TAYLOR SWIFT TOPS AT 2011 "AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS"

Taylor Swift at 2011 American Music Awards

Taylor Swift was the Queen of the 2011 American Music Awards tonight, taking home top honour of Artist of the Year, as voted by the Fans.  She also won Favourite Country Album for Speak Now and Favourite Country Female Artist.  In total, Swift has now won a total ten AMAs in her brief rise to the top.

Adele, a Brit, was awarded Favourite Pop/Rock Album for her top-selling 21 although unfortunately she couldn't as she is currently recovering from Throat Surgery.  Meanwhile, Bruno Mars was awarded Favourite Pop/Rock Male Artist, while a pink-haired Star Trek-esque Katy Perry was named Favourite Pop/Rock Female Artist.  Favourite Pop/Rock Band went to Maroon 5 who performed Moves Like Jagger  (ft. Christina Aguilera) and also Stereo Hearts alongside Gym Class Heroes. A teary-eyed Nicki Minaj fared v. well this evening, taking home Favourite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist and Favourite Rap/Hip-Hop Album for her debut Disc, Pink Friday.

A now-single Jennifer Lopez stunned the audience in a progressively barely-there outfit, although forgetting Lyrics to her Track Until it Beats No More, followed by Papi (from her latest FIAT Commercial) before being joined on-stage by Pitbull for On the Floor.  Pitbull later performed with Lopez's Ex-Husband Marc Anthony on Rain Over Me.

Click here for more from the American Music Awards.

(Photo credit: ABC)

MASH-UPS vs. MEDLEYS: THE GREATEST DEBATE OF THE 21ST CENTURY

Upon scrolling through Tweets about last night's American Music Awards, I noticed that some Tweeters were a bit confused as to the meaning of a Mash-up. Some enjoyed New Kids on the Block vs. Backstreet Boys' performance thinking it was a Mash-up, where they sang each other's songs, a grand finale to the broadcast.

As a connaisseur of both Glee and Pop Music, I feel it's necessary perhaps to highlight the differences between what constitutes a Mash-up and a Medley.  Both terms seem to be popping-up a lot of late no doubt in part due to the widespread popularity of Glee, which often features both Mash-ups and Medleys.

Mash-up: the combining of elements from two or more existing songs into one track.

Medley: a merging of multiple songs together consecutively into one track.

Last summer I recorded a Mash-up for fun of Kylie Minogue's All the Lovers vs. Dream Academy's Life in a Northern Town. Note, I take elements of each song's melody and combine them together:

JUSTIN BIEBER IS TOPS AT 2010 AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS

Justin Bieber performing at 2010 American Music Awards

America, Land of Opportunity. America has spoken and its people have chosen Canadian teen sensation Justin Bieber as their Artist of the Year at ABC's 2010 American Music Awards. Pulling a complete shocker, 16 year-old Bieber became the youngest Artist ever to be award with the honour and he was a multiple winner this evening taking awards home for Favourite Pop/Rock Male Artist and Favourite Breakout Artist too. In accepting his award for Artist of the Year, Bieber asked his Mentor Usher to join him on stage. Usher too won an award for Favourite R&B Album (Raymond v. Raymond) earlier in the evening.

Other winners tonight included a straight-haired Taylor Swift who won Favourite Country Female Artist, The Black Eyed Peas who won Favourite Pop/Rock Group and Rihanna as Favourite R&B Female Artist. 

 For a complete list of winners, visit the official site for the American Music Awards.

(Photo credit: Getty Images)

EMINEM AND LADY ANTEBELLUM TOP NOMINEES AT UPCOMING AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS



Eminem

Admit it - even you had your doubts about him.  Eminem brought in a total five nominations, tieing with Country act Lady Antebellum for most nominations in the forthcoming American Music Awards.  The Awards will be presented Sunday, November 21, 2010 at Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles and airing on ABC at 8:00 PM EST.

Other top nominees include Canada's own Justin Bieber, Ke$ha, B.o.B., Katy Perry and of course, Lady Gaga.  For a full list of nominees, visit the show's official site here.  Americans also can vote for their favourite artists on the site.

THE AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS - A 1.5 MINUTE RECAP

It's been an extremely busy day on the blog from naked Babydaddys to a review about a football film. You cannot criticize me for not trying to branch-out! I'm not going to go into too much detail, but as per multiple requests over Facebook Chat and text messages to my Blackberry, I am going to re-cap for you my highlights of tonight's American Music Awards. No nonsense, just straight to-the-point.

• Janet Jackson opening the show with a mimed medley of hits that included her latest track Make Me (not technically a hit) from her just-released Number Ones compilation. It appears that Jackson is back to the original weight she was at when she released her ground-breaking Control album and I love it. She looks healthy and content.
• Need I mention how amazing Lady Gaga is? Her medley of new hit single Bad Romance and Freddie Mercury-esque ballad Speechless was the highlight of the show. I do think though that her costume would have looked better with claws. I admit I was a little petrified seeing her play on a flame-ignited piano, as it looked as though her wig would get singed at any moment. I'm still trying to figure out what the deal was with the breaking of the empty (fake sugar-glass) Johnny Walker bottles. And yes, I feel truly that she was robbed of the Breakthrough Artist award which went to country band Gloriana. I'm so ready for her Toronto show this Saturday!
• It was amazing seeing Whitney Houston's celebrated performance of I Didn't Know My Own Strength from her I Look To You album. Although her vocals were all over the place, certainly she is getting there slowly but surely....
• Jennifer Lopez was stunning in her mimed performance of new single Louboutins. Yes, she did fall on stage after climbing on-top of her male dancers (as seen in the photo below), but being the consummate professional she is, she made it look deliberate and carried on. It is ironic though that she was wearing a pair of Louboutins and fell in them; product placement gone wrong.
• Although I am not a fan of the track, Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' performance of Billboard Hot 100-topping Empire State of Mind was quite enjoyable. The New York, New York intro was a nice touch.
• Shakira is always a pleasure to watch and although I have my doubts about her choice for the second single off She Wolf, her performance of Give It Up To Me was stellar... as usual.
• Rihanna's new album Rated R sucks. She can call it "art" all she wants, but it still sucks. And seeing her perform a track live did not make it suck less.
• Is it just me or does Mary J. Blige's new track I Am sound like a Mariah Carey B-side?
• I love Kelly Clarkson but she really needs to step-up her game. Her performance of single Already Gone was far from engaging.