And the Winners Are…
The Billboard Music Awards were held on Sunday, May 21st at 8:00.
The event was hosted by rapper Ludacris and singer and actress Vanessa Hudgens. Nicki Minaj opened the show with a 9 minute performance, which included help from other artists such as Lil Wayne, Jason Derulo, and David Guetta.
The first award of the night was given to The Chainsmokers and Halsey for “Top Collaboration.” Their song “Closer” also received another two awards by the end of the night. Prior to show beginning, Drake won ten awards, and three more during the show. This caused him to win thirteen awards in one night, beating Adele’s record of winning twelve in one night. Korean Pop(KPOP) band BTS won for, “Top Social Media Artist”, as Twenty One Pilots won XFinity’s “Billboard Chart Achievement Award.” There were also numerous country awards given out that night, such as Blake Shelton winning “Top Country Artist” and Florida Georgia Line winning for “Top Country Song.”
In between the numerous awards given out, there were performances throughout the night. Camilla Cabello was the second artist to perform, marking her first television performance as a solo artist. The Chainsmokers performed shortly after they won their first award of the night. Julia Michaels made her debut performance as an artist, and after her, Ed Sheeran performed from one of his concerts in Chile. Miley Cyrus brought back her country roots as she performed her newest single, “Malibu.” Sam Hunt also brought a country performance after Cyrus’, but to switch up the genre of music, Lorde performed in between their songs.
To honor the 20th anniversary of the movie Titanic, Celine Dion performed her tear-jerking ballad, “My Heart Will Go On”. Imagine Dragons performed after Dion, and Drake shortly afterwards performed from the Bellagio water fountain in Las Vegas. John Legend and Florida George did a collaboration performance, which included a hit song from each of the artists. Cher, who was presented the Billboard Icon Award, performed two of her hits, before Bruno Mars closed the night with his own performance.
