Finally, I get to put in my two cents about the awards ceremony.
Okay, so I can personally say this was the best awards show of 2010, and easily one of the best AMAs I've ever seen. Which is good, since the same can't be said for 2010's VMAs.
Rihanna had a decent opening. I really liked how she also threw in "What's My Name?." That was a good decision from her label. So she performed the two singles, plus the only track off the album you can't legally download. Good strategy. Her performance was decent. I unfortunately only caught the last few seconds of the "Love the Way You Lie (Part II)" performance. All I saw was her fall. She looked great during the singles' performances, and I loved the bongo drums used for "Only Girl (In the World)." Very nice touch. I did not like how she ended it, though. I love Rihanna, but we've got to admit that she's far from the best singer out there, and that last slow version of "Only Girl (In the World)" was painful to my ears. Otherwise, her performance was good.
I have to say, I was very shocked that I enjoyed both Enrique Iglesias' and Miley Cyrus' back-to-back performances. Enrique's had me dancing, especially after seeing the crowd really getting into it. I did not expect to like Miley's since I do not like "Forgiveness and Love," but her performance was really good! Her vocals were the best I've heard from her, and I loved the instrumentation of the song. It gave the song a big upgrade from the album version.
Diddy-Dirty Money's performance was interesting. The song was decent, and all around it was just a decent, but forgettable performance.
Kid Rock's performance was very moving. Wasn't expecting to like it, but he really pulled it off! I really liked the song, too.
The Black Eyed Peas' performance was pretty good as well. They sounded good, but I just wish it was a different song. They really bring a lot of energy to their performances. That's something cool about The Peas is that you can hate one of their songs, but you still seem to enjoy it when they perform it live!
Katy Perry's performance was all over the place. The all-children choir at the beginning was a cool idea, but I think it was unnecessary. Loved her entrance. The second verse, though, was bad. You could hardly hear her, and when you could, the vocals weren't good. When she hit the second chorus, though, everything turned around. The cool fireworks display going on behind her was fantastic, and her vocals continued to improve up into the end of the song. By the way, did anyone else notice that one of the dude's fireworks was a dud?
Did not see Justin Bieber's performance. Was too busy rocking to "Raise Your Glass" on SonicTap's Today's Hits station.
Bon Jovi's performance was decent. "You Give Love a Bad Name" is overrated. They should've performed "Livin' On a Prayer" instead. That seems to be forgotten thanks to "You Give Love a Bad Name." The other songs they performed sounded good, but it was missing energy.
P!nk's performance was awesome, but sort of a let down after her past performances. Still love the Mouse Trap-esque scenery. She looked good, despite being pregnant, which you couldn't even really tell, and what was with that last note? PLEASE tell me she made it sound bad on purpose! I know a lot of the stupid and dumb dance moves were on purpose because of the meaning of the song, so I hope that sour note at the end was the same.
Ne-Yo's performance was mostly boring until the loud scream, and he went into "Beautiful Monster," which ended up being a good performance of the song. Taylor Swift immediately followed with an exceptional performance. At first, I thought it was somebody else because of the hair! Anyway, her vocals sounded great, and the performance was all around good. WHAT, though, was up with "Apologize" being thrown in there?!?! When she started doing that, I was like "What the hell is she doing?! Where did this come from? Does this have anything to do with "Back to December"? I'm so confused!" Otherwise, a good performance.
Christina Aguilera sounded great, she looked great, the performance was great. The song was catchy, and it was all around a really good performance. She really needs to do more song similar to that, and she will have success again. Really enjoyed her performance.
Usher's performance was good as well, though it started to get on my nerves when they started doing a remix of the song.
Train's deserves an eye roll. It was nice hearing them do "Marry Me," but then it's like they saw the crowd go "What is this? Huh? What?" and started doing "Hey, Soul Sister." God, I'm so sick of that song! It's starting to get as bad as "I'm Yours."
Ke$ha's performance was great! It shocked me to see her open with "Take It Off" with a vocal machine! I guess that was to show that "We R Who We R" was all her, and no machine. The performance was great. The dancing was simple, but good, and I loved how she raised up the guitar that said "HATE" on it, and then SMASHED it into the stage! (I really like how all three on the "be yourself songs" had something to show that the song was about being yourself. Katy had the choir and fireworks, P!nk had the dumb dancing, and Ke$ha the guitar smashing.)
Santana and Gavin Rossdale was average. Not much to say. Didn't even watch the middle-age men try to relive the glory days.
I guessed all of the awards 100% correct, except for Artist of the Year. I expected Lady GaGa to win that one, not Justin Bieber. Did I agree with the awards? Absolutely not. In fact, the only awards I was happy of the outcome were Favorite Pop/Rock Band/Duo/Group, Favorite Country Male Artist, Favorite Country Female Artist (would've been happy with any three of them), Favorite Country Band/Duo/Group (same here), Favorite Country Album (same), Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Male Artist, Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Album, Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist (would've been happy with any of the three), Favorite Alternative Artist, and Favorite Latin Artist. All the rest had boring and typical outcomes.