The American Music Awards may have sounded uneventful this year, but a few artists made it worth remembering
The 2016 American Music Awards may have sounded like a drag, with Justin Bieber not showing up, and Halsey and Draw Taggard choosing to abstain from the much anticipated PDA when performing Closer, but there were a few artists who really stood out—for a few different reasons.
Green Day
We haven’t seen or heard from this rock band in a while, so we were more than happy to see them on stage. Their performance was energetic, reminding us why we adore them so much. They also managed to bring politics into the picture by screaming “No Trump! No KKK! No fascist USA!” clearly showing their stance on the matter (despite the co-hosts promises that we wouldn’t be hearing about them).
Drake
While the Canadian artist did not perform, we did see an Apple commercial which cracked everyone up. The commercial stars Drake working out with a friend, and once he leaves, Drake starts working out to Taylor Swift’s Bad Blood and ends with an epic gym fail—Drake dropping the dumbbells on his chest and falling down. This was obviously a reference to Swift’s Apple ad, but it was still a more comical moment than Gigi Hadid’s sad impression of Melania Trump.
Lady Gaga
She loves to dress unusually to almost all the events, but Lady Gaga chose to keep it low-key this time with a simple white pantsuit and hat, that many say was a reference to her support for Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton, who Gaga supported on several campaigns. Nevertheless, her performance was amazing, and they actually managed to have an entire prairie behind her, which made the whole setting extremely beautiful.
Selena Gomez
Selena Gomez, who was nominated for two awards, won the Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist award. Her acceptance speech taught us a few things. Referring to her memorable The Heart Wants What It Wants performance, she said, “In 2014, this stage was the first time that I was 100 per cent honest with all of you. I think it’s safe to say that most of you know a lot of my life, whether I liked it or not. And I had to stop. I had everything, and I was absolutely broken inside. I kept it all together enough to where I would never let you down, but I kept it too much to where I let myself down.” She spoke about how she loved her loyal fans, and wanted to see people’s hearts, not their Instagram, and how if someone is broken, they do not need to stay broken.
Sting
The winner of this year’s Lifetime Achievement award gave his acceptance speech to advocate immigration in the US. He received a very warm introduction from Robert Downey Jr. who said he was “one of the most talented and giving humans ever to walk the Earth”, and even made generous comparisons stating that one will learn to care about the fate of mankind after Sting’s catalog. While some artists threw direct shade on President-elect Donald Trump, Sting chose to speak about how he is a proud immigrant, and that it is the “spirit of welcome and inclusion is what made this country the greatest in the world”.
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