The 2015 American Music Awards satisfied the needs of pop fans with high-energy performances from stars like Ariana Grande and Selena Gomez.
The 2015 American Music Awards was filled with unforgettable performances by some of the biggest pop stars in music.
Jennifer Lopez hosted the star-studded event to celebrate the big music accomplishments of the year. JLo entered the stage in a fur coat and a sequined bodysuit and sang a slow rendition of her song “Waiting for Tonight.” The star then stopped singing and said, “Wait don’t clap. Tonight’s not about me. It’s about the music.”
Lopez proceeded to perform a dance montage to some of the biggest hits of the year, such as “Anaconda,” “Bad Blood” and “Feeling Myself.” Lopez even did a rendition of Drake’s “Hotline Bling” dance.
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When Justin Bieber’s “Where Are Ü Now?” came on, Bieber showed his support by dancing to his song in the crowd. It took a few minutes to recover from that entire experience.
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After Prince presented The Weeknd with the award for the Favorite Soul/R&B album, 5 Seconds of Summer performed its high-energy hit “Hey Everybody!”
Following 5SOS, Selena Gomez sang “Same Old Love” in a glitter bodysuit on a flight of stairs with a bunch of male dancers who are wearing tuxedo-esque outfits. That performance was a stark contrast to Gomez’s performance at the 2014 AMAs, in which she performed an emotional song about her ex Justin Bieber. It appears that Gomez has gotten over the relationship, and her latest performance definitely proved she’s “sick of that same old love.”
Carrie Underwood emotionally performed “Heartbeat” surrounded by candles and starlight. Underwood was also awarded Favorite Female Country Artist later in the show.
Demi Lovato followed Underwood and sang her hit “Confident.” Lovato definitely displayed her true confidence on stage by singing an edgier version of the title track of her new album. The entire crowd was really into her explosive performance, including her former Camp Rock co-star Joe Jonas.
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Meghan Trainor performed her song “Like I’m Gonna Lose You” and then joined Charlie Puth to perform their song “Marvin Gaye.” Their performance ended with a pretty shocking on-stage make-out session between the stars.
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Ariana Grande performed her new song “Focus” in a 1920s style. In a fringy outfit, she sang in front of a red satin background. Her performance was accompanied by a very intricate dance number that really made the crowd “focus” on Grande.
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Gigi Hadid and Kylie Jenner presented Nicki Minaj with the Favorite Hip-Hop Album award for The Pinkprint. Minaj accepted her award by dancing to “Anaconda” on stage and thanking everyone who has helped her make her album, including Beyoncé. They are the ultimate friendship goals.
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Later, Minaj won Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist of the Year. In her acceptance speech, Minaj acknowledge that her fellow nominee Fetty Wap had a extremely successful year despite the fact that he didn’t win the award. Minaj gave credit where credit is due, which was very honorable considering she knows how awesome she is.
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One Direction won a few awards, including Artist of The Year and Favorite Pop/Rock Group or Duo. The group performed “Perfect” from its new album Made in the A.M., and the crowd went crazy for the boy band. Its performance was almost “perfect,” but it didn’t feel right without Zayn.
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Probably because they couldn’t find anyone else to present performers, Alicia Silverstone and Jeremy Sisto from Clueless announced Gwen Stefani’s emotional performance of “Used to Love You.” Stefani performed in front of screens displaying her face crying in the music video for the song and kept her performance simple while focusing on her vocals and the message of the song.
Joe Jonas, along with his band members from DNCE, presented Nick Jonas’ performance (aww). Nick started his performance by singing a version of “Chains” on the piano. He then proceeded to perform "Levels” and ended the song by playing the drums. His drum solo immediately led into a choir singing “Jealous” with him. Nick has a smile on his face the entire time and delivered a very passionate performance that was next level.
Paula Abdul awarded Ariana Grande with the award for Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist. Grande thanked her fans, along with her grandmother who was watching in the crowd. It was heartwarming to watch Grande hug her grandmother immediately when her name was announced.
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Coldplay returned to the AMAs stage after seven years to play “Adventure Of A Lifetime.” The band's performance was accompanied by psychedelic background visuals, balloons and men in gorilla suits on stage. Very interesting.
Tove Lo presented The Weeknd’s performance of “The Hills,” which he sang on a stage set created by flames. Needless to say, the performance was hot.
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Macklemore and Ryan Lewis performed a powerful song featuring Leon Bridges called “Kevin.” The song was about a friend with a prescription drug addiction and brought a more serious tone to the AMAs stage. The AMAs performance is not the first time the duo has incorporated serious topics into its award show performances. At the 2014 Grammys, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis performed “Same Love” to promote marriage equality. Although “Kevin” is a more personal song to performers, it still addressed a serious topic to a large audience.
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After Fall Out Boy won Favorite Alternative Rock Artist, Alanis Morissette and Demi Lovato performed Morissette's hit song “You Oughta Know” from 1995. The two powerful voices sang the legendary song like bosses, and Morissette showed that after 20 years, she can still hit every note of the song perfectly. The entire performance was like a dream come true.
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Jared Leto gave a speech about the recent terrorist attacks in Paris before presenting Celine Dion’s performance of “Hymne a L'amour” by Edith Piaf. Dion sang the song powerfully in front of a screen displaying different scenes from Paris, which left many audience members feeling very emotional.
A cappella group Pentatonix performed a medley of the familiar Star Wars score in Star Wars costumes before a full orchestra performed “Star Wars Theme.”
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Bieber ended the show with the three singles from his latest album Purpose. Bieber began by singing "What Do You Mean?” on a dark stage that transitioned to “Where Are Ü Now?” Bieber showed off some serious dance moves that made every Belieber swoon.
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He closed with “Sorry,” during which the stage was actually drenched in pouring rain while Bieber and his background dancers performed on stage. At first, it appeared that the water was an illusion, but as the performance went on, Bieber was visibly drenched.
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This year’s AMAs was pretty drama-free unlike the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards. However, there were several outstanding performances to satisfy pop fans’ needs until the next music award show.
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