Lady Gaga Loses AMAs Breakthrough Artist Award to Gloriana -- Who the Hell is Gloriana?

There is No Doubt Gloriana was as Shocked as Everyone Else when Their Name was Announced

There is little doubt that Lady Gaga was a bit surprised that she lost the 2009 American Music Awards Breakthrough Artist award and downright shocked that she lost to Gloriana, a country group that most people had never heard of and who somehow beat out the popular Zac Brown Band to make it into the final Breakthrough Artist voting choices. Lady Gaga fans were probably apoplectic. All more than likely could have seen a win by hip hopper Kid Cudi or R&B artist Keri Hilson somehow sliding in and taking the AMAs Breakthrough Artist award. But Gloriana? Just who the hell was Gloriana anyway?

To their credit, Gloriana, a four-person country band based in Nashville, told the equally stunned Nokia Theatre audience Sunday evening that they appreciated the award even though nobody knew who they were. And outside of country circles, they were right...

Lady Gaga walked into the Nokia Theatre Sunday evening fully expecting to walk away with at least one American Music Awards trophy -- the Breakthrough Artist award. With over four million copies of her first album "The Fame" sold, five Top 10 and two No. 1 singles, and a continuing series of sold-out venues around the world, Lady Gaga was the artist to beat at the 2009 AMAs.

Kid Cudi, a hip hop artist from Cleveland, had several mix tapes and a recently released popular studio album ("Man On The Moon: End Of The Day," released in September, is approaching Gold sales status) to ride into the awards show. He also had a #3 hit (Billboard Hot 100) and a Top 50 hit with Kanye West to help prompt some voters.

Keri Hilson, a 27-year-old R&B singer out of Decatur, Georgia, probably thought she was a long shot to win the Breakthrough Artist award (it is doubtful that anyone thought they were truly beat Lady Gaga), but a hit album ("In a Perfect World..."), three hits from it and a string of singles prior to those may have given her a little confidence. Signed to Timbaland's Mosley Music in 2006, Keri Hilson not only has proven a hitmaker, but she's responsible for the hits of several artists in the past several years, including Mary J. Blige's "Take Me As I Am" and Britney Spears' "Gimme More."