American Music Awards: The live-blog
Oh American Music Awards, you're such a confusing show. You court the controversy now, but lambasted poor Adam Lambert when he brought it last year.Will there be a surprise tonight? Or has the hammer been put down on the raciness? Let's find out!
10:58 p.m. That's a wrap. The Bieber-Usher axis dominates, with five wins. No controversies either. I wonder what people will be talking about tomorrow. Oh right, Bristol.
10:54 p.m. The NKOTBSB colloboration is way crazier than expected. Nine voices on "I Want It That Way" and "The Right Stuff' is something. The full show will make its American debut at Nassau Coliseum in June.
10:50 p.m. The Beeb wins artist of the year, the youngest person ever to win the award. That's because they didn't have Interwebs voting back in the day.
10:41 p.m. Usher wins best soul/R&B male. He's tied with The Beeb!
10:36 p.m. Whoa. This Santana/Gavin Rossdale take on "Bang a Gong" is frightening on so many levels, not even included the botched "Take Me to the River" reference.
10:30 p.m. Ke$ha's choreography for "We R Who We R" is making all the dudes in the teal lipstick do all the dancing, while she kinda stands around. Then, she smashed a guitar that had "Hate" crossed out on it, which kinda means that she was against anti-hate stuff, or, you know, pro-hate. Oops -- she might not have thought that one through.
10:26 p.m. Um, Ke$ha is really C3PO!
10:25 p.m. Michael Buble wins best adult contemporary artist. Poor Lady A.
10:18 p.m. Train is rocking out "Hey, Soul Sister" with little kids, after a boring bit of "Marry Me."
10:12 p.m. Muse wins best alternative rock band. They thank Charles Darwin and are well on their way to becoming household names.
10:10 p.m. I like how Usher only sings the parts he wants to in "DJ Got Us Falling in Love" as he dances and how he drops the register so he can still sing strongly while busting his moves. It's possible to do both, Britney.
10:03 p.m. Lady Antebellum wins best country group, their first conversion of their night-leading eight nominations.
9:58 p.m. OK, Christina Aguilera's "Express" is much more interesting live than on the radio. I'm not sure why :)
9:52 p.m. The Beeb wins his second award for best pop/rock male, beating out mentor Usher. "Without Michael Jackson, none of us would be here," he says.
9:46 p.m. Taylor Swift has recycled her CMA set and of "Back to December." The hair is new, though! And she sounds pretty good -- even throwing in One Republic's "Apologize."
9:42 p.m. Ne-Yo gets to explain his garbagemen-turned-superhero concept album and still turn out the great singles "Champagne Life" and very Michael Jackson-y "One in a Million." And now, he's apparently playing half the album with "Telekinesis" and "Beautiful Monster."
9:32 p.m. Pink sounds great on "Raise Your Glass," showing that pop singers really can sing live. Really.
9:29 p.m. Justin Bieber wins best new artist. Could there have been any other possible outcome?
9:17 p.m. Rock is really winning the performance battle tonight. Bon Jovi sounds stellar on "What Do You Got?" compared to almost everyone else, aside from Kid Rock, so far. I did not need to hear "You Give Love a Bad Name" again, however. Seriously, does anyone not know that y'all sing this song and that it will be on your greatest hits album? Why not "Always"? Oh, "It's My Life," OK.
9:14 p.m. Brad Paisley wins best country male.
9:04 p.m. Justin Bieber gets serious with "Pray" and it works for him. Uh oh, the Internet's gonna break now, isn't it?
9:03 p.m. Rihanna wins best Soul/R&B Female.
8:58 p.m. Is Katy Perry's use of the kids choir her acceptance that she was outsung by the Glee kids? And to prove that, she just hit some, um, interesting upper-register notes in "Firework." Also, wow! Fireworks during "Firework." Who saw that coming?
8:52 p.m. Yeah, the TV-head dancers really didn't help BEP's "The Time (Dirty Bit)." Will this break their winning streak?
8:48 p.m. Oh lord, Black Eyed Peas is doing their Carnival Cruise Line commercial.
8:47 p.m. Shakira wins best Latin artist. Awooo!
8:38 p.m. Kid Rock is sounding remarkably like The Eagles singing "Under the Boardwalk" on "In Times Like These," which is so much better than "Born Free."
8:36 p.m.Taylor Swift wins best country female. "I just want to thank the fans," she says.
8:32 p.m. Diddy-Dirty Money's "Coming Home' is probably Diddy's best song since "It's All About the Benjamins." I don't care if it sounds like T.I. wrote it.
8:21 p.m. Miley Cyrus is doing "Forgiveness and Love," dressed in her Stevie Nicks-ish best. This is extraordinary in its hair-whipping blandness.
8:18 p.m. Enrique Iglesias is being introduced as a Latin superstar, but "Tonight" and especially "I Like It" (with a drum corps, no less!) is about as Latin as a ChocoTaco at Taco Bell. Fun, though.
8:15 p.m. Black Eyed Peas win best pop group. Is Will.i.am wearing a Lego hat? Um, why?
8:10 p.m. Usher wins best Soul/R&B album for "Raymond vs. Raymond."
8:07 p.m. Rihanna opens with a bit of "Love the Way You Lie (Part 2), which was kind of somber and a bit forced. Luckily, she moved on to the irresistible "What's My Name" pretty quickly, though it's not the cool guitar-heavy version she's been doing elsewhere. And to cap off the tri-fecta she's on to "Only Girl in the World," which is also a bit wobbly. Is there a sound issue? Also, am I the only one disappointed to find out that she's not singing, "Want you to love me like I'm a hot pie"?
