2015 American Music Awards

The 2015 American Music Awards ceremony opened with this year’s AMA host, Jennifer Lopez, dancing to a mashup of this year’s biggest hits. But Lopez’s performance was just the beginning.

The night was filled with stellar performances from big name artists like The Weeknd, Justin Bieber, Gwen Stefani, Celine Dion, One Direction, and Selena Gomez among others.

After the 7 minute opener, Prince went out to present the first award of the night for “Favorite Album – Soul/ R&B”. The Weeknd proudly stood up and claimed his award while fans on all over social media celebrated his win by typing in all capital letters with endless emojis.

5 Seconds of Summer took the stage and performed their latest single “Hey Everybody” and got everyone energized for the rest of the show. Selena Gomez then performed “Same Old Love”, that left the audience stunned.

Nicki Minaj presented the award for Favorite Duo/Group in the Pop/Rock genre, which One Direction took home for the third year in a row.

Next on the line of performers was Carrie Underwood, who stepped up to the stage and took the hearts of those watching, singing “Heartbeat” while surrounded by hundreds of candles.

Starting off her performance with “Like I’m Gonna Lose You”, Meghan Trainor transitioned into her duet “Marvin Gaye” with Charlie Puth, that ended intense with Trainor and Puth sharing a heated kiss onstage.

The next award handed out was for Luke Bryan, who won for Favorite Male Artist in the country genre.

For Favorite Album in the Rap/ Hip-Hop genre, Nicki Minaj took home the award and gave an excellent acceptance speech by thanking those who worked with her and the fans who voted for her on social media.

One Direction hit the stage next and performed their hit single “Perfect”, keeping the audience mesmerized during the entire performance, and wanting more.

Nick Jonas performed a combination of 3 songs: first “Chains” that included him playing piano, next “Levels” with the accompaniment of a complete gospel choir, and finally “Jealous” with Jonas playing on a drumset.

Jennifer Lopez stepped back out onstage to present the “New Artist of the Year” category, which, by surprise, was won by Sam Hunt.

The Favorite Female Artist award in the Pop/Rock category went out to Ariana Grande and fans all over social media congratulated her with all their love.

Perhaps one of the most surprising performances was from Coldplay, performing their song
“Adventures of a Lifetime”. In the background, gorillas danced on stage while confetti fell and balls bounced around in the audience.

Justin Bieber, Skrillex, and Diplo won the “Collaboration of the Year” award for “Where Are U Now”, beating out Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth’s “See You Again”, Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk”, Paul McCartney featured in Rihanna and Kanye West’s “FourFiveSeconds”, and Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar’s “Bad Blood”.

The Weeknd’s performance of “The Hills” was literally lit. Pyrotechnics shot from the stage along with LED lights to give the impression that it was on fire.

The energy didn’t end there as Demi Lovato joined Alanis Morissette in a 20th anniversary acknowledgement of “You Oughta Know”.

It wasn’t all just dancing gorillas and boybands. The AMAs took a somber moment when Jared Leto gave an emotional and heartwarming speech honoring the Paris attacks. Celine Dion then followed with a tribute performance of “Hymne a L’Amour” that left all listeners teary-eyed.

The most prestigious award of the night went out to One Direction, for “Artist of the Year”, a second year in a row. No other artist has ever achieved this milestone, even less by a non-American act, until now.

Justin Bieber then entered the spotlight with the intent to make a splash as the AMAs final performer. He started his three-piece medley with an acoustic ballad of “What Do You Mean” and transitioned smoothly to “Where Are U Now” with intricate choreography that captivated the audience. Water rained down on the stage as closing song “Sorry” started, leaving Bieber soaked with his backup dancers to stomp and slosh around in the water.

While the crowd sang along and waved pink light up sticks during the finale, Bieber ended his performance by standing onstage under the raining water alone, without any backup dancers or lights, closing the 2015 American Music Awards on an emotional note.