2016 Billboard Music Awards

2016+Billboard+Music+Awards

Last Sunday there was another awards show, another round of awkward jokes, stars clutching awards and crying, and interesting outfit choices. The Billboard Music Awards was another award show much like the others, but it was still entertaining nonetheless, throwing in a few surprises for the audience along the way.

This year’s show was hosted by Ludacris and Ciara. The pair did a good job hosting and seemed to work well together. Ludacris seemed very comfortable hosting, which makes sense seeing that he hosted three other award shows in the past. Ciara was new to hosting and did an excellent job, making the crowd laugh and getting them excited for what was to come in the evening.

The show included a ton of performances. The performances included ones from Justin Bieber, Shawn Mendes, Madonna with Stevie Wonder, Britney Spears, Fifth Harmony with Ty Dolla $ign, P!nk, DNCE, Arianna Grande, Rihanna, Kesha, and Celine Dione ft. Lindsey Sterling, The Go-Go’s, and Gwen Stefani with Blake Shelton.

Madonna and Stevie Wonder paid tribute to Prince, singing Nothing Compares 2 U and Purple Rain. This performance received mixed reviews, but was overwhelmingly listed as a good performance. E Online summed this up perfectly saying “But maybe first we all accept the fact that there’s no way that a dedicated Prince tribute is going to satisfy everybody.”

Kesha had an emotional performance, singing “It Ain’t Me Babe.” This performance was in the midst of a ton of controversy leading up to the show after the record label she is signed under attempted to block her from performing at the show. Her performance was listed as one of the best of the night by Rolling Stone, who said “Kesha delivered the tribute to Bob Dylan she’s always intended to do.”

The show honored Celine Dion with their Icon Award. She was presented the award by her son Rene-Charles, which brought tears to the Dion’s eyes. In her speech she acknowledged her late husband Rene Angelil, saying “Rene this one’s for you.”

The winners of the night included: Top Hot 100 Artist- The Weekend, Top Hot 100 Song- “See you again” by Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth, Top Male Artist-Justin Bieber, Top Billboard 200 Album- 25 by Adele, , Billboard Chart Achievement Award- Rihanna, Top New Artist- Fetty Wap, Top Female Artist- Adele, Top Duo/Group- One Direction just to name a few.

Mary Royster (17’) said “I really like the Billboard Music Awards, they had a lot of different performances from a wide variety of artists.”