This year was the first year in many, many years (perhaps ever?) that I have watched the American Music Awards. When I say watch, I mean I recorded them for Beyonce’s performance, but did fast forward through them while playing pieces.

Here are my unfiltered, stream of consciousness observations (most of them while watching):

New Kids reunion: Very strange to watch. They have to be around 40, right? Some of them must have kids. They perform part of The Right Stuff, complete with the side-to-side feet moves, this is the most exciting part of their performance. That one move takes me back to my pre-teen days. A time where I received a New Kids sweatshirt and silk pillow with their faces on it for my birthday party held at a roller skating rink in Dearborn, Michigan. I think I had a neon green sweatshirt and side ponytail. Donnie Wahlberg has definitely eclipsed Jordan as my favorite despite his pretty embarrassing attempts at hip-hop posturing. I like his style, nonetheless. The new songs aren’t as bad as I thought they’d be. They broadcast Danny and Jon’s face all of about 3 times total. This is not a problem for me, but it’s funny how blatant they are about it. I do kind of feel bad for them. Jon seemed like he was in his mid-30s back in the day, the dad of the group, but he doesn’t seem to have aged much since then.

Kanye West: Bizarre. Egotistic, fashionable, and truly strange. He’s mysterious, obnoxious, fascinating, frustrating and talented and apparently “wants to be Elvis”…that’s how he ended his acceptance speech. You never know what you’re gonna get when he’s in front of a microphone at an awards ceremony. At least he keeps it interesting.

This doesn’t have to do with the awards, but the Heidi Klum Rock Band commercial is pretty awesome.

Miley Cyrus: I thought I would be really annoyed with her performance, but I actually thought it was exciting, visual, and surprising. Then again, this positive reaction could also be the result of very low expectations. She’s pretty well coordinated. This reminds me a lot of Avril’s teen-angst, my ex-boyfriend sucks songs with her PG-10, Hot Topic pseudo-rocker/rebel/goth image. Despite the total calculation/marketing ploy/co-opting of real, subcultural/underground styles and movements, there is something that draws me in to this in the same way that certain Avril songs/posturings/performances do. I think it needs just enough absurdity and actual distance from the real thing to work…although this formula doesn’t work for Ashlee Simpson’s dark eyeliner/emo-ish album or performances.

Coldplay: I would never associate Coldplay with the word avant-garde until I saw Chris Martin’s moves. He’s all over the place with no apparent rhythm, rhyme or reason. In one word: spastic.

RZA is there? He tells Jimmy Kimmel that his daughter has a Jonas Brothers poster on her wall. Awesome.

I love Terrance Howard. He can really change his voice. Does he really have to introduce Mariah Carey? Couldn’t it have been Beyonce?

Beyonce/Sasha Fierce: She performs Ladies (Put a Ring On It). It’s amazing. There is a strobe light, and a dramatic entrance. There is a really great cutaway to Queen Latifah doing the hand thing (as prompted by Beyonce). Love Beyonce’s expressions, especially the end head pops, looking incredulous and pointing to her finger. Also love the all-female band.

Back to back performances by the Jonas Brothers and Pussycat Dolls? Really? I didn’t know the Pussycat Dolls were even still around. Or that they were a real band. I always connected them with some kind of marketing scheme, show, or real dolls. Am I making this up?

Annie Lennox performs live. This is a surprise. Pretty intense. But good, and she’s nice and humble in her speech. She seems genuinely thankful for the award, which has to do with humanitarianism as well.

There are at least 2 performers I don’t know so far (Natasha something, already forgot the other).

Sarah McLachlan: Do they really need to reach back this far for a song to perform? That Angel song? What about a song from this year? Do they understand that there is interesting, progressive music still currently being made?

Conclusions:
1) The 90s live again!
2) When you’re really out of what music is popular at the moment, it is really strange to watch these awards.

M.I.A. had this to say about Beyoncé:

“She’s like super. She’s like harder, faster, stronger. In our lifetime, Beyoncé will be a classic, like how people talk about Aretha Franklin.”

I agree wholeheartedly, M.I.A.