The Billboard Music Awards took place last night in Los Angeles, CA. Live from the Dolby Theatre, this year’s show was without doubt political. From a thumb at the nose of first amendment rights, to curiously failing to upload the show’s first Reggaeton performance – it was lit.
Not everything aired was as it seemed, though. Demi Lovato found her performance censored by NBC, according to TMZ. It appers NBC digital is also silencing the voice of the Latinx community. A quick Internet search for Bad Bunny’s world premiere performance of “Yo Perreo Sola” with Ivy Queen and Nesi yields no official results. This comes in spite of Bad Bunny winning an award for Top Latin Artist, and the first to perform Reggaeton on the BBMA stage.
Surely the Billboard Music Awards are hardly the most memorable award show year after year, but this year’s broadcast saw ratings tank. As with each year, the songs receiving recognition are from the previous year. However, it’s clear the show did not reflect music’s current status, with Hip-Hop being limited to SAINt JHN performing. A quick look at the winner’s list would seem that the only person nominated was Post Malone.
Last night’s airing of the Billboard Music Awards on NBC was down nearly 62% in the coveted A18-49 demo (0.8 vs 2.1) and down 55% in viewers (3.6m vs 8.0m) from the 2019 airing which aired in May.
This comes after #BoycottNBC started trending yesterday after NBC announced a last-minute Trump townhall airing opposite ABC’s Biden townhall on Thursday night. As of a few hours ago #BoycottNBC, along with #NBCBlackout, was trending at #1 on Twitter in the US.
Despite not having an audience, the performances at the Billboard Music Awards were still high energy and entertaining. It was exciting to see artists return to the stage and perform; the first time since the failed attempt of the MTV VMAs.
The bar is low for entertainment value each day thanks to TikTok. At this point, anything with big production will catch at least a few hundred thousand eyeballs.
Billboard Music Award Performances Worth Watching
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