American Music Awards 2014: Review Revue

Bianca Gracie | November 24, 2014 7:35 am
American Music Awards 2014: The Performances
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The 2014 American Music Awards, a.k.a. one of the biggest nights in music, aired yesterday (November 23) live from Los Angeles’ Nokia Theater! The three-hour telecast was jam-packed with major honors (like Taylor Swift winning the Dick Clark Award For Excellence) and fun performances from everyone’s favorite artists — including Sam Smith, Iggy Azalea, Jennifer Lopez, Selena Gomez and many more!

One Direction had the best night ever, taking home three awards for Favorite Band, Duo or Group; Favorite Pop/Rock Album with Midnight Memories and Artist of the Year. But what did other critics think were the biggest highlights from the 2014 AMAs? Find out after the jump!

:: The Mirror thought the night was a bit tame: “The American Music Awards 2014 weren’t as raucous as the VMAs or even the EMAs but with several pop heavyweights taking the stage, it was still a solid effort before next year’s BRIT Awards and Grammys.”

:: TIME agreed with that sentiment: “Newer artists at the 2014 AMAs failed to give us much to latch on to; if they ever want the sort of success Perry and Cyrus enjoy, it’s about time to start taking risks. As we wait for that, there’ll always be Jennifer Lopez twerking.”

:: NY Daily News addressed those looming drug rumors surrounding One Direction‘s Zayn MalikNo evidence of substance abuse was on hand at the Nokia Theatre as the dark-haired Malik sounded robust as he took the first and last solos during the song ‘Night Changes’.”

:: Esquire‘s recap of 5 Seconds Of Summer‘s performance had us LOL’ing: “Favorite New Artist of the Year went to Five Seconds of Summer. These are the kids who sing that ‘American Apparel Underwear’ song. Is Disney punk still a thing? Yes, yes it is. With a cover of ‘What I Like About You,’ this band is a shoo-in to win the final jam at Camp Rock. What does this mean? It means that you better dust off your Blink-182 and Green Day CDs, ‘cause it’s all about to happen again. This is good news for Hot Topic, at least.”

:: CNN noted Fergie‘s outfit snafu: “It’s been a while since we’ve seen Fergie take the stage, but the new mom returned in style at Sunday’s American Music Awards. With an introduction from husband Josh Duhamel, Fergie hit her marks with her single ‘L.A. Love.’ The one snag? Fergie had a minor wardrobe malfunction at the end of her performance. When she tried to suavely remove the jacket she was wearing, the clothing item ended up getting stuck to her rear for a beat before she could snatch it all the way off.”

:: The Washington Post felt Taylor Swift‘s performance was fitting: “Swift ratcheted up the crazy eyes as she let loose with the TV debut of her latest single, ‘Blank Space,’ which is already at No. 1 on the Billboard 100. The performance was pretty close to her music video, a parody of what the media says about her: That’s she’s an insanely needy, boy-crazy psycho ex-girlfriend. It involved lots of fire and men in picture frames and some really scary facial expressions. Expect the gifs to blow up the Internet on Monday.”

:: E! News got emotional after Selena Gomez‘s performance: “Wait, What?: Selena Gomez gave an emotional debut performance of her new single ‘The Heart Wants What It Wants’ and made us all get choked up. And then we started to wonder if that silhouette in the background was Justin Bieber.”

:: Finally, Billboard had this to say about LordeShe didn’t win any awards, but a forward-thinking young lady like Lorde knows there’s much more to award shows than taking home the hardware. Her performance of ‘Yellow Flicker Beat’ was absolutely spellbinding, and how can we forget these dance moves to ‘Bang Bang’?

What was your favorite moment from the 2014 AMAs? Let us know in the comments below!

Get an eyeful of even more pop music coverage, from artist interviews to exclusive performances, on Idolator’s YouTube channel.