Another night of great music and tributes to those that have passed 10 years ago. Many well-known musicians were competing for several of the same awards and also gave performances of hit songs. Here is a recap of tonight’s performance of the 41st Annual Music Award held live in Los Angeles.
Winners
Favorite Male Artist, Pop/Rock and Soul/R&B: Justin Timberlake
Favorite Female Artist, Soul/R&B: Rihanna
Country Album, Favorite Female Artist Country, and Artist of the Year: Taylor Swift/Red
Favorite Album, Rap/Hip-Hop: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis/The Heist
Favorite Artist, Alternative Rock: Imagine Dragons
Favorite Artist, Latin: Marc Anthony
Favorite Album, Pop/Rock: One Direction/Take Me Home
New Artist of the Year: Ariana Grande
Single of the Year: “Cruise” by Florida Georgia Line, featuring Nelly
Favorite Artist, Electronic Dance Music: Avicii
Favorite Male Artist, Country: Luke Bryan
Favorite Band, Duo or Group, Pop/Rock: One Direction
Performers Included
One Direction, Ariana Grande, Imagine Dragons, Pitbull and Ke$ha, Justin Timberlake, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis performing from Miami, Florida, Lady Gaga featuring RKelly Kendrick Lamar, Luke Bryan, TLC, Miley Cyrus, and Katy Perry, whom opened the show.
Icon Award
The first Icon Award for the AMA’s was presented to Rihanna by her mother. There was a short video about her accomplishments in the industry thus far and she performed her hit Diamonds.
Tributes
Jennifer Lopez payed tribute to Celia Cruz, whom the music world lost 10 years ago. Also, TLC and Lil Mama performed Waterfalls in tribute to Lisa Lopes or Left Eye, who also passed away about 10 years ago.
Countless celebrities presented the awards and introduced the performances. The presenters included Emma Roberts, Marc Anthony, Dave Drone, Michael Bolton, Heidi Klum, Fall Out Boy, Sarah Silverman, Christina Aguilera, Kendell Jenner and many others.
As with every awards show, there is always that one or two surprises and this show, was no different. As Pit Bull, who hosted the show, had four ladies come out and tweaked the dance moves of the decades. Unfortunately, for television reasons, the last lady was unable to show the last tweak due to inappropriateness, but the crowd seemed to have gotten a great kick out of the act. Of the many award shows for music and television, this seemed to be the most reserved of all of them, with the performers paying attention to quality who they are and not get racked up into ‘showing off’ or doing too much to impress the audience, but just enough to get the message across.
