The awards started with a bang. The opening act, Katy Perry, performed her single Unconditional to kick off the night.
The awards started with a bang. The opening act, Katy Perry, performed her single Unconditional to kick off the night. Her geisha-themed performance was filled with eye-catching props to accompany her vocals, providing an onstage show that definitely kept me glued to the screen.
The host for the night, Pitbull, looked extremely sharp and dapper, I however felt like he was our tour guide through the borough of ‘Corny-Ville’. He was cracking up at his own jokes before viewers even had a chance. The only memorable funny moment being his guffaw at Justin Timberlake, who looked as if he was wearing an invisible neck brace.
Justin was so stiff during applauding that he had a striking resemblance to a certain Eddie Murphy character, chanting “Hercules, Hercules, Hercules” was the only thing missing from his impression. However, Justin didn’t appear to be impressed with what Pitbull was saying, I feel your pain Justin, none of us were.
But, even though he suffered through Pitbull’s special brand of humour, The Favourite Pop/Rock male artist went to Mr Timberlake, thus causing him to pounce from his seat and burst onto the stage with such energy that he was obviously healed from the neck brace situation.
One Direction looked better than they sounded, no surprises there. However, I was confused by Harry’s hair. I kept trying to concentrate on the performance but the side section of his hair looked like a bird’s nest, just way too much back-combing and hairspray. Regardless, they won the award for Favourite Pop/Rock Group—the female Directioners obviously having a heavy influence in this voting arena.
Imagine Dragons, in my opinion gave one of the best performances of the night. The musical break in their set with the emphasis on drumming was awesome—a pretty captivating performance to say the least. They rightly took home the Favourite Alternative Rock Artist award.
Best Country act went to Taylor Swift, no big shock there. However, while she was giving us her humble ‘I run this category’ speech, the camera panned to the Florida Georgia Line’s spouses, (or maybe their girlfriends), who gave Swift a constant row of dirty looks throughout.
Unfortunately the lyrical content of Florida-Georgia Line’s set was hindered by their pronunciation—subtitles definitely would have helped here.
Jennifer Lopez’s tribute performance was great, as was Rhianna’s, it was simple, beautiful and strong all at the same time—serious girl power was evident.
Unfortunately the pace seemed to slow after this.
Favourite Male Country Artist went to Luke Brown, not the most high-profile artist, though he did have a cute jacket on. Lady Gaga and R Kelly then performed, it wasn’t too attention-grabbing, apart from when she climbed onto a table and bent over, which didn’t leave much to the imagination given her onstage attire.
New Artist of The Year went to Ariana Grande, a respectable award though her stylist seemed to be making minimal effort, Ariana didn’t seem concerned however. When they announced The Favourite Electronic Artist I had my money on Daft Punk. Avicii surprisingly came out on top, yet his ranking as No.3 DJ in the world this year certainly puts his talent into perspective.
The remaining awards were Favourite Soul and R&B male, Best Single of The Year, Artist of The Year, and couple more. Though it does feel like the awards categories cater to some artists more than others, Taylor Swift and Justin Timberlake being among them. High radio plays and record sales seem to be the driving force behind the awards, even to the point where it all seems a tad contrived. Popularity doesn’t always equal musicality in my opinion.
All in all the awards were a standard occurrence. Most of the results were predictable, but sadly, a lack of awe seems like a prerequisite for the AMAs these days.
Have your say on the winners in the comments section below.
Image: Eva Rinaldi Celebrity and Live Music Photographer
