There was fire. There was leather. There were falls, freak shows, tributes, comebacks, and debuts. And above all, there were incredibly talented musicians, and three hours of non-stop entertainment at the American Music Awards live show Sunday night.
While the awards ceremony ran nearly as long as the Oscars (3 hours in total), I wasn't bored for a moment. There seemed to be more focus on the night's performers than the actual awards themselves, and the award recipients certainly didn't spend eons rambling on.
The show opened up with Janet Jackson performing a medley of her greatest hits--and I was a bit disappointed, in all honesty. I didn't find the performance too impressive--Janet seemed off her game and almost like she was under the influence of something. The dance routines were stale--certainly not of Michael Jackson's caliber. Janet mostly flipped her long hair around--and it got stuck in her face much of the time-- and the songs sounded a bit lip-synched. I also expected a bit more flair in terms of costumes--Janet and crew looked like baggy, bland space pirates.
In contrast, the Black-Eyed Peas (who took home the award for favorite pop/rock band, among others) put on a spectacular performance, with their typical high-octane energy and Fergie looking gorgeous as always. Chris Daughtry also put on a solid performance with his song "Life After You" from his latest album, Leave This Town, as did Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Kelly Clarkson, Green Day, Jay-Z and many more A-list singers with their hits.
But there were a few performances that were a bit more on the, shall we say, controversial side--some intentional, some not so.
Lady Gaga, always outrageous--or attempting to be--came out to perform "Bad Romance", in a bizarre costume--no surprise there, this is rapidly becoming her trademark. She and her dancers wore flesh-colored leotards covered in something reminiscent of Ace bandages or masking tape, I'm not sure which...and she sported a light-up "vest" of sorts. The outfits didn't leave much to the imagination. One thing I can say about the Lady, she's never boring.
Then Lady G picked up the microphone stand and used it to shatter a large glass window to get to her piano, which was ablaze while she played the quite compelling and beautiful "Speechless", along with violinists donning gas masks. I could have done without her smashing of the bottles into the piano and her spread-eagled position most of the time, but it's the best I've heard her voice and she certainly proved her talent ranges far beyond simple pop tunes.
J-Lo was also on the scene--or should I say "Lola", which she's now trying to rebrand herself as. She performed the song "Louboutins"-- which for the life of me I couldn't figure out what she was singing (it's Lo-speak for Louis Vuittons, apparently). J-Lola had a boxing theme happening (she was introduced by professional ring-announcer Michael Buffer, famous for his "Let's get ready to ruuuumble" catch phrase) and several buff male dancers joined her in the performance--which would have been forgettable had it not been for the fact that she slipped and fell after jumping off the back of one of the dancers. I have to give Lola accolades though--she didn't miss a beat and jumped right back up in a split secod and kept dancing like it never happened--quite the trooper.
Michael Jackson took home quite a few awards post-mortem, for favorite Pop/Rock and Soul R &B Album with his "Number Ones", and for favorite Male artist in both Pop/Rock and Soul R&B categories as well.
And the show closed with the ever flamboyant Adam Lambert, whose appearance has been hyped up quite a bit for the last few months. Rehearsal footage had been leaked and Lambert promised an outrageous performance of his first single "For Your Entertainment.
But was it really? It was more campy than shocking, with his mock sadomasochism - Adam opens the song by dragging a leggy blonde across the floor, and "walking" some leather-clad lads on a "leash"...his dancers are all dressed in leather or some sort of goth bondage type of outfit, but I found the dance routine fell short--it was mostly the dancers climbing on set props and crawling on the floor.
Probaby the two most "shocking" bits of the performance--aside from the fact that Adam was wearing a suit instead of something leathery himself, albeit it had little spikes on one shoulder-- were Adam grinding a man's face into his crotch a la faux fellatio, and kissing one of his keyboardists--also male. That stunt has gotten some serious buzz going around town. But the whole thing felt really contrived and not genuine at all--no passion, just for shock value, and to be honest, it wasn't all that shocking.
Adam also did a very awkward somersault across the floor at one point that looked terrible (did he also take a tumble? Some say yes but it was hard to tell), and grabbed at the crotch of a female dancer while he sits in a chair--it looked like he was trying to unsnap part of her outfit--not sure what was going on there. All in all, I wasn't impressed with the choreography, costumes or Adam's outfit.
But as for his voice--always stellar. He belted out his signature wailing war-cry at the end of the song, and I think FYE actually sounded much better live than recorded. But where was the raw sexuality? Adam dished out much more of that in his solo American Idol performances than in this routine. I think perhaps there was too much going on around him, it was distracting for him and also for the audience, and quite frankly, he doesn't need it. He can deliver what we want without all the hoopla. But with an extravanganza like the AMAs, I guess they were going for big and bold.
At least the editor of Out magazine should be happy now with Adam openly displaying his gay side. And Adam himself seemed quite pleased with the performance - he tweeted "All hail freedom of expression and artistic integrity. :) fans: I adore u" earlier today.
Taylor Swift took home the Artist of the Year award, and what a sweetheart of a gal. Genuine, down to earth and girl-next-door. She also won several other awards, clearly a favorite across many genres.
The complete list of award winners are as below:
Artist of the Year: Taylor Swift
Pop-Rock
Male artist: Michael Jackson
Female artist: Taylor Swift
Band, duo or group: Black Eyed Peas
Album: Michael Jackson, "Number Ones"
Soul-R&B
Male artist: Michael Jackson
Female artist: Beyonce
Band, duo or group: Black Eyed Peas
Album: Michael Jackson, "Number Ones"
Rap-Hip-Hop
Artist: Jay-Z
Album: Jay-Z, "Blueprint 3"
Country:
Male artist: Keith Urban
Female artist: Taylor Swift
Band, duo or group: Rascal Flatts
Album: Taylor Swift, "Fearless"
Adult Contemporary: Taylor Swift
Alternative Rock: Green Day
Latin: Aventura
Contemporary Inspirational: Mary Mary
Soundtrack Album: "Twilight Soundtrack"
T-Mobile Breakthrough Artist Award: Gloriana
International Award of Excellence: Whitney Houston
Comments
Another great article Melanie. Yeah, I was watching Adam Lambert and when I saw him grinding that leather-clad male dancer's face into his crotch I kinda thought "Hmm...I wonder if that was a good career move." I thought the whole performance was very campy and his big glorious voice had to fight to keep up with the rest of the act. Still, I like him and will continue to follow his antics...uh, I mean performances.
Thanks Cathy! I'm not sure what the Glamberts will think of some of Adam's antics last night--and they certainly were antics! One of the things I loved about him on Idol was his originality and pizzaz...his over-the-top costumes and bigger than life performances...and I have to admit this was a bit ridiculous. I'm with you that I still like him and will follow what he does, but it will be interesting to see how the majority of his fans react to this.
I don't think it will hurt his career (think Madonna and her outlandish stunts over the years) and it certainly has everyone talking - which I'm sure was the point.
I just think Adam has a lot more class than what he portrayed last night, and I hope to see him come back to that in the future.
I thought his performance fell short vocally as well. I just think he is a WAY better singer than that. I think he was nervous and everything going on was distracting. Perhaps I am just getting more conservative as I get older, but I am sick of the Madonnas and Adam Lamberts pushing the sexual envelope. I grew up in the eighties and I used to think that stuff was cool. It is getting old. When will it end??? When people are dancing around stage naked and having oral sex on the floor??? That is not music and that is not entertainment. Adam Lambert is not a bisexual, but he pretends to be one??? I have no problem with a romantic kiss between guys on stage. But that was trashy. I am so disappointed.
@Ladonna - I have to agree that it was a bit trashy, and that it was less about the music and more about the "show". I was disappointed as well. I have no issue with men kissing men either, but not sure this was the right venue/backdrop for pushing the envelope sexually with all the simulated groping/oral sex/etc. I'm all for artistic license, but I think something sexy can be done with class, and there wasn't much creativity on display here. I would have much rather seen Adam push the envelope in his video for the single--which I'm very curious to see.
I watched his performance a few more times and would have to say I can hear where his voice was off in a few minor places, but I still think the song sounds better live--at least we can recognize that it's Adam.
Thanks as always for your feedback!
P.S. Did you see poor Kris, all they let him do was present one award? Kind of a slap in the face, don't you think? What with all the other Idols getting to perform...
I didn't get to see the whole show, but I didn't know ALL other idols got to perform. I didn't think Jordin Sparks, Rubin Studdard, Fantasia, or Taylor Hicks was there. However, the music industry and media has been biased towards Adam since AI simply because he lost. And many times at the expense of Kris Allen unfortunately. I steer more towards liberalism politically and socially. However, I think there is such a thing as reverse discimination. I believe the fact that Adam Lambert is gay is actually helping him get promoted in the music industry. And I believe the lack of promotion of Kris Allen is a back lash of bitterness by the industry because the gay guy didn't win. That is hypocrisy.
@Ladonna - Whoops, sorry for the confusion about the Idols...I didn't mean ALL the other Idols performed, I meant with so many of them performing (Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Daughtry, Adam - did I forget anyone?)
And interesting point about the reverse discrimination...I don't know that I agree that the gay issue is propelling Adam's career so much but I do see that Adam has gotten more attention because he's more flamboyant and outrageous, while Kris is more subdued and flies under the radar. But I can certainly understand your point of view on that.
Melanie,
David Cook didn't get invited either. Besides Adam, all the other Idols are now established artists. Adam was invited long ago because he is theatrical. I don't necessarily feel it was a slap in the face since he is not established yet, but look what happened when they put Adam on. It was hyped up and overrated. I feel sorry for Adam in a way.
I love Adam Lambert and his performance at the AMA....I have seen a lot worse sexual entertainment on t.v. Adams video is wonderful and wished he had protrayed something like it at the AMA's...there was to much lighting for it to be great, should of been darker like the video....No, one could of been worse than ga-ga and did not care for Janet Jackson and her grabbing mens croutch.....Oh! well that is called entertainment I guess....Adam did not lipsync either.....
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