2020 American Music Awards

11.23.20

2020 American Music Awards 11.22.20

Sunday night brought us the 2020 American Music Awards. I had no idea how many award shows there were before this year, but there is no such things as too much music. It seems like we are just about used to awards show during the national pandemic, as the AMA’s were able to safely put on a number of successful performances.

It was nice to see 24KGoldn and Iann Dior have a place on such a great stage, well deserved for their hit single Mood. Justin Bieber had a number of memorable and touching performances including a panino version of Holy. Machine Gun Kelly teamed up with Travis Barker which is a punk hip-hop’s fan dream come true - if you are into that, I am saying. Lil Baby performed Emotionally Scarred, providing us with the important messaging of mental health. And yeah, they Megan Thee Stallion come and do the brand new Body dance.

The performances were amazing through and through. Here are the categories, nominees and winners of the awards from the 2020 America’s Music Awards.

ARTIST OF THE YEAR

Justin Bieber

Post Malone

Roddy Ricch

Taylor Swift

The Weeknd

Roddy Ricch is my artist of the year. Who do you know who drops their debut album with zero skips? I’ll wait. Obviously, this is not a hip-hop show, it is for all music genres. Taylor Swift went home with the win, but shout out to the fact that every other nominee on here comes from Hip-Hop or R&B. We are taking over.

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR

Lewis Capaldi

Doja Cat

DaBaby

Lil Baby

Roddy Ricch

Megan Thee Stallion

Doja Cat took home this award at a couple of award shows. Since she has been making music in the public eye for about two or three years, it is nice to see that her success has finally gotten her noticed on this scale. Especially knowing she had a bit of a rough go at the beginning of quarantine and cancel culture. It does not seem like anything can stop her and her number one record now. The others are all worthy artists, but I would say feels late. Congrats to Doja Cat for winning best new artist, several times this year.

COLLABORATION OF THE YEAR

Cardi B ft. Megan Thee Stallion, "WAP"

DaBaby ft. Roddy Ricch, "Rockstar"

Dan + Shay with Justin Bieber, "10,000 Hours"

Lady Gaga & Ariana Grande, "Rain On Me"

Megan Thee Stallion ft. Beyoncé, "Savage Remix"

I have to say I am just excited that someone else one besides Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande, because just give someone else a turn! Rain On Me was a top winner in many of the previous awards shows we have covered on Soule. While the remaining three would be my personal favorites, Justin Bieber has done a lot of work this year, and shown versatility in his craft. His and Dan + Shay performed this song at the AMA’s, so nice to see them also get to take home a win for it.

FAVORITE SOCIAL ARTIST

BTS

Billie Eilish

EXO

Ariana Grande

NCT 127

I am not so sure what this category means? Does BTS respond to their fans on Twitter a lot?

FAVORITE MUSIC VIDEO

Doja Cat, "Say So"

Future ft. Drake, "Life Is Good"

Lady Gaga & Ariana Grande, "Rain On Me"

Taylor Swift, "Cardigan"

The Weeknd, "Blinding Lights"

Life is Good is the best music video! Drake plays a trash man!

FAVORITE MALE ARTIST -- POP/ROCK

Justin Bieber

Post Malone

The Weeknd

Justin Bieber should win this based off of his cameo in Rockstar alone. Though, he has his own discography to thank for this as well. The Weeknd does not win because he takes it home in the R&B categories, but all great nominations.

FAVORITE FEMALE ARTIST -- POP/ROCK

Dua Lipa

Lady Gaga

Taylor Swift

My vote is for Gaga. Always.

FAVORITE DUO OR GROUP -- POP/ROCK

BTS

Jonas Brothers

Maroon 5

Watch out, Jonas Brothers!

FAVORITE ALBUM -- POP/ROCK

Harry Styles, "Fine Line"

Taylor Swift, "folklore"

The Weeknd, "After Hours"

Harry Styles has his own album?

FAVORITE SONG -- POP/ROCK

Lewis Capaldi, "Someone You Loved"

Dua Lipa, "Don't Start Now"

Post Malone, "Circles"

Roddy Ricch, "The Box"

The Weeknd, "Blinding Lights"

I swear I do not know anything about Dua Lipa, but I hear she is doing big things. I would have given this to The Box, though. Did we forget the box screeching?

FAVORITE MALE ARTIST -- COUNTRY

Kane Brown

Luke Combs

Morgan Wallen

FAVORITE FEMALE ARTIST -- COUNTRY

Gabby Barrett

Miranda Lambert

Maren Morris

FAVORITE DUO OR GROUP -- COUNTRY

Dan + Shay

Florida Georgia Line

Old Dominion

FAVORITE ALBUM -- COUNTRY

Luke Combs, "What You See Is What You Get"

Blake Shelton, "Fully Loaded: God's Country"

Morgan Wallen, "If I Know Me"

FAVORITE SONG -- COUNTRY

Dan + Shay with Justin Bieber, "10,000 Hours"

Maren Morris, "The Bones"

Blake Shelton (Duet with Gwen Stefani), "Nobody But You"

FAVORITE MALE ARTIST -- RAP/HIP-HOP

DaBaby

Juice WRLD

Roddy Ricch

I have never seen this happen, when we really want this to go to someone we lost, and it does. Roddy and DaBaby have been tearing it up in this category all year, including each and every award show thus far up until now. They deserve it, but Juice WRLD and his family needed this. This is nice.

FAVORITE FEMALE ARTIST -- RAP/HIP-HOP

Cardi B

Nicki Minaj

Megan Thee Stallion

I do think you guys got this one messed up. Nicki Minaj has hit number one several times this year, because of a song she was featured on. Which song is her own, that you like, that came out this year? There isn’t one. WAP belongs to Cardi, and the rest of hip-hop belongs to Megan.

FAVORITE ALBUM -- RAP/HIP-HOP

Lil Baby, "My Turn"

Lil Uzi Vert, "Eternal Atake"

Roddy Ricch, "Please Excuse Me For Being Antisocial"

Roddy definitely wins this category, because as I had mentioned earlier, there are just no skips. Eternal Atake brought Uzi Stans from hibernation, and started a huge trend of Deluxe albums. Lil Baby’s album was huge. I mean it was really long, and really good, making it a big deal because that is hard to do. However, Roddy I think came out swinging, his freshman album really put him on the map as someone to look out for, for a long time coming. I think he is due for another real soon, to keep this title up.

FAVORITE SONG -- RAP/HIP-HOP

Cardi B ft. Megan Thee Stallion, "WAP"

DaBaby ft. Roddy Ricch, "Rockstar"

Roddy Ricch "The Box"

It has got to be WAP, I mean the whole world is singing. I think everyone forgot about the screeching, because The Box, that was it. But at this point, it is a little old and WAP is fresh on the mind, so it is a clear win here.

FAVORITE MALE ARTIST -- SOUL/R&B

Chris Brown

John Legend

The Weeknd

Not my choice, but it will always be the people’s choice.

FAVORITE FEMALE ARTIST -- SOUL/R&B

Jhene Aiko

Doja Cat

Summer Walker

This is the dynamic trio right here. All ladies had a year, and I think the winner depends on who is voting. This may alter between award shows, but they are all nominated each time. Congrats to all.

FAVORITE ALBUM -- SOUL/R&B

Doja Cat, "Hot Pink"

Summer Walker, "Over It"

The Weeknd, "After Hours"

I need Kehlani in this category before I am voting, to be very honest.

FAVORITE SONG -- SOUL/R&B

Chris Brown ft. Drake, "No Guidance"

Summer Walker, "Playing Games"

The Weeknd, "Heartless"

I am personally team No Guidance in this award. However, it does feel a bit old at this point. When it comes to R&B, The Weeknd is taking over all award shows. But, it just is not for me. Why did he accept award in bandages and looking like he was mauled by a bear, in a suit? It is creepy and honestly a bit insensitive. Just like all the music he makes about cheating on women. Still, he seems to rise to every occasion which is brought his way.

FAVORITE MALE ARTIST -- LATIN

Bad Bunny

J Balvin

Ozuna

These three guys have been the front runners in the Latin arts and music category all year, each bringing home multiple nominations and wins. Bad Bunny is well deserved of his award with multiple projects dropping, and really opening up our world to this genre of music, more than it has been in the past.

FAVORITE FEMALE ARTIST -- LATIN

Becky G

KAROL G

Rosalía

I figured KAROL G would win this category, due to her number of wins with her Nicki Minaj feature. Though, this only means the ladies in the category are keeping up and doing work, just like the young talent of females in hip-hop. Females in this category are growing, which is a positive look all around. Congrats to all the nominees.

FAVORITE ALBUM -- LATIN

Anuel AA, "Emmanuel"

Bad Bunny, "Las que no iban a salir"

Bad Bunny, "YHLQMDLG"

Well, the odds were in his favor. Nonetheless, well deserved. Bad Bunny has been putting in work, clearly with two albums on the board for Favorite Latin Album. He has really been able to jumpstart this category in the states, by making himself widely known and like around the hip-hop industry. I think it is only up from here for Bad Bunny, Anuel AA, Karol G, J Balvin, Ozuna, and anyone else you find in these Latin Hip-Hop categories.

FAVORITE SONG -- LATIN

Bad Bunny, "Vete"

Black Eyed Peas X J Balvin, "RITMO (Bad Boys For Life)"

KAROL G & Nicki Minaj, "Tusa"

These two ladies have been pulling wins with this song all year. All the nominees are excellent, but congrats to the females getting it done in this growingly popular category in the States.

FAVORITE ARTIST -- ALTERNATIVE ROCK

Billie Eilish

Tame Impala

Twenty One Pilots

I am a little surprised whenever I see Billie Eilish nominated, and not win. However, this is a category that I feel justice was served correctly. I am not sure people would consider Billie ‘alternative rock.’ She is probably too pop for alternative rock and too creepy for pop. Twenty One Pilots is the definition of this category, and though this is not my field of expertise when it comes to music, I do believe they had themselves a year, and deserve this category win.

FAVORITE ARTIST -- ADULT CONTEMPORARY

Lewis Capaldi

Jonas Brothers

Maroon 5

In my opinion, Maroon 5 wins this every day of year. However, I guess that may just be me being old. Of course, the newly adults are going to ride for the Jonas Brothers until the very end. For me, these boy bands have not been my thing since N’SYNC. Maroon 5, they are just good music.

FAVORITE ARTIST -- CONTEMPORARY INSPIRATIONAL

Lauren Daigle

For King & Country

Kanye West

The only person I know in this category is Kanye West. I demand a recount.

FAVORITE ARTIST -- ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC (EDM)

Kygo

Lady Gaga

Marshmello

When I think of electronic dance music, I think of Marshmello and Kygo. Nowadays, the lines in genres of music are blurred across the board, and this may make sense just fine. Gaga definitely makes music with interesting beats and instruments, that overall make you want to dance. I would never think of Gaga as EDM, but I do think she is a talented soul that deserves every win she gets. Should they have kept these nominees to the ravers and DJs? Perhaps. But she was there, and bound to take the win.

FAVORITE SOUNDTRACK

Birds of Prey: The Album

Frozen II

Trolls: World Tour

Considering the other two options are for children, this makes sense. Also, that the Birds of Prey movie I believe has Harley Quinn, who everyone fans girls over. Frozen is loved by many, but Birds of Prey is cult like.