American Music Awards 2014

November 23, live from the Nokia Theatre in LA, the American Music Awards showcased and awarded the biggest names in music today.  Pitbull hosted the awards for the second year in a row, following the ratings success of last year's show. His opening monologue left a lot to be desired in the way of humor and wit.

Opening the show was Taylor Swift with the television premiere of her latest single "Blank Space". The performance, complete with set pieces and an ensemble of dancers, felt like it was straight out of the music video and was exactly what her fans and the audience wanted to see. Imagine Dragons thrilled the audience with "I Bet My Life".  Other performance highlights included Selena Gomez premiering her emotional new single "The Heart Wants What the Heart Wants", One Direction performing "Night Changes", Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Iggy Azalea singing "Bang Bang" and Iggy Azalea and J.Lo premiering "Booty".

The night's big winners were One Direction who took home three awards for Artist of the Year, Favorite Band, Duo or Group and Pop/Rock album honors for Midnight Memories.  Despite being halfway across the world and the heat from both Iggy Azalea and Lorde, Katy Perry took home a total three awards for Pop/Rock Female, Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist, and Single of the Year for "Dark Horse".  While Iggy Azalea had the largest number of nominations, six, going into the awards, she took home only two for Favorite Hip Hop/Rap Artist and Favorite Rap/Hip Hop Album.  Taylor Swift was the first ever recipient of the Dick Clark Award of Excellence presented to her by Diana Ross.

Swift accepting the Dick Clark Award for Excellence from Diana Ross

A full list of winners can be found here.

Full Red carpet coverage can be found here.

CMA Awards 2014

Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley returned to host the show for the seventh  year in a row.  After seven years they know what they're doing and over the years they've grown to be one of the main attractions of the show.  This year's show was no exception as the duo tackled the latest trends including Ebola, Renee Zellweger, and Taylor Swift going pop.  Carrie and Brad also revealed, or rather Brad "blew it"and revealed, that Carrie is having a boy!

The night's top winners were Miranda Lambert who took home Female Vocalist, Album of the Year for Platinum, Single of the Year for "Automatic" and Musical Event of the Year with Keith Urban for "We Were Us", Blake Shelton who took home Male Vocalist and Luke Bryan who took home Entertainer of the Year, his first win in the category.  Also during the show, Vince Gill was honored with the Irving Waugh Award of Excellence, a very deserving honor for a great musician and person. A full list of the night's winners can be found here.

The best and biggest performances of the night included Carrie Underwood debuting her latest single "Something in the Water" in a spectacular and inspiring performance (as the music video for the single premiered on twitter immediately following her performance), and The Band Perry honoring Glen Campbell with "Gentle On My Mind". Other performance highlights included Meghan Trainor and Miranda Lambert singing Trainor's hit "All About That Bass", Little Big Town performing "Day Drinking"and being joined by Ariana Grande to perform "Bang Bang", Kacey Musgraves and Loretta Lynn singing "You're Looking At Country", Keith Urban performing his latest single "Somewhere in My Car", and Eric Church and George Strait singing "Cowboys Like Us".

Red Carpet Fashion

Carrie Underwood, the night's co-host, looked stunning in a high-low hem Lorena Sarbu dress.

Danielle Bradbery looked gorgeous in a low-plunging black gown and a fishtail braid.











Lucy Hale owned the red carpet in a silky red gown with an open back by Romona Keveza.











Lennon and Maisy Stella looked darling on the red carpet both in black.











A full gallery of CMA Awards Red Carpet pictures can be found here.

Red Carpet pictures from Gerry Images.