The 2014 Billboard Music Awards brought a Michael Jackson hologram and a lot of fake tans. The show was held at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, which may help to explain both of those things.
This year marks the 22nd Billboard Music Awards, which ran 1989 to 2007 and then started again in 2011 after a four-year hiatus. Based on “key fan interactions,” the awards honor the best pop, rock and country music and artists of the year.
Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull opened the show with an energizing multicultural flag-twirling extravaganza that made me Google how old J Lo is (44!).
Ludacris hosted the show and either out of musical inclination or nerves, spoke in threes during his opening monologue. “Yeah yeah yeah,” “wait wait wait,” and “let’s get real real real excited.” He hosted smoothly and uneventfully through the rest of the show, which relies on musical performances as its main entertainment.
Performances spanned from OneRepublic to Lorde to Luke Bryan.
OneRepublic’s lead singer Ryan Tedder sounded like he lost his voice, much like the band has lost their relevancy. A newcomer boy band called 5 Seconds of Summer, who looked like One Direction but wore vaguely punk-styled clothing, won for worst lyrics with: “She looks so perfect standing there in my American Apparel underwear.”
One of the stranger moments of the night was Michael Jackson hologram performance. The extremely life-like hologram performed next to dancers, making the audience erupt in both cheers and tears. Hologram technology may be one of those “with great power comes great responsibility” things and Jackson could have been honored in a better way.
The strangest moment of the night belonged to Miley Cyrus (big surprise), who’s performance of “her favorite Beatle’s song” was advertised the entire night. After incorrectly guessing “Long and Winding Road” or “Blackbird,” the screen showed a video of Miley performing “Lucy In The Sky with Diamonds” in Manchester. Sporting red MGMT style paint on her face, sparkles and a cape that appeared to be made of gold tinsel, Miley looked like she was taking the song to heart and did some acid. Who gave her permission to cover The Beatles? Maybe Paul McCartney.
Cyrus went on to win the Top Streaming Artist award because this is 2014.
Lorde gave an emotional performance of “Tennis Court,” wearing her signature all black under a blue light and several disco balls. She also took home the Best Newcomer and Top Rock Song awards for “Royals.”
Imagine Dragons performed the lively rock show they’ve perfected through the music award show circuit, showing off their many awards, which include Top Hot 100 Artist, Top Duo/Group and Top Rock Artist.
Performances from Iggy Azalea, Ariana Grande, Ricky Martin, John Legend and Jason DeRulo with Snoop Dogg also rocked the night.
I will never get the Katy Perry hype, which managed to beat out Lorde and Beyoncé for Best Female Artist. Perry was not at the show, but her performance from her tour, which is currently in Scotland, was streamed. With her wide expressions, bizarre rotating birthday cake stage and tons of balloons, the performance just looked like a children’s show gone very wrong.
Jennifer Lopez became the first woman ever to receive the Icon Award for her talent, fashion and humanitarian efforts. She performed “First Love” chock full of the talent of a woman with a 20 year successful career.