The poor man’s Grammy’s, the American Music Awards, aired last night and some people won awards but who really cares — it’s all about the performances. Though the year in music has been decidedly testosterone-filled, last night the ladies took center stage.
- Lady Gaga and R. Kelly need to do everything together from now on. Gaga, and the horse she rode in on, teamed up with the Pied Piper of R&B again for “Do What U Want”, this time with Kells as the President denying an affair with Gaga Monroe. Gags capped off the performance by belting for her life as the screen reflected the bad publicity she’s gotten recently, including the news of her career’s demise.
- Christina Aguilera left her trainers at home since she didn’t need to do any runs. Showing gorgeous restraint, Xtina joined A Great Big World for their hit “Say Something.”
- One-time raptress Lil’ Mama is apparently still around and T-Boz and Chili pulled her out from behind the judging panel of America’s Best Dance Crew to spit Left Eye’s iconic verse from “Waterfalls.”
- Miley Cyrus and her giant lip-synching hologram pussy churned out a pretty good rendition of “Wrecking Ball” — sure she didn’t actually spark up on stage, but someone was definitely stoned when they thought of this:
- Meanwhile, Jennifer Lopez — yes, that Jennifer Lopez — showed everyone how it’s done with a rousing tribute to Queen of Salsa, Celia Cruz, featuring three costume changes, a flurry of dancers and J. Lo getting thrown around like the word “diva” at last night’s ceremony — carelessly and with vigor.
And then she kept singing. WERQ, MAMA! Even Justin Timberlake got up and shook a finger at approval at La Lopez, who can still turn it out when she wants to.
Check out more videos from the AMAs — including Katy Perry’s Memoirs of a Geisha-themed performance of “Unconditionally” and Icon-winner Rihanna limping through “Diamonds” — on AMA’s YouTube channel.