The American Music awards – now in its forty three^rd yr – has all the time felt much more relaxed than both the Grammys or the controversy-hungry MTV video music awards. It is the awards present of the individuals. It has additionally produced a few of the greatest pop performances of current occasions, from Whitney’s barnstorming medley on the 1994 ceremony to Michael Jackson’s barnstorming medley in 1993 and, in fact, Lady Gaga’s barnstorming medley in 2009. Held within the mundane environs of LA’s Microsoft theatre and introduced by an ageless Jennifer Lopez, Sunday night time’s present featured 23 award-givings and 19 performances in three hours. The massive winners included One Direction, who gained Artist of the Year for the second yr in a row, Nicki Minaj and The Weeknd. But probably the most memorable moments concerned an pointless snog and an much more pointless slice of a cappella nonsense.

Here are 10 issues we discovered on the night time:

Jennifer Lopez gave the individuals what they needed

Jennifer Lopez was formally the presenter of this yr’s AMAs, however she was barely on display throughout its three-hour period. When she did seem, she dealt with the entire thing with allure, disregarding errors by mentioning that she’s at present fairly a busy lady (she stars in a brand new TV detective collection beginning in America in January, and can start a residency in Las Vegas in the identical month).

She additionally put a number of effort into the present’s opening seven minutes, crooning her approach via a stripped again model of Waiting for Tonight earlier than realising that nobody needs to listen to her sing (“Tonight is all concerning the music,” she stated) and discarding the mic for a relentless dance assault on the yr’s greatest songs (and Nicki Minaj’s Anaconda). It’s straightforward to take C-Lo as a right, however there are only a few pop stars who nonetheless carry out like she does, and it was clear from the remainder of the night time’s performances that dancing in time and with enthusiasm is quick going out of trend.

Taylor Swift was the large winner, however you wouldn’t comprehend it

Reigning award-present queen Taylor Swift was this yr’s huge nominee with six nods, and if she’d swept the board she would have turn out to be the AMAs most adorned winner (overtaking Whitney Houston). In the top, she gained three – greater than anybody else on the night time – together with Song of the Year for Blank Space. She was a no-present (she’s at present on a break from her 1989 world tour, and will have been there in concept), and all of her classes have been pointedly introduced off digital camera. In reality, in contrast to most award exhibits, there have been no absent winners and no “sorry we couldn’t be there” video messages.

The 90s are again!

Not solely did former Singled Out host Jenny McCarthy current an award, however so did Paula Abdul and Donnie Wahlberg, earlier than Clueless stars Alicia Silverstone and Jeremy Sisto launched Gwen Stefani. Meanwhile, 5 Seconds Of Summer got here dressed as Pearl Jam and Justin Bieber appeared on the purple carpet sporting a Nirvana t-shirt, for heaven’s sake. Things acquired actually 90s and angsty with the night time’s token weird duet: Alanis Morissette and Demi Lovato scowling and prowling their means via the previous’s scorned-lady anthem You Oughta Know. Lovato, who was three when the music first got here out, gave it the requisite snarl, whereas Morissette squeezed out each final drop of anger, and offered the night time’s one controversial second when she did not censor the track’s “fuck”.

Pop stars now need to be on always

Perhaps in response to Swift’s traditional award present behaviour – dancing about to different individuals’s performances like a poorly coordinated however immediately gif-in a position toddler – all pop stars should now be on excessive alert. Throughout the night, the digital camera would minimize to poor unsuspecting viewers members so their reactions to different performers could possibly be scrutinised and judged. Nicki Minaj has already taken to Twitter to say she wasn’t being imply about Jennifer Lopez’s model of Anaconda. During Selena Gomez’s efficiency of Same Old Love, the varied members of Fifth Harmony got as a lot display time as she was. And pity poor Ellie Goulding, who stored being caught wanting extremely bored.

Harry Styles is our new style icon

While his quickly-to-be-estranged bandmates caught to the script vis-a-vis pink carpet apparel for males, Harry Styles sauntered into the present in a go well with seemingly created from a pair of his grandma’s Laura Ashley curtains. With Liam, Niall and Louis dressed for a day on the financial institution, Harry got here as Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and principally owned the night. Aware that the go well with was maybe a bit a lot for the stage, he later switched to a pair of black flares, a yellow rose bowtie and a few silver sparkly platform boots. This is what being a pop star is about: making the ridiculous look vaguely aspirational.

Never has the sight of two individuals kissing appeared so uncomfortable

Not since Madonna snogged Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera on the 2003 MTV VMAs has an awards present kiss prompted such a fuss. What Meghan Trainor and Charlie Puth did final night time was so spectacularly uncomfortable that it managed to erase the awfulness of the music they’d simply completed performing. Puth’s Marvin Gaye, which options Trainor, is by far the worst single of 2015, so it is sensible that they’d attempt to distract the viewers. There is video of the pair making an attempt to swallow one another’s lips under, however please naked in thoughts that it’s massively NSFW. Or another time actually.

Ariana Grande has lastly modified her hair!

A pop star altering her coiffure isn’t information, essentially, however within the case of Ariana Grande, it’s the finish of a ponytail-associated saga that has gripped a nation. Or at the least, some hardcore Ariana followers. In January 2014, Grande posted an image of herself with out her trademark beehive ponytail, referring to it as her “new look” for her new album. She shortly deleted the image and returned to her previous methods, main some followers to name her a pop puppet. She then went on Facebook to have a little bit of rant: “My actual hair is again to brown and I put on extensions however I put on it in a ponytail as a result of my precise hair is so damaged that it appears completely ratchet and absurd when I let it down,” she stated. “So as annoying as it’s for y’all to have to take a look at the identical hair type on a regular basis … It’s much more troublesome for me to have to attend perpetually for my pure hair to develop again and to need to put on extra pretend hair than each drag queen on earth mixed.” Finally, whereas performing her new single Focus and profitable Best Female Artist – Pop/Rock, Grande received to put on a special, non-ponytail coiffure. So let’s all simply take a second to rejoice.

Coldplay – Coldplay! – offered the night time’s WTF second

The 2015 AMAs wasn’t precisely jam full of shocking moments, however Coldplay managed to trigger a ripple of confusion throughout their efficiency of Adventure of a Lifetime. While the primary half was pretty normal Coldplay – Chris Martin dressed like a paint-spattered scholar and dancing round like he wants a wee in entrance of some spinning color wheels – the second half featured dancers dressed like chimps, big bouncing seashore balls and Martin doing yoga strikes that might make Gwyneth Paltrow wince. It was a refreshing second of eccentricity in an evening of pretty straight performances.

The Weeknd is a correct celebrity now

Having mumbled his means via 4 albums’ value of drug-fuelled bore&O, Canada’s the Weeknd noticed the sunshine and attached with Max Martin to make some correct pop songs on this yr’s Beauty Behind the Madness. He has since had two US No B singles in a row and a worldwide No B album. Last night time, he took one other transfer in the direction of cementing celebrity standing, not simply because he gained two awards however as a result of his rendition of The Hills was in all probability the night time’s solely effortlessly fascinating efficiency. Even when accepting an award from Prince – a person who is aware of a factor or two about being effortlessly fascinating – he didn’t appear overawed, permitting simply the correct quantity of thriller to mix with some correct Michael Jackson-esque love-to-the-followers chat.

No one wants an a cappella model of the Star Wars theme tune

It’s shocking that somebody, someplace, determined that what a music awards present wants is a fast rendition of the Star Wars theme tune. It’s much more shocking that somebody then determined that what would make it even higher is that if an a cappella group hummed and mumbled it whereas apparently wearing Kanye West’s newest Adidas designs. The solely redeeming little bit of this part of the present was when a barely dazed Harrison Ford launched the a cappella group Pentatonix – the night time’s true villains – as “Penatonix”.

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