It was a nice touch having the members of the Backstreet Boys present the Best New Artist trophy in this year’s American Music Awards. It was also great seeing Kevin Richardson, AJ McLean, Brian Littrell, Howie Dorough and Nick Carter, together again on stage. Most of all, it would have really been quite a treat for Backstreet to present the award to hot nominee One Direction, a sort of passing the torch ceremony where the top boy band of the ’90s hands the honor to the top boy band of today.
Unfortunately though, this did not happen. This is because it was former Canadian Idol finalist Carly Rae Jepsen who was named the Best New Artist of the Year. Thanks to her phenomenal selling tunes Call Me Maybe and Good Time with Owl City, she did not only win over those cute British boys, she also bested hip-hopper J. Cole, fun rockers fun. of We are Young fame and the Belgian pop sensation Gotye, who struck it big with the lilting Somebody That I Used To Know and the album Making Mirrors.
In a way, it can then be said that the 40th American Music Awards that was held at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles last Sunday evening, Nov. 18 (Monday morning, Nov. 19 in our part of the world), was a good night for Canadians. This is because the biggest winner of all was that extremely lucky kid from Ontario, Justin Bieber. Well, not that lucky anymore because he is rumored to have recently lost his stunning girlfriend of two years, Disney star Selena Gomez.
But career-wise, Bieber was still lucky in lots of ways at the AMAs. Just think, he won as Pop/Rock Male Artist of the Year; his album Believe was named Pop/Rock Album of the Year; and most of all, Justin, who by the way, brought his mom to the event, won the biggest award of all, the Artist of Year over the likes of Rihanna, Drake, Maroon 5 and Katy Perry. He thanked his fans and his label boss, Soul/R&B Male Artist of the Year winner, Usher, profusely and did two very special numbers in the show, one of which was a hot duet with hip-hop diva Nicki Minaj.
The other winners at the AMA were:
Pop/Rock — Female Artist: Katy Perry; Duo or Group: Maroon 5
Country — Female Artist: Taylor Swift; Male Artist: Luke Bryan; Band, Duo or Group: Lady Antebellum; Album: Carrie Underwood Blown Away.
Rap/Hip Hop — Artist: Nicki Minaj; Album: Nicki Minaj Pink Friday: Reloaded.
Soul/R&B — Female Artist: Beyonce; Album: Rihanna Talk That Talk.
Artist Alternative Rock: Linkin Park; Artist Adult Contemporary: Adele; Artist Latin: Shakira; Artist Contemporary Inspirational: tobyMac; and Artist Electronic Dance Music: David Guetta.
As expected the show, aired locally on Star World, was star-studded and featured spectacular numbers. For the first time in years, I thought Christina Aguilera looked great. Her Cleopatra gown and hairstyle were truly becoming. The stunner of the night was presenter Heidi Klum in gold lace. But the prettiest girl in the room was Taylor Swift singing I Knew You Were Trouble. Kelly Clarkson proved that she, indeed, has the best voice of all American Idol winners. Pink and Kesha turned acrobats and Usher was a great crowd-pleaser with his medley of hits. I am not surprised anymore that he keeps winning every year.
But of course, since this is 2012 and the time of K-pop, Korean pop star PSY was around to close the show. He still has to make it to No. 1 in the US charts but his popularity is unbelievable. Proof was how everybody at the Nokia Theater got ready to dance once PSY was introduced. And that was not all. MC Hammer, the dance sensation from the ’80s (remember, Can’t Touch This?) joined PSY midway through his number. That medley of Gangnam Style and 2 Legit 2 Quit by two middle-aged guys in big, loose pants closed the show.
So now I wonder, do you think PSY will get invited to perform at the Grammy Awards in February? If he is, how do you think will they present Gangnam Style? Even better, do you think PSY will be nominated at the Grammys? From what I know, he and Gangnam Style are both eligible. We will have the answer within the next few weeks.