The 40th Annual American Music Awards Recap
Kevin Winter/Getty Images Entertainment
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Last night the American Music Awards took place in Los Angeles which saw pop music’s biggest names coming together and the big winners last evening were Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj. In case you missed it, we were taking notes, so keep reading to check out our full recap of this exciting evening.
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The show kicked off with Usher performing “Numb” and although the stage started out dark it soon became an explosion of green lasers and choreographed dance moves. The song morphed into a soulful rendition of “Climax” that saw him bringing the song to its, uh, climax by running in place on a treadmill. Finally it all ended with a glitchy version of “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop” although will.i.am was absent for his verses.
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Ryan Seacrest started things out by awarding the best Pop Rock/Male Artist Award statue to Justin Bieber who confessed, “I love everybody” to the crowd during his enthusiastic acceptance speech. Subsequently Swift won the award for Favorite Country Artist Female and thanked her fans by saying, “I’m really really happy now and it’s all because you.” Oh and did we mention that she looked absolutely stunning in her sequined gown? She did. The next performance was courtesy of Carly Rae Jepsen, who was lowered onto the stage in a telephone booth to sing “This Kiss,” although her backing dancers did a lot more moving than she did. Then she played some song titled “Call Me Maybe.”
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The Wanted were next on the list and they performed a pyro-fueled rendition of “I Found You ‘wearing dark suits as females danced on risers behind them alongside their band. Randy Jackson then introduced his former American Idol all-star Kelly Clarkson, explaining, “I can’t believe it’s been ten years and she’s now releasing a greatest hits record.” However sporting blonde locks and a feather-strewn dress you might not have recognized her.
.
Clarkson got the crowd on her side by performing “Since You Been Gone” as confetti fell from the ceiling. She then started fist-pumping to “Stronger” before the lights went down a disco ball spun for her ballad “Catch My Breath.” Next up Neo and Stacy Keibler came out to present the best rap/hip-hop album saying “when the AMAs first aired in 1974, hip-hop was something the Easter Bunny did,” making us wonder who exactly is writing this show, our grandparents? We can’t however argue with the fact that Nicki Minaj won the award and came onstage wearing a fluorescent gown.
.
Cyndi Lauper came out with her thick accent to introduce Ke$ha who launched into “Die Young” dressed as the Lady Of Guadalupe sporting braids and a gold one-piece outfit as she danced with a bunch of bodies with painted-on skull faces. There were also quite a few jump kicks and a tribal drum-driven breakdown that saw Ke$ha adding her own percussion to the track. No Doubt proved that they haven’t aged at all during their rendition of “Looking Hot,” which also illustrated that no amount of energy can make this song listenable.
.
.
Keeping the nineties vibe alive, Linkin Park won the award for Best Rock/Alternative Artist. Then eleven-time AMA winner Taylor Swift hit the stage to perform “I Knew You Were Trouble” in a very elegant setting that saw dancers wearing masks as chandeliers dangled from the ceiling. We’ll be honest, while the performance was captivating we have no idea what Swift has to do with the country music community at this point.
.
It shouldn’t have been a surprise when Usher snapped the award for Favorite Soul/R&B Artist next while Luke Bryan won his very first AMA for Favorite Country Male. Linkin Park were on the stage following the presentation and although “Burn It Down” sounds huge on the album it sounded strangely flat during their AMA performance, reinforcing the fact that rock really isn’t the focus of the awards show. This wasn’t the case for Nicki Minaj who swaggered through”Freedom” sporting a parka and surrounded by snow-covered trees.
.
There’s no doubt that Pink gave the strangest performance of the night which saw her starting out upside down on her partner’s back covered in multi-colored paint. In fact it was more like a piece of performance art then an AMA performance as the duo tossed each across the stage as Pink sang along to “Try.” The pop kept flowing as the Backstreet Boys and their weird facial hair came out to present The Old Navy Artist Of The Year Award to Carly Rae Jepsen. Then the Favorite Country Band, Duo Or Group Award went to Lady Antebellum who dedicated the statue to the over one million fans who came out to see them on tour this year.
.
From there Carly Rae Jepsen introduced Justin Bieber who performed a stripped-down acoustic version of “As Long As You Love Me,” accompanying by an enthusiastic guitarist who seemed to be getting more into the song than Bieber did. Don’t worry though, Bieber also brought the party and the next thing we knew he was on top of a stack of fake speakers performing “Beauty And A Beat” and, you guessed it, Nicki Minaj emerged from behind the stage to perform her verse, grinding against Bieber in an all-black outfit.
.
.
It was pretty funny to see Elisha Cuthbert talk about EDM and the inaugural award for Favorite Electronic/Dance Music Artist statue when to David Guetta who wasn’t there but sent in an acceptance speech from Brazil. Christina Aguilera then gave a Lotus-centric performance that saw her proving that her voice is as strong as ever these days. Pitbull then transformed the AMAs into a block party by singing “Don’t Stop The Party.” Then Justin Bieber won another AMA for “Believe,” solidifying that it was going to be a big night for the icon.
.
Carrie Underwood then once again reinforced our belief that modern country has nothing to do with country music as she performed the gospel-sounding “Two Black Cadillacs.” We also have to mention that Brandy paid tribute to Whitney Houston by introducing an AMA montage of Houston winning various awards over the course of her career. Swizz Beats, Chris Brown and Ludacris then busted onstage to perform “Everyday Birthday” alongside roughly 800 female backing dancers and Brown couldn’t help himself from ripping off his shirt at one point to display his equal amount of tattoos.
.
.
Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist went to Nicki Minaj, who must have been exhausted walking from the audience to the stage all night long especially because it looked like she almost tripped over her gown a few times in the process. Next Carrie Underwood won her fourth award for Favorite Country album, which means that every disc she’s put out has won this award. Host Ryan Seacrest was barely present during the Awards show but he did find time to introduce Stevie Wonder who dedicated “Master Blaster” to Dick Clark before segueing into “My Cherie Amour” and “Sir Duke.”
.
Will.i.am presented the biggest award of the night, Artist Of The Year, and it went to Justin Bieber who dragged his mom onstage to accept the award. “I want to thank you for always believing in me,” he told her. “It’s hard growing up with everything going on and everyone watching me and I wanted to say that as long as you keep believing in me, I will always make you proud.” We’re not exactly sure what that means, but hey, we’re not really sure what we would say in his situation either.
.
The final performance of the night came from Psy who performed his ubiquitous hit “Gangnam Style” as everyone in the audience danced and sang along. However we imagine that all of those people were surprised when Hammer came out to sing “2 Legit To Quit” and dance Gangnam Style alongside Psy, which was an interesting moment of spontaneity during an otherwise predictable albeit entertaining awards show.
.
.
Best Pop Rock/Male Artist: Justin Bieber
Favorite Country Artist Female: Taylor Swift
Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Album: Nicki Minaj
The show kicked off with Usher performing “Numb” and although the stage started out dark it soon became an explosion of green lasers and choreographed dance moves. The song morphed into a soulful rendition of “Climax” that saw him bringing the song to its, uh, climax by running in place on a treadmill. Finally it all ended with a glitchy version of “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop” although will.i.am was absent for his verses.
.
Ryan Seacrest started things out by awarding the best Pop Rock/Male Artist Award statue to Justin Bieber who confessed, “I love everybody” to the crowd during his enthusiastic acceptance speech. Subsequently Swift won the award for Favorite Country Artist Female and thanked her fans by saying, “I’m really really happy now and it’s all because you.” Oh and did we mention that she looked absolutely stunning in her sequined gown? She did. The next performance was courtesy of Carly Rae Jepsen, who was lowered onto the stage in a telephone booth to sing “This Kiss,” although her backing dancers did a lot more moving than she did. Then she played some song titled “Call Me Maybe.”
.
The Wanted were next on the list and they performed a pyro-fueled rendition of “I Found You ‘wearing dark suits as females danced on risers behind them alongside their band. Randy Jackson then introduced his former American Idol all-star Kelly Clarkson, explaining, “I can’t believe it’s been ten years and she’s now releasing a greatest hits record.” However sporting blonde locks and a feather-strewn dress you might not have recognized her.
.
Clarkson got the crowd on her side by performing “Since You Been Gone” as confetti fell from the ceiling. She then started fist-pumping to “Stronger” before the lights went down a disco ball spun for her ballad “Catch My Breath.” Next up Neo and Stacy Keibler came out to present the best rap/hip-hop album saying “when the AMAs first aired in 1974, hip-hop was something the Easter Bunny did,” making us wonder who exactly is writing this show, our grandparents? We can’t however argue with the fact that Nicki Minaj won the award and came onstage wearing a fluorescent gown.
.
Cyndi Lauper came out with her thick accent to introduce Ke$ha who launched into “Die Young” dressed as the Lady Of Guadalupe sporting braids and a gold one-piece outfit as she danced with a bunch of bodies with painted-on skull faces. There were also quite a few jump kicks and a tribal drum-driven breakdown that saw Ke$ha adding her own percussion to the track. No Doubt proved that they haven’t aged at all during their rendition of “Looking Hot,” which also illustrated that no amount of energy can make this song listenable.
.
.
Keeping the nineties vibe alive, Linkin Park won the award for Best Rock/Alternative Artist. Then eleven-time AMA winner Taylor Swift hit the stage to perform “I Knew You Were Trouble” in a very elegant setting that saw dancers wearing masks as chandeliers dangled from the ceiling. We’ll be honest, while the performance was captivating we have no idea what Swift has to do with the country music community at this point.
.
It shouldn’t have been a surprise when Usher snapped the award for Favorite Soul/R&B Artist next while Luke Bryan won his very first AMA for Favorite Country Male. Linkin Park were on the stage following the presentation and although “Burn It Down” sounds huge on the album it sounded strangely flat during their AMA performance, reinforcing the fact that rock really isn’t the focus of the awards show. This wasn’t the case for Nicki Minaj who swaggered through”Freedom” sporting a parka and surrounded by snow-covered trees.
.
There’s no doubt that Pink gave the strangest performance of the night which saw her starting out upside down on her partner’s back covered in multi-colored paint. In fact it was more like a piece of performance art then an AMA performance as the duo tossed each across the stage as Pink sang along to “Try.” The pop kept flowing as the Backstreet Boys and their weird facial hair came out to present The Old Navy Artist Of The Year Award to Carly Rae Jepsen. Then the Favorite Country Band, Duo Or Group Award went to Lady Antebellum who dedicated the statue to the over one million fans who came out to see them on tour this year.
.
From there Carly Rae Jepsen introduced Justin Bieber who performed a stripped-down acoustic version of “As Long As You Love Me,” accompanying by an enthusiastic guitarist who seemed to be getting more into the song than Bieber did. Don’t worry though, Bieber also brought the party and the next thing we knew he was on top of a stack of fake speakers performing “Beauty And A Beat” and, you guessed it, Nicki Minaj emerged from behind the stage to perform her verse, grinding against Bieber in an all-black outfit.
.
.
It was pretty funny to see Elisha Cuthbert talk about EDM and the inaugural award for Favorite Electronic/Dance Music Artist statue when to David Guetta who wasn’t there but sent in an acceptance speech from Brazil. Christina Aguilera then gave a Lotus-centric performance that saw her proving that her voice is as strong as ever these days. Pitbull then transformed the AMAs into a block party by singing “Don’t Stop The Party.” Then Justin Bieber won another AMA for “Believe,” solidifying that it was going to be a big night for the icon.
.
Carrie Underwood then once again reinforced our belief that modern country has nothing to do with country music as she performed the gospel-sounding “Two Black Cadillacs.” We also have to mention that Brandy paid tribute to Whitney Houston by introducing an AMA montage of Houston winning various awards over the course of her career. Swizz Beats, Chris Brown and Ludacris then busted onstage to perform “Everyday Birthday” alongside roughly 800 female backing dancers and Brown couldn’t help himself from ripping off his shirt at one point to display his equal amount of tattoos.
.
.
Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist went to Nicki Minaj, who must have been exhausted walking from the audience to the stage all night long especially because it looked like she almost tripped over her gown a few times in the process. Next Carrie Underwood won her fourth award for Favorite Country album, which means that every disc she’s put out has won this award. Host Ryan Seacrest was barely present during the Awards show but he did find time to introduce Stevie Wonder who dedicated “Master Blaster” to Dick Clark before segueing into “My Cherie Amour” and “Sir Duke.”
.
Will.i.am presented the biggest award of the night, Artist Of The Year, and it went to Justin Bieber who dragged his mom onstage to accept the award. “I want to thank you for always believing in me,” he told her. “It’s hard growing up with everything going on and everyone watching me and I wanted to say that as long as you keep believing in me, I will always make you proud.” We’re not exactly sure what that means, but hey, we’re not really sure what we would say in his situation either.
.
The final performance of the night came from Psy who performed his ubiquitous hit “Gangnam Style” as everyone in the audience danced and sang along. However we imagine that all of those people were surprised when Hammer came out to sing “2 Legit To Quit” and dance Gangnam Style alongside Psy, which was an interesting moment of spontaneity during an otherwise predictable albeit entertaining awards show.
.
.
Best Pop Rock/Male Artist: Justin Bieber
Favorite Country Artist Female: Taylor Swift
Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Album: Nicki Minaj
Favorite Rock/Alternative Artist: Linkin Park
Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist: Usher
Favorite Country Male: Luke Bryan
Old Navy New Artist Of The Year: Carly Rae Jepsen
Favorite County Band, Duo Or Group: Lady Antebellum
Favorite Electronic/Dance Music Artist: David Guetta
Favorite Pop/Rock Album: “Believe,” Justin Bieber
Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist: Nicki Minaj
Favorite Country Album: Carrie Underwood
Artist Of The Year: Justin Bieber
#copy&paste at http://www.myspace.com/whats-hot/2012/11/18/the-40th-annual-american-music-awards-recap
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