Swift, Bieber take spotlight at iHeart
Dynamic performance by Derulo
LOS ANGELES, April 4, (Agencies): The iHeartRadio Music Awards assembled an impressive array of big-name acts for its third edition Sunday at the Forum in Inglewood, Calif., with Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift and Adele among the evening’s big winners.
The show kicked off with a dynamic performance by Jason Derulo, who danced around fans and the stage to a mashup of this year’s most popular hits.
Shortly after, Justin Bieber took the stage, or rather took place among the audience, with an acoustic version of “Love Yourself” and the moved into a full out version of “Company.”
Fetty Wap and his dirt bike squad appeared in a video intro that turned into the “Trap Queen” singer’s live solo performance of “Again” on stage.
Calvin Harris received the award for “Dance Artist of the Year” and thanked Diplo and Skrillex, saying what they do for music is “incredibly inspiring.” Skrillex and Diplo were both nominated as a unit in the “Dance Song of the Year” and Diplo was also nominated under Major Lazer for that same category. Diplo was then able to take the stage for his win for “Dance Song of the Year” with Justin Bieber and Skrillex for “Where R u Now.”
Exceptional
Demi Lovato performed a version of her song “Stone Cold” that relied on booming vocals and Brad Paisley’s exceptional guitar skills. “Demi Lovato just sang her,” said Justin Timberlake, last year’s Innovator Award winner.
Timberlake presented the inaugural Best Tour award to Taylor Swift, hilariously mispronouncing her name before honoring her by calling her a “touring sensation” who’s won “250 awards to date.”
“In Sydney, Taylor brought together 76,000 fans,” he said. “Taylor chooses to knock down walls and invites everyone to be in her #squad,” he added, listing her impressive list of 48 tour guests, including Julia Roberts, Fetty Wap and Kobe Bryant.
Chris Brown sang “Liquor,” “Back to Sleep” and “Wrist” from his new album, “Royalty,” in a dynamic performance that was perfectly in sync with the night’s trend of active showcases that traveled from one area of the arena to the other.
Next up were G-Eazy and Bebe Rexha, who burst onto the stage, in both presence and sound -- boosted by an enormously loud band sound, performing “Me, Myself and I.”
Another video tribute went to U2, who picked up the Innovator Award. Bono and The Edge accepted the award on behalf of the band.
“We are still in our high school band, how did that happen?” said The Edge.
“Innovation is something about searching out the future before it’s arrived,” said Bono. “Edge is actually from the future,” he joked, while the Edge said that “rock ‘n roll is the future.”
“We want to dedicate this award to artists around the world who are innovating in difficult circumstances,” said Bono.
Appearances
Other performers of the night were Zayn, The Weeknd, Meghan Trainor, DNCE and video appearances by Maroon 5 and Pitbull from Houston.
Iggy Azalea capped off the night by performing her new single “Team.”
The night’s biggest winner was Taylor Swift, who took home four awards, including Album of the Year. She thanked iHeartRadio for playing all the songs off of her album “1989.” Swift was followed closely by Justin Bieber with three awards.
For the second year in a row, the iHeartRadio Awards became the iHeartTaylorSwift show.
Not only did Swift claim three prizes, including album of the year, but her bestie and her boy- friend took home trophies, too.
Swift, who swept the awards last year, won the first and last prize Sunday night — female artist and album of the year. In between, she claimed best tour honors for her star-studded “1989 World Tour,” thanking boyfriend Calvin Harris (real name: Adam Wiles) from the stage.
“For the first time, I had the most amazing person to come home to when the spotlight went out and when the crowds were all gone,” Swift said. “So I want to thank my boyfriend Adam for that.”
Harris won dance artist of the year. Gomez took the “biggest triple threat” award.
Bono and the Edge from U2 accepted the show’s Innovator Award, presented by last year’s winner, Pharrell Williams.
“The thing that might be the most innovative about our band is we are a real band,” Edge said. “We are still in our high school band.”
Song of the year went to Adele for “Hello.” She accepted via video from a performance in Birmingham, England. Other winners at the fan-voted show included Fetty Wap (best new artist), Pitbull (Latin artist of the year) and Chris Brown (R&B artist of the year). All three men also performed during the show.
Brown thanked “everybody who supported me through all the worst times in my life and the positive times in my life.”
“I tend to not have a filter sometimes, and I go off on a lot of people,” said Brown, who has been dogged by legal troubles since pleading guilty to felony charges in 2009 for beating thengirlfriend Rihanna. “But the music stays the same.”
Justin Bieber was the first to perform, showing off his new dreadlocks during a mash-up of “Love Yourself” and “Company.” He returned to the stage twice as a winner, claiming male artist of the year and sharing in the dance song of the year award with Diplo and Skrillex for “Where Are U Now.”
Tough
Bieber thanked his fans for standing by him through what he described as “tough times.”
“It’s just about our growth and learning,” he said.
Meghan Trainor performed her new single, “No.” Demi Lovato sang the heart wrenching “Stone Cold” while Brad Paisley accompanied her on guitar. Iggy Azalea unveiled her new song, “Team.” Zayn Malik made his solo awards-show performance debut, performing “Like I Would” from his new album, “Mind of Mine.”
Other performers included DNCE, The Weeknd, show host Jason Derulo and Maroon 5, which was named duo or group of the year.
It’s been a big year for Harris — and no one has been a bigger supporter than girlfriend Swift.
The power couple hit the 2016 iHeartRadio Music Awards on April 3 at the Forum in Inglewood, California. Not long after Taylor Swift won female artist of the year, Harris nabbed dance artist of the year.
While Harris paid homage to inspirational competitors and comrades Diplo and Skrillex, Swift looked on, her face smiling and her eyes radiating pride, with her head cradled in her hands. It was a heartwarming, real moment amidst all the screaming fans and glamor.
She thanked Harris by his real name (Adam) during her speech for best tour, saying how much it meant to her to go home to him each night.
Timberlake brought a few laughs to his intro for the songstress’ best tour award presentation.
While rattling off a few of Swift’s biggest accomplishments to date (she’s brought home 250 awards and five Guinness World Records), JT joked that, “Word on the street is she’s in the pole vault at the Olympics in Rio and she’s favored to win.”
A montage of Swift’s biggest trek, which brought 2 million of her “fans and friends,” the pop queen also brought out a total of 48 artists, including Mick Jagger, Timberlake himself, Lorde, Fetty Wap and others.
JT even hyped up Swift’s accolades by throwing subtle shade at presidential candidate Donald Trump. “Some people are trying to build walls — not naming any names,” he said before exclaiming, “That was a political joke!”
Clad in a black sequined, Catwomanesque jumper, Swift returned to the stage to accept the trophy. “I think my favorite part was the camaraderie of all the artists,” she said in her acceptance speech. “I’m so thankful to everyone who donated their time to surprise my crowds.”
She saved the most awwwworthy moment for the end, thanking her boyfriend Calvin Harris. “I had the most amazing person to come home to when the spotlight went out and the crowds were all gone, so I want to thank my boyfriend Adam,” she said, citing Harris’ real name, Adam Wiles.
Demi Lovato stunned at the iHeartRadio Music Awards with a knockout performance.
The country singer-songwriter gave a nice twang to her pop ballad. While we’re not hoping Demo goes country per se, we certainly wouldn’t mind seeing more crossover in her future.
Adele
by Adele
Winners
Taylor Swift
Chris Brown
lena Gomez
Calvin Harris Taylor Swift
“Hello”
Fetty Wap U2