Esperanza Spalding
The year didn't play out as it should have for poor Esperanza. The woman has genuine talent worthy of fame — she's an incredible jazz singer — and there were at least a few key people paying attention to that talent. In February, Spalding was awarded the Grammy for Best New Artist, which should have been her introduction to the mainstream. But as far as some of the Grammy audience was concerned, it wasn't a case of who won but of who didn't. Teen heartthrob Justin Bieber was nominated in the same category, and as any celebrity aficionado knows, unleashing the wrath of Bieber's fans, even unintentionally, is never a good idea. There was an immediate Twitter backlash, replete with death threats, and within minutes of the award's presentation, the Wikipedia page of Spalding was vandalized. Anyone innocently trying to Google more information about the Best New Artist was confronted with bio notes such as "Justin Bieber deserved it go die in a hole" and "Biber 4 Lyfe." While the page was fixed soon after, Spalding unfortunately became known as "the girl who stole Bieber's award." Luckily for her, she seemed rather nonplussed by the whole affair. A month after the Grammys, she shrugged it off to the Daily Telegraph, saying, "I didn't get into music to be a star."