Sunday night was home to the Billboard Music Awards, which was broadcasted from Las Vegas. The show was a mirror of the iHeartRadio Music Awards two weeks prior, with another posthumous “new” song from Michael Jackson, but this time with a hologram of the King of Pop dancing, Ariana Grande continuing to shed her good girl Nickelodeon image with edgy dance moves and outfits, and awards being handed to similar artists.
Top Rock Album was the first award of the three-hour show and landed in the hands of Imagine Dragons for their album “Night Vision,” which is home to hits “Radioactive” and “Demons.” The band later performed with an array of different sized drums and ended the night with five awards, including Top Duo/Group, Top Rock Artist, and Top Hot 100 Artist.
Iggy Azalea and Charli XCX then took the stage to perform their song “Fancy,” which had the duo dressed as cheerleaders to play off of the songs Clueless music video theme. After the song, the two ladies ran off stage to allow Ariana Grande to belt her “Problem.”
A hologram performance of Michael Jackson’s “Slave to the Rhythm,” from his new posthumously released album “Xscape,” was the big moment for the show. The performance featured the late King of Pop dancing with hologram and real-life dancers and divided social media with reactions ranging from awe to disappointment.
Justin Timberlake was the biggest winner of the night, with seven awards, which he accepted via a video while overseas. Among his awards were Top Male Artist, Top R&B Artist, Top Billboard 200 Artist, and the coveted award of Top Artist.
Robin Thicke picked up the Top R&B award for his rape-themed-but-wildly-popular “Blurred Lines” and attempted to also pick up his estranged wife, Paul Patton, by thanking her for her “love and support and for putting up with me all these years.” He later tried again to win her over, after they separated in February after eight years of marriage, with a song subtly called “Get Her Back.”
The queen of controversy and tongues, Miley Cyrus, won for Top Streaming Artist for her Liam Hemsworth inspired “Wrecking Ball.” Just like Justin Timberlake, she accepted via video, but came on stage later to join the Flaming Lips for a cover of “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.”
After 22 Billboard Award ceremonies, Sunday’s show marked the first time a woman received the Icon Award. A former winner of the award,that is a lifetime achievement honor for an artist, is Prince. This year the accolade was given to Jennifer Lopez, who opened the show with a performance of the FIFA World Cup anthem, and used her win to send out a message to “her Latin people,” and “all the little ones sitting in the living room floor watching the TV right now.”
Other awards of the night went to Luke Bryan for Top Country Artist, Eminem for Top Rap artist, and Marc Anthony for Top Latin Artist.
However, the real top moment of the night goes to Kendall Jenner’s slip up of almost introducing boy-band 5 Seconds of Summer as boy-band kings One Direction.
