Did they really do that? Five must-see moments from the 2016 American Music Awards
The 2016 iteration of the American Music Awards, the populist music award show for which ordinary fans decide who gets each of the many shiny trophies, had more than a few shiny moments Sunday night. Here are five of the shiniest.
That moment Drake did Taylor Swift
Drake got very Drake in the gym, changing his workout music to Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” once he was alone and lip-syncing the pop tune in a sorta sequel to her cardio comedy moment from earlier this year, when she jammed to his and Future’s “Jumpman.”
OK, this was actually a commercial for Apple Music — as was TSwift’s effort — and not technically part of the show itself, but with rumors floating around about Swift and Drizzy, it was might as well have been.
That moment Lady Gaga did country
Lady Gaga pulled out yet another goodie from her bag of tricks, channeling her inner country singer as a barefoot cowgirl with a guitar, performing the ballad “Million Reasons.”
The audience dug it.
That moment Gigi Hadid did Melania Trump
Gigi Hadid, who hosted the show with comedian Jay Pharoah, scrunched her face, slapped on a vague foreign accent and pretended to be Melania Trump talking about how much she loved her husband, Barack Obama, and her kids, Sasha and Malia.
We get it. The future first lady has an accent and used lines from a Michelle Obama speech when she spoke at the Republican National Convention.
Can we revive the ol’ supermodels-shouldn’t-speak stereotype now? Or is that still not PC?
That moment Idina Menzel did the ‘Hamilton’ cast a solid
Tony Award winner Idina Menzel continued the recently established Broadway tradition of taking a shot at the incoming administration, a la “Hamilton” with VP-elect Mike Pence, telling her copresenter, Mark Cuban, that she was glad “unsafe, scary theater people wouldn’t be invited to the inauguration” and shouting out an “I love you” to the “Hamilton” cast.
On the red carpet earlier in the evening, she told People she would have preferred that President-elect Donald Trump, who on Twitter demanded an apology from the “Hamilton” cast for being “very rude” to Pence by reading a brief speech to him from the stage during Friday’s curtain call, “embrace that as freedom of speech and the arts and sort of celebrate that moment. That would have been the much more mature way ... to handle it.”
That moment Nicki Minaj did Nicki Minaj
Taking the stage in a featured role during Ariana Grande’s performance of “Side to Side,” Nicki Minaj took a seat, threw her legs in the air like she just didn’t care and took a moment to, ahem, draw attention to her lady parts. You can see the NSFW bit over at Us Weekly.
We’re guessing ABC, which broadcast the American Music Awards, was very, very comfortable having this family moment on the fan-friendly show.
Follow Christie D’Zurilla on Twitter @theCDZ.
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