The title "2019 Billboard Music Awards" is fairly telling because at least Americans have certainly come across this awards ceremony in the past. Or at least heard about it. And if you haven't, then the "music" in the title leads you on the right path. This is one of the biggest music awards shows of the year 2019, perhaps number 2 behind the Grammys, so it is not too surprising that it also runs for a relatively long over two hours. But this means two hours of mostly failure and if you take a look at the amount of writers and directors here, then it is not inaccurate to say that we have a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth. But maybe it is not too fair because 99% of the failure really happens in front of the camera. I could give you a million examples. And I guess I have to in order to justify my low rating here. Lets start with Taylor Swift who is the opening act. Song is as forgettable as it gets. I was a fan of her during her early years and I thought she was a promising artist, but what she has done for like a decade now is just embarrassing. Sacrificing her talent and the prospect of artistic music for commercial success that has zero soul to it. Then host Kelly Clarkson. I was a fan of her too during her early years, especially when she won American Idol and had her breakthrough, but she is just so embarrassing now often and feels void of talent whatsoever, even if she tries so hard to convince us it is not true. Her little acting scene with the security guy asking her to stand up, so that the others can sit was extremely cringeworthy. And can somebody explain to me why it makes sense to start singing to explain to the guy she deserves her seat? Even Paula Abdul seemed a little embarrassed in what could have been a nice American idol reunion between the two. Then again I was embarrassed by Abdul's final performance with how small her voice seemed to be and how forgettable the song was. Not exactly evidence that she is deserving of her awards. Anyway, back to Clarkson: One other thing I did not like about her is that she even got another performance during that night and how she sings about how broken she is on the inside, yet happy with it was maybe the most bizarre thing of the entire evening. I am sure some people will see depth in these lyrics too. But I am 100% sure Miss Clarkson is not one bit broken inside, even if she wants you to think otherwise, so you buy her records. And yes, no idea why when she was announced they mentioned a new movie she stars in and well after her early acting display from that night, I cannot say I am particularly curious to see it.
This was actually a general thing that night. You could forget this was actually a music awards show with the vast majority of category announcers being actors for whatever reason (aside from Game of Thrones being overexposed all the time. we get it). No idea why they did that. Do we have singers announce the Oscars? Really strange choice that does not make any sense whatsoever. If I were mean, I could say there were more Super Bowl wins united in the announcers than recording artists. And one announcer was not even there, which was a bit cringeworthy. Now, this ceremony also had once again one of the usual problems for music awards shows these days, namely that it basically turns into a concert quickly. There were probably more songs performed on stage that night than awards handed out during the broadcast. And which is even worse, many awards weren't handed out during the broadcast and I know people's opinions on that differ and it is certainly better for the people being there seeing it all live to see some more live music, but I personally think it is a complete no-go because it makes certain categories less worth than others and that is never a good thing. More letdowns: I generally don't mind Imagine Dragons, but their acceptance speech felt so random and off the mark that it was just cringeworthy and in general I never like politics during awards shows. Just seemed a really desperate attempt to show how tolerant and politically correct they are. Cardi B. I just can't stand. She is basically an identical copy of Nicki Minaj to me, maybe more successful right now and her music does nothing for me either, even if I must say the song she made with Maroon 5 I did like somehow. Well, not her part though, but everything else. It's really catchy. Maybe the only positive moment of the show for me that this one won a big award. Drake is not doing too much for me either. In general, the outcome here shows that (the) American music (industry) is really not at its best right now and has been ailing for quite a while.
What else can be said? Oh yes, I am also struggling a bit with the general idea because I think the Billboard Top100 are the official charts for the United States and who sells the most is on top. So it is all about mathematics really. Which is good in terms of the most successful being the number one because it is fact-based, but maybe not exactly the best idea for an awards ceremony that is always subjective. Aside from that, the Korean boys (who looked like women though) were pretty annoying how they were constantly hyped and I think as bad as American music may be at this point, commercial American music, it is not as low quality-wise as Korean judging from this band. I am sure most of the girls screaming there will be embarrassed by their taste in music later on and I am not a grumpy old man writing this. So shame on everybody who pushed them, most of all Nanjiani. Some more snippets: Fairly sad what Madonna has turned into looking at how amazing she was during her peak, even if that is a long time ago already. There is absolutely nothing that stands out about her anymore and age is not the reason for that as we have seen for example how great and creative other artists were in their 60s. But Madonna really feels all style over substance now. Maybe it would be better to end the career than further hurt her great career. Lifetime Achievement Award went to Mariah Carey, which was not undeserving I guess. She turns 50 next year, but her number was not exactly a revelation either sadly. I should say one lifetime achievement award because like I mentioned earlier, the other went to Abdul. Kinda ridiculous they just include two on one night and give them different names. Also a bit disrespectful. No in-memoriam sequence. No rock music. Boo! But lots of advertizing. I think counting commercial, this went for three hours? Ridiculous pretty much that almost one third of the night is made up by commercial breaks. And as if that wasn't enough already, the show was hardly over when they reminded us who is the guest on Jimmy Fallon that night. If it had been a musician at least... Complete disaster the 2019 Billboard Music Awards. A prime example of how not to do it. Hopefully the 2020 edition will be better. At least it can't really be any worse.
This was actually a general thing that night. You could forget this was actually a music awards show with the vast majority of category announcers being actors for whatever reason (aside from Game of Thrones being overexposed all the time. we get it). No idea why they did that. Do we have singers announce the Oscars? Really strange choice that does not make any sense whatsoever. If I were mean, I could say there were more Super Bowl wins united in the announcers than recording artists. And one announcer was not even there, which was a bit cringeworthy. Now, this ceremony also had once again one of the usual problems for music awards shows these days, namely that it basically turns into a concert quickly. There were probably more songs performed on stage that night than awards handed out during the broadcast. And which is even worse, many awards weren't handed out during the broadcast and I know people's opinions on that differ and it is certainly better for the people being there seeing it all live to see some more live music, but I personally think it is a complete no-go because it makes certain categories less worth than others and that is never a good thing. More letdowns: I generally don't mind Imagine Dragons, but their acceptance speech felt so random and off the mark that it was just cringeworthy and in general I never like politics during awards shows. Just seemed a really desperate attempt to show how tolerant and politically correct they are. Cardi B. I just can't stand. She is basically an identical copy of Nicki Minaj to me, maybe more successful right now and her music does nothing for me either, even if I must say the song she made with Maroon 5 I did like somehow. Well, not her part though, but everything else. It's really catchy. Maybe the only positive moment of the show for me that this one won a big award. Drake is not doing too much for me either. In general, the outcome here shows that (the) American music (industry) is really not at its best right now and has been ailing for quite a while.
What else can be said? Oh yes, I am also struggling a bit with the general idea because I think the Billboard Top100 are the official charts for the United States and who sells the most is on top. So it is all about mathematics really. Which is good in terms of the most successful being the number one because it is fact-based, but maybe not exactly the best idea for an awards ceremony that is always subjective. Aside from that, the Korean boys (who looked like women though) were pretty annoying how they were constantly hyped and I think as bad as American music may be at this point, commercial American music, it is not as low quality-wise as Korean judging from this band. I am sure most of the girls screaming there will be embarrassed by their taste in music later on and I am not a grumpy old man writing this. So shame on everybody who pushed them, most of all Nanjiani. Some more snippets: Fairly sad what Madonna has turned into looking at how amazing she was during her peak, even if that is a long time ago already. There is absolutely nothing that stands out about her anymore and age is not the reason for that as we have seen for example how great and creative other artists were in their 60s. But Madonna really feels all style over substance now. Maybe it would be better to end the career than further hurt her great career. Lifetime Achievement Award went to Mariah Carey, which was not undeserving I guess. She turns 50 next year, but her number was not exactly a revelation either sadly. I should say one lifetime achievement award because like I mentioned earlier, the other went to Abdul. Kinda ridiculous they just include two on one night and give them different names. Also a bit disrespectful. No in-memoriam sequence. No rock music. Boo! But lots of advertizing. I think counting commercial, this went for three hours? Ridiculous pretty much that almost one third of the night is made up by commercial breaks. And as if that wasn't enough already, the show was hardly over when they reminded us who is the guest on Jimmy Fallon that night. If it had been a musician at least... Complete disaster the 2019 Billboard Music Awards. A prime example of how not to do it. Hopefully the 2020 edition will be better. At least it can't really be any worse.
