{"id":212415,"date":"2019-05-02T04:35:08","date_gmt":"2019-05-02T08:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=212415"},"modified":"2019-05-02T04:35:08","modified_gmt":"2019-05-02T08:35:08","slug":"swift-opens-billboard-awards-with-eye-popping-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/05\/02\/swift-opens-billboard-awards-with-eye-popping-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"Swift opens Billboard awards with eye popping performance"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Taylor Swift brought her new music video to life when she opened the 2019 Billboard Music Awards with a colorful, eye-popping performance of her song “ME!”. (Photo<\/a>: taylorswift\/Instagram<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Taylor Swift brought her new music video to life when she opened the 2019 Billboard Music Awards with a colorful, eye-popping performance of her song \u201cME!\u201d<\/p>\n

Swift was backed by dancers wearing bright, pastel colours and her featured guest \u2014 Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco \u2014 descended from the ceiling holding an umbrella Wednesday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

A marching band kicked off Swift’s performance \u2014 like most of the world, maybe Swift was inspired by Beyonce’s new Coachella film? Dancers also spun in the air holding umbrellas.<\/p>\n

Swift is the most decorated winner in the history of the Billboard Awards with 23 wins. She is nominated for two awards at the show airing live on NBC \u2014 top female artist and top touring artist.<\/p>\n

Cardi B, though, is the leading nominee with 21. Drake and Post Malone are close behind with 17 nominations each. All three acts will compete for the night’s biggest prize \u2014 top artist \u2014 along with Ariana Grande and Travis Scott, who scored 12 nominations.<\/p>\n

Kelly Clarkson is hosting the show for a second time \u2014 and sang a medley of hits following Swift’s performance, from Cardi B’s \u201cI Like It\u201d to \u201cBoo’d Up\u201d by Ella Mai, who won the first award of the night, top R&B artist.<\/p>\n

Clarkson will also perform later in the show. Other performers include Madonna with Maluma, BTS with Halsey, Paula Abdul, Dan + Shay, Jonas Brothers, Khalid, Tori Kelly, Panic! at the Disco, Lauren Daigle, Ciara and Mariah Carey, who will receive the Icon Award. Grande will perform via satellite from her tour.<\/p>\n

Cardi B’s 21 nominations include top female artist and top Billboard 200 album for her Grammy-winning release, \u201cInvasion of Privacy.\u201d With her No. 1 hits \u2014 \u201cI Like It\u201d featuring J Balvin and Bad Bunny and \u201cGirls Like You\u201d with Maroon 5 \u2014 she is nominated twice in categories like top Hot 100 song, top selling song and top collaboration.<\/p>\n

Rap music, which dominated the charts and streaming services last year, owned the top Billboard album category. Along with Cardi B, the nominees include Drake’s \u201cScorpion,\u201d Scott’s \u201cASTROWORLD,\u201d the late XXXTentacion’s \u201c?\u201d and Malone’s \u201cbeerbongs & bentleys.\u201d<\/p>\n

For top Hot 100 song, rap shined again with nominees like Cardi B’s \u201cI Like It,\u201d Juice WRLD’s \u201cLucid Dreams,\u201d Scott’s \u201cSICKO MODE\u201d and Malone’s \u201cBetter Now.\u201d Maroon 5 and Cardi B’s \u201cGirls Like You\u201d is also up for the prize.<\/p>\n

XXXTentacion, who was fatally shot last June, earned 10 nominations, including bids for top male artist, top R&B artist and top rap album. Last year, he posthumously won honours at the American Music Awards and the BET Hip-Hop Awards.<\/p>\n

The late Aretha Franklin also earned a nomination. The Queen of Soul, who died last August, is up for top gospel album with \u201cGospel Greats.\u201d Queen \u2014 whose music hit a new peak late last year with the Oscar-winning Freddie Mercury biopic, \u201cBohemian Rhapsody\u201d \u2014 received nominations for top rock artist and top soundtrack.<\/p>\n

Presenters at the show include Jennifer Hudson, Chrissy Metz and Justin Hartley of \u201cThis Is Us,\u201d David Guetta, Eva Longoria, Florida Georgia Line, Kane Brown and Terry Crews.<\/p>\n

Nominees and winners for the Billboard Awards are based on album and song sales, streaming, radio airplay, touring and social engagement. The awards are based on the chart period of March 23, 2018, through March 7, 2019.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Taylor Swift brought her new music video to life when she opened the 2019 Billboard Music Awards with a colorful, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-212415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","mauthors-mesfin-fekadu","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212415"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":212418,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212415\/revisions\/212418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}