Swift steals the event, of course
The singer wins the biggest prize at the iHeartRadio Music Awards.
The 2016 iHeartRadio Music Awards skimped on the irreverence that makes a second- tier telecast dedicated to fan- voted awards worth tuning in to.
What Sunday’s TBS telecast, taped live from the Forum in Inglewood, offered were three hours of innocuous thrills — and, yes, plenty of Taylor Swift.
Naturally, Swift stole the night, taking home multiple trophies, including the night’s biggest honor, album of the year for her blockbuster “1989.”
But even when she wasn’t onstage, it was all about the singer, with a near- obsessive number of close- up shots throughout the night. Her reacting to host Jason Derulo dancing to her smash “Bad Blood.” Her response to Justin Bieber’s performance ( she barely clapped).
Watching in awe as her boyfriend, EDM king Calvin Harris, was named dance artist of the year. And, of course, dancing with her girls. If Swift did something, anything — even playing with f lashing light keychains — cameras beamed it to the audience of screaming fans.
That’s the nature of these shows, where star power substitutes for purpose.
Not that Sunday’s show was without luster beyond Swift — Meghan Trainor, Iggy Azalea and Demi Lovato were among the performers.
Still, it was Swift who was handed the night’s f irst award, female artist of the year, and was honored by Justin Timberlake, who presented her with the inaugural tour award for her blockbuster “1989 World Tour” in a lengthy tribute that not even Bono and the Edge, presented with the innovator award ( a quasi lifetime achievement honor) received.
Bieber opened the show with a medley from his comeback album, “Purpose,” and like Swift he went home with multiple awards, including male artist of the year, fan army and dance song of the year for his Skrillex and Diplo collaboration, “Where Are You Now.”
Former One Directioner Zayn made his debut performance on an awards show with a solid showing from his post- 1D solo album, “Mind of Mine,” which debuted at No. 1.
Rising rap star Fetty Wap was named best new artist, which felt odd after a rocky performance — he was grossly out of sync with the track he was lip- syncing to and fumbled pulling his microphone out of his sweatshirt.
Lovato and Brad Paisley teamed up for a surprise duet of her single “Stone Cold,” and Nile Rodgers reprised Chic’s “Le Freak” during DNCE’s performance of “Cake by the Ocean”
One of the night’s best performances came courtesy of Chris Brown, who delivered a rousing four- song medley of tunes from his latest album. It was a highlight even if his acceptance speech for R& B artist of the year award did little to soften his oft- troubled image.
“I tend to not have a filter sometimes, and I go off on a lot of people,” Brown told the audience. “But the music stays the same direction, positive.”