The 44 American Music Awards was held Nov. 20 at 7:00 p.m. at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles California. The show attracted stars like Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Fifth Harmony, Sting and more to come and perform their latest hits. Although the ratings were at an all time low (drawing in just seven million viewers), I have to say that this was the best American Music Awards show I had seen in a long time. Let’s take a look at the best and worst moments from the night.

The Best:

To start out the night, Bruno Mars gave an electric performance to his recent hit “ 24K Magic”. Mars popped and locked to the hit on a stage that was not too flashy. This allowed the viewers to focus on how good the music was instead of the background.

Another good performance was the duo of Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj singing Ariana’s “Side to Side”,  which turned the stage into a beach party. Not only did the performance keep the audience interested, it offered great vocals and a creative turn on the song. Grande also took home the Artist of the Year award later that night.

The Weeknd also had his moment to shine as he sang his latest hit “Star Boy” while surrounded by an ice cave set. Not only were his vocals amazing, but the level of creativity in the stage design really captured the crowd. Plus, The Weeknd lost the dreadlocks, giving his a face a more handsome look.

Fifth Harmony literally dropped in the show as they descended from a cage into a rubble of a war zone while singing their new song “That’s My Girl.” Their stage design was the most complex of all the set designs, but it did capture the audience’s interest. Not to mention they hit every note and didn’t miss a single dance move.  

Lady Gaga also kept things fairly simple as she performed her song “Million Reasons” with her only prop being a white and gold guitar. Gaga, known for her flashy stage design, sat on a stool placed on some artificial grass, and let her vocals create the rest of the picture. This offered an anchored performance that did not bore the crowd.

Sting especially stole the night rocking out to his greatest hits “I Can’t Stop Thinking About You”, “Message in a Bottle”, and “Every Breath You Take”.  His performance kept the audience interested. Even though Sting appeals more to my parent’s generation, the performance was still really good.

The Worst:

The Chainsmokers and Halsey delivered a performance that was lacking in any true beat. The singing was really flat and the singers lacked chemistry. The performance only began to get interesting in the last few seconds when the drums finally kicked in to save the song.

I like Twenty One Pilots latest hits, but their performance was a little strange. The band sang to “Heathens” and “Stressed Out” while wearing black ski masks over their faces and jumping around the stage. Green fog surrounded them, which made for a really curious, set design. The vocals were good but the creativity of the performance lagged a bit.

James Bay brought a lullaby to an event meant to get people up and dancing. His song “Let it Go” was pretty dull, and the performance started to put the crowd to sleep. His stage design was nowhere near creative, as he stood at the mike with a guitar and a hat, in hopes that would at add a little detail.  Talk about a true snooze fest.

DJ Khaled tried to bring a group of rappers (Nicki Minaj, RIck Ross, and Future) together for his hit  “Do You Mind”, but it was more of an over hyped Khaled jumping around on the stage trying to get the crowd into it, while the rest of the rappers were laid back and almost let the music drown them out.  

Unfortunately, Justin Bieber’s performance was a total letdown, as he was on tour in Europe and appeared in a pre-taped performance singing, or rather, letting the crowd sing his latest hit “Let Me Love You”. There were more shots of the fans in the crowd bawling than there were of the singer himself. His background dancers seemed to bring more interest to the stage than Justin did. Although Bieber has great vocals, he needs to work on the delivery.

Next year the American Music Awards needs to find a way to get back the viewers that they used to have. They also need to make sure that every performance keeps the audience interested. Also, every performer should be in attendance, so the audience doesn’t have to watch a pre-taped performance.