Awards
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Before presenting the nominees in the 2022 American Music Awards’ best pop song category, Kim Petras took a moment to speak from the heart. Following the tragic mass shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colo. on Saturday (Nov. 19), Petras paid tribute to victims and emphasized the role of pop music in gay clubs.
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“I can’t stop thinking about Colorado today,” the “Unholy” singer began, “Gay clubs raised me, basically. And I can confidently say that no one loves pop music more than gay clubs. So, my heart goes out to you.”
On Saturday (Nov. 19), a 22-year-old gunman opened fire at Club Q, killing five people and injuring at least 18 others before he was subdued by patrons and arrested by police. The club released a statement on Sunday, nothing that they were “devastated by the senseless attack on our community.”
Petras is a vocal advocate of the LGBTQ community and became the first openly transgender solo artist to reach No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 song chart alongside Sam Smith for their viral single, “Unholy.” Smith also achieved a noteworthy milestone, as the first openly non-binary solo artist to claim the spot.
Petras told Billboard in 2018 that she is proud of her identity and wants to bring more visibility to the transgender community, but she has something else that she wants to prove as well. “I think the ultimate goal for me is if a transgender person can be known for anything but being transgender,” she said. “There are still too many people who think being transgender is very freaky. And they think you can’t live a happy life and try to tell their kids not to transition because they’re afraid their life will be harder.”
Throughout tonight’s AMAs, many artists have spoken out on the shooting, including host Wayne Brady and AMA new artist of the year winner Dove Cameron. The former Disney Channel star dedicated the victory to the queer community, saying, “On the heels of the tragedy that happened at Club Q in Colorado Springs, I want to remind everyone how important queer visibility is, and how important our community is,” Cameron continued. “And I want to direct your attention to organizations like GLAAD and The Trevor Project for what you can do right now. I want to remind you that you are made absolutely right, and you are so loved and so held, and I want to thank you for supporting me. Thank you for holding the space – I’m holding it for you, too.”
Forget backup dancers and bombastic stage elements — Lil Baby appeared at the 2022 AMAs on Sunday (Nov. 20) and proved that his star power is all he needs to light up a stage and keep viewers engaged.
The rapper went the introspective route to spit not one but two tracks from his recently released album It’s Only Me: “In a Minute” and “California Breeze.” The performance kicked off with the former and saw Baby with sparse accompaniment on stage — just four musicians on drums, keys and guitar — plus introspective blue lights and smoke to evoke the moodier, stripped back vibe. When “Breeze” rolled in, the blue light was swapped for red light, and Baby lied on his back and reflected on all the hard work he still wants to put in: “Get my s–t together, feel like I done took two years off/ Bookin’ up my schedule, I ain’t rich enough to chill out.”
Both “In a Minute” and “California Breeze” hail from Baby’s 2022 album, It’s Only Me. Released in October, the LP spent four weeks on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart and peaked at No. 1. “In a Minute” was released as the first single from the project in April, at spent a total of 26 weeks on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and peaked at No. 5; “California Breeze,” meanwhile, is in its fourth week on the chart and peaked at No. 2.
Lil Baby was nominated for one award at this year’s AMAs — the rapper earned a nod in the favorite male hip-hop artist category and was up against Drake, Future, Lil Durk and Kendrick Lamar. The award, which was not cast during the broadcast ceremony, was awarded to Lamar.
Country and soul singer-songwriter Yola delivered a mighty performance on the Microsoft Theater stage in Los Angeles at the American Music Awards on Sunday night (Nov. 20).
This year’s recipient of the AMAs’ special “song of soul” honor, Yola was given the spotlight for a rendition of “Break the Bough” from her 2021 breakthrough album Stand for Myself. Playing with a revved-up backing band in front of a backdrop that included a skyline and palm trees, Yola also provided her own tambourine accompaniment as she belted out the song’s liberating lyrics (“See with eyes unclouded/ Feel with arms unbound/ You’re free to fly”).
Before the performance, host Wayne Brady introduced “Bough” as being about “about how far one can get on their own journey when negative thoughts and feelings are purposefully abandoned, and forgiveness is embraced along the way — flying high when you choose to lose the baggage.”
The honor is the first official AMAs recognition Yola has received, but she has already racked up six nominations at the Grammys — including a best new artist nod at the 2021 Grammys, and two at the upcoming 2023 awards, for best Americana album (Stand for Myself) and best American roots song (“Diamond Studded Shoes”).
Stand for Myself earned Yola her first entry on the Billboard 200 albums chart in August 2021, debuting at No. 196, and also reached No. 6 on the Americana/Folk Albums listing. “Diamond Studded Shoes” was named by Billboard‘s staff as one of the 100 best songs of 2021, finishing at No. 69.
P!nk pulled double duty at the 2022 American Music Awards on Sunday night (Nov. 20), following her opening performance with a passionate mid-show tribute to Olivia Newton-John and her eternal hit “Hopelessly Devoted to You.”
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Wearing an elegant, sparkly dress rife with feathers, P!nk glided through “Hopelessly Devoted to You” and struck a different tone than her first performance of the evening, when she roller skated to her new single “Never Gonna Not Dance Again.” During the tribute, P!nk kept things simple, standing center stage and belting out the classic song as photos of Newton-John were shown on the big screen and fans swayed their arms behind her.
Newton-John passed away in August at the age of 73, leaving behind a pop legacy that included five No. 1 hits on the Hot 100 chart. “Hopelessly Devoted to You” peaked at No. 3 and was one of three top 10 smashes from 1978’s Grease, also earning an Oscar nomination for best original song.
Over the course of her career, Newton-John earned 10 American Music Awards, beginning in 1974 with a favorite album – country win for Let Me Be There. She dominated the favorite female artist categories in the mid-’70s, winning in the pop/rock category in three consecutive years from 1974 to 1976, and she returned to win the category in 1982, following the smash success of her 1981 Hot 100-topper “Physical.”
Meanwhile, P!nk’s “Never Gonna Not Dance Again” precedes her upcoming studio album, Trustfall. Click here to read about her earlier AMAs performance.
Make no “Bones” about it — Imagine Dragons and J.I.D tore up the stage at the 2022 American Music Awards on Sunday (Nov. 20) with their performance of their new single “Enemy.”
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Starting out with a solo showcase, Dragons’ frontman Dan Reynolds appeared onstage to perform their latest song “Bones.” Accompanied by a handful of backup dancers and a black shirt that he refused to keep buttoned up for very long, the singer strutted around the gothic grayscale set, playfully singing along to the bouncy track.
Eventually, a splash of color arrived, announcing the transition to the big number. Launching into “Enemy,” Reynolds and his dancers worked the crowd while the set surrounding the band was ablaze. As the cherry on top of the performance, J.I.D made an appearance to deliver his slick verse right at the end, before high-fiving Reynolds and closing out the final chorus.
Imagine Dragons wasn’t simply at the ceremony for a high-octane performance — the Las Vegas rock group was nominated on Sunday in four categories, including favorite pop duo or group, favorite rock artist, favorite rock song for “Enemy” and favorite rock album. J.I.D’s only nomination was with the band for “Enemy.”
The performance was just one in a crowded field of star performers at the show — stars like P!nk, Anitta, Lil Baby, GloRilla, Carrie Underwood, Bebe Rexha, Charlie Puth and more all showed out on the stage on Sunday.
Bad Bunny led all artists at Sunday night’s show with a whopping eight nominations. Other superstars, including Beyoncé, Drake, Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Adele, The Weeknd and Future, closely followed behind. Keep up to date on who took home which awards here.
GloRilla surprised the crowd at the 2022 American Music Awards Sunday night (Nov. 20) by bringing out Cardi B for the first television performance of “Tomorrow 2.”
In front of a fiery red city skyline, the 23-year-old MC revved up her motorcycle on stage and launched straight into the performance of her Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit, with her backup dancers gassing her up and their reflective, flashy outfits illuminating the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. No one was prepared for Cardi to arrive on the scene via a purple convertible and dive into her X-rated section of the song. While the AMAs telecast couldn’t handle the heat and bleeped out the majority of Cardi’s noteworthy verse, the kinship between her and Glo was palpable from the screen as they sweetly tapped each other’s elbows during their impressively coordinated choreography.
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Following their set, Glo and Cardi shared a warm embrace for one of the award show’s heartfelt moments. Both rappers were nominated for favorite female hip-hop artist at the 2022 AMAs, but Nicki Minaj took home the award.
Last week, Glo celebrated her first Grammy nomination for the Hitkidd-assisted “F.N.F. (Let’s Go),” which is up for best rap performance. “I’m in disbelief. I don’t think this is happening for real. This crazy,” she told Billboard. “My team let me know, [but] I had to go look it up for myself because I had thought maybe they was playing.” But after this evening’s performance, the hip-hop newcomer continues to prove that this is just the beginning for her.
Dazzling the crowd in a sparkling gold jumpsuit and a cascade of blonde hair, Taylor Swift accepted the 2022 American Music Award for favorite pop album for her 2021 LP, Red (Taylor’s Version).
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Coming to the stage after hugging Sabrina Carpenter, who was seated next to her, Swift clutched her award while saying that “this album is a re-rerecorded album, and I cannot tell you how much my re-recorded albums mean to me. I never expected or assumed they would mean anything to you, so I can’t thank you enough for caring about this album that I’m so proud of.”
She then thanked her producer Chris Rowe for “re-creating and elevating” Red, all the artists featured on the vault tracks including Chris Stapleton and Phoebe Bridgers, her live touring band who played on the album and to Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien, who starred in the music video. Swift also thanked her friend Blake Lively for directing her video for “I Bet You Think About Me” along with Miles Teller and “his gorgeous wife Kelly Teller” for starring in the music video.
“To the fans, I cannot thank you enough,” Swift concluded. “This is so special, thank you.”
Red (Taylor’s Version) is the re-recording of Swift’s 2012 LP Red, with this re-recording project launching after the acquisition of six of Swift albums’ master recordings by Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings in 2019. From its release day of Nov. 12, 2021, through this past Nov. 3, Red (Taylor’s Version) earned 1.94 million equivalent album units, according to Luminate, while the original Red has earned 220,000 equivalent album units over that same time period.
This evening at the AMAs Swift also won the awards for favorite female pop artist, favorite female country artist, favorite country album and favorite music video. While accepting the favorite music video AMA for All Too Well: The Short Film, she offered heartfelt thanks to fans and her collaborators.
“This short film was 10 years in the making, and the only reason I got to write and direct this short film is because you, the fans, chose the song ‘All Too Well.’ You chose it. No one at a record label chose it. You picked it, you said, ‘That is the song that matters to us.’ And it just so happened that that is the song that mattered the most to me. So I’m very happy we agreed on that,” Swift said. “So the people who helped me make this, I really want to say, I will say this forever — Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien, thank you so much for trusting me as a director with your immense, incredible talent. I wanna say thank you to me DP Rina Yang, I wanna say thank you to my producer Saul Germaine, my production designer Ethan Tobman, my editor Ted Guard, and the entire crew that worked with us on this. I’m so proud of it, I’m so happy you like it too. This is so special and wonderful and… ahhhhh!! Thank you! Thank you for this!”
During Sunday evening’s (Nov. 20) American Music Awards, host Wayne Brady honored late Migos member Takeoff, as well as the victims in the Club Q shooting that took place in Colorado Springs, Colorado on Saturday (Nov. 19).
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“We recently just lost Kirsnick Khari Ball, better known as Takeoff, one third of the groundbreaking hip-hop group Migos,” Brady told the audience. “On behalf of all of us that love hip-hop and music around the world, we thank you Takeoff for your artistry and tonight we honor your memory. Guys, we have to stop this senseless and terrible gun violence. Just yesterday there was a mass shooting in Colorado Springs and our hearts go out to all of the victims’ families. That’s from the show. Personally, I want to say I love you all and my heart is with you and God bless you.”
Takeoff died on Tuesday, Nov. 1 at age 28, after being fatally shot in Houston during a private party at a bowling alley. Georgia native Takeoff teamed with Quavo and Offset in 2008 to form Migos. The group released its debut mixtape, Juug Season, in 2011, and two years later earned the trend-setting hit “Versace,” which led to a series of hits including the Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “Bad and Boujee.”
On Saturday (Nov. 19), at least five people were killed and 25 others injured after a gunman entered the LGBTQ nightclub Club Q and opened fire. Patrons of the club reportedly confronted and stopped the gunman.
The 2022 American Music Awards are airing live Sunday, Nov. 20 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
Floating above the Microsoft Theater’s audience on a suspended spherical cage, Carrie Underwood was ever the contortionist, bending and gliding through the opening verse of her Denim & Rhinestones song “Crazy Angels” for the 2022 AMAs on Sunday (Nov. 20).
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The country music star rocked a long-sleeve pink, blue, black and white leotard and sparkling makeup, channeling ’80s era fashion, with neon pink angel wings flashing in the background, giving life to the song’s lyric, “Tilted halo with a neon shine.” Underwood’s background singers and band wore all black, giving the glowing chart-topping artist all the spotlight.
Underwood is nominated for two American Music Awards, favorite female country artist and favorite country album for Denim & Rhinestones. The album debuted at No. 10 on the Billboard 200 chart and No. 2 on the Top Country Albums chart, marking Underwood’s tenth top 10 album on the Billboard 200. Underwood’s Denim & Rhinestones Tour fall leg recently came to a close, but the tour picks back up in February 2023 in Miami. Underwood recently performed “Hate My Heart” at the 2022 CMA Awards on Nov. 9, another song from her album Denim & Rhinestones. She also paid tribute to two country legends, the late Loretta Lynn and living legend Alan Jackson, during the 2022 CMAs.
Other AMA nominees include Bad Bunny in the lead with eight nods, while Beyoncé, Drake and Taylor Swift are close behind with six apiece. So far, Swift took home the award for favorite pop album on the live show.
Anitta took the stage at the American Music Awards for the first time at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday night (Nov. 20) — with a very special guest in tow.
The Brazilian pop star began her performance with a sultry bit of her Global Excl. US chart-topping smash “Envolver,” grinding with one of her backup dancers while another one cavorted solo in a gigantic cocktail glass. Then, the song transitioned to her 2022 single “Lobby,” with the set also turning over to a hotel backdrop — with a bar and an elevator in the background, and even a bellhop luggage cart for Anitta to be pushed around in while singing.
Then, rap icon and “Lobby” collaborator Missy Elliott arrived to do her verse on the song, while sporting a sparkly Versace suit and gigantic sunglasses. The two artists ended the number trading off vocals next to one another, embracing as the high-energy performance came to a close.
Anitta is also a first-time nominee at the 2022 American Music Awards, nominated in the category of favorite female Latin artist. Elliott is a two-time winner at the AMAs, receiving favorite rap/hip-hop female artist in both 2003 and 2005.
“Envolver” was not only Anitta’s biggest hit to date on the Global 200 and Global Excl. US charts, it also marked her first unaccompanied solo entry on the Billboard Hot 100, reaching No. 70 in April. Missy was a fixture on the Hot 100 throughout the late ’90s and early ’00s, achieving her highest-charting single to date in 2002 with the No. 2-peaking “Work It.”