One of LA’s biggest nights in music was held this year, on October 9th, as many celebrities came together to celebrate their accomplishments over the year at the American Music Awards (AMAs).
This year, Tracee Ellis Ross, an American actress known for her role in Black-ish, was the host. She started off the show with a dance routine full of classic hits, similar to what Kelly Clarkson did at the Billboard Music Awards earlier this year. But Ross only performed after Miss Taylor Swift had a good few minutes with the spotlight on her as she sung the Reputation track “I Did Something Bad”. The performance was similar to one Swift did on tour as she sung the first verse slowly and had the same dance moves, which came to no surprise as she’s in the middle of her worldwide tour, which did in fact win tour of the year!
Onto the other stars of the night! Many were sure to pay their respects through singing and remembering beloved members of the music community who passed away such as XXXTentacion, who happened to win Best Soul/R&B Album, and Aretha Franklin, who many, including Gladys Knight, CeCe Winans, and Ledisi, paid tribute to..
None of the acts really blew me away with their simple performances. There were a few choreographed dance moves here and there, but it was still nice to hear some of my favorite singers perform their current hits live.
Halsey, Khalid, and Benny Blanco performed their hit song “Eastside” live for the first time, and Jennifer Lopez, who never fails to impress, belted out her new song “Second Act”. Panic! At The Disco paid tribute to Queen by singing “Bohemian Rhapsody”, although the Pentatonix version of that song will always be my favorite as it’s acapella, and the voices go together more smoothly. Speaking of, both Pentatonix and Panic! will be featured on a reimagined CD of songs from the movie The Greatest Showman.
Post Malone strided through his performance of “Psycho” with Ty Dolla $ign, which was probably the only time throughout the night where Malone didn’t have a drink in his hand. After nearly ten years, Mariah Carey made her comeback to the AMA stage, accompanied by a train of backup dancers during a performance of her R&B song “With You”. We won’t get into too many details on Carey at the moment though, as we all know “All I Want for Christmas Is You” is all that’ll be playing about 30 days from now.
Shawn Mendes also hit the stage with Zedd singing “Lost in Japan”, but it was nothing special… As much as I love Mendes and his music, I don’t think of him as a performer as all his spectacles are the same to me. Dua Lipa, who’s rising more and more on the charts daily, performed an award show medley of “One Kiss” and “Electricity”. A fun, electric vibe performance was good to see from her.
Something that stood out to me, overall, was how many celebrities were there. I mean, you name it! New and old, actresses Vanessa Hudgens and Tyra Banks, singers Ciara and Missy Elliott, model Heidi Klum… The list never ends!
From an award standpoint, the biggest winners of the night were new and old names to me. Taylor Swift took home four awards, making her the most awarded female in AMA history. Camila Cabello also took home four awards. Cardi B got three new trophies to add to her collection, and Kane Brown, a country artist who won most of the night’s country awards, took home three.
The night was a vivid way to see your favorites perform over the course a three-hour show. Looking ahead, the People’s Choice Awards are taking place on November 11th, and then, there’s nothing too special until the Grammy’s, which WILL be exciting. Although the nominations aren’t out yet, it will be interesting to see if albums such as Sweetener, Reputation, and Invasion of Privacy get nominated and of course, see who takes home awards! Thanks for reading!
