A Recap on the 2021 Billboard Music Awards: Big Winners, Show-Stopping Performances, and More Iconic Moments
With another year of the Billboard Music Awards in the books, the circumstance calls for another look back at some of the iconic performances and talented artists of the past year that were honored at this weekend’s event. The BBMA’s returned for their 2021 broadcast on Sunday. May 23rd only seven months after the previous ceremony that was delayed due to the pandemic. While the state of things is definitely much better than the previous broadcasting of the event, this year’s awards ceremony was not immune to improvisation around the COVID-19 restrictions set into place. The event took place in Los Angeles at the Microsoft Theater, and was hosted by Nick Jonas.
Nonetheless, this year’s Billboard Music Awards was another broadcast filled with talented artists, big winners, and memorable performances. Most notably, Canadian artist The Weeknd swept the floor in nominations for sixteen categories, and ended up taking home ten trophies, including Top 100 Artist, Top 100 Song for his iconic 80’s pop hit “Blinding Lights”, and the biggest win of the night, Top Artist.
Another big winner of the event was the Korean pop boy band BTS, who have become international sensations with their latest singles “Dynamite” and “Butter”. The group won every category for which they were nominated, including Top Duo/Group, Top Song Sales, Top Selling Song for “Dynamite”, and Top Social Artist, which the group won for the fifth consecutive year. On top of a huge sweep, the group also held a flashy debut performance for their single “Butter” which was released just that Friday. Additionally, Bad Bunny swept through the Latin awards in four categories: Top Latin Artist, Top Latin Song, Top Latin Male Artist, and Top Latin Album.
Breaking the record for the largest amount of posthumous recognition, the late rapper Pop Smoke was declared a finalist in ten categories, and won half of them such as Top Billboard 200 Album with his record Shoot for the Stars, Aim for the Moon. In an emotional, tear-jerking moment, the late artist’s mother, Audrey Jackson, accepted his awards on his behalf and thanked the crowd for “honoring [her] young warrior.”
Continuing with the touching parent-child moments throughout the broadcast, PINK performed her newest single “Cover Me in Sunshine” with her daughter as both of them cascading down from silk fabrics above the stage. The stunning performance was followed by the artist earning the Icon Award. Lastly, Canadian rapper and artist Drake was joined on stage by his three-year-old son Adonis, as he received the Artist of the Decade Award. He gave a personal acceptance speech by admitting his insecurities regarding his music, however left with a positive note saying “but tonight for once I’m sure as hell we did something right.”
The last memorable performance to note was Alicia Keys’ medley of all of her past hits in honor of the 20th anniversary since her debut album Songs in A Minor, which was released in June 2001. Former First Lady, Michelle Obama gave a video introduction expressing her belief in her talents and honoring her as a fellow symbol of female empowerment.
Overall, the 2021 BBMA’s was another night to remember that defied the drawbacks of hosting a live event during the pandemic. We hope that next year we can see a return to the live awards shows we used to know before the virus, however for now, we are undoubtedly inspired by the amount of talent and music that was honored at Sunday night’s broadcast.
