenters?
From a realistic standpoint, Dan and Phil! With how supportive (and organized!) the phandom is, I (perhaps delusionally) do think it could be possible to get their attention through social media some day. I’d like to think it’s the kind of unhinged chaotic fun they would be down for.
From an unrealistic standpoint – Hayley Williams. It’s never gonna happen, but hey, it’s fun to dream!
This Year’s AP(not)MAs Winners:
Scandal Of The Year: A fan stealing the Twenty One Pilots drum
Wildest Fan Drama: That one conservative Waterparks fan who burned their merch
Lifetime Achievement Award – Your Gay Awakening: Hayley Williams
Tour Incident Of The Year: “Girl, I don’t think you should take that” (a fan stealing the Twenty One Pilots drum)
Best #Girlboss Moment: “Find me at Whole Foods, bitch, I don’t care” (Hayley Williams)
Most Likely To Make It On Broadway: Gerard Way
White Boy Of The Month Of The Year: Dallon Weekes
Most Insane Marketing Stunt: Michael Clifford and Waterparks’ Wattpad fanfiction contest
Best MCR Tour Moment: Gerard Way eating spaghetti
Local / Small / Unsigned Band That Deserves The World: Jhariah
Twitter Moment Of The Year: The Dan and Phil hard launch on a random Monday
Weirdest Merch: 100 Gecs and My Chemical Romance’s “I Pooped My Pants” tee
Lifetime Achievement Award – Honorary Member of The Scene: Chappell Roan
Trend We Desperately Need To Bring Back: Kissing your bandmates
Next Thing To Plague Our Scene in 2026: Brendon Urie
View this year’s AP(not)MAs voting breakdown of nearly 7,000 votes, was shared by Valerie here.
Follow Valerie to be prepared for next year’s awards: Twitter // Instagram // TikTok
