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. 

Billboard Music Awards 2014

The biggest stars from all genres of music come together to celebrate the year's achievements and musical milestones in the musical showcase that is the Billboard Music Awards. This year's show say performances from everyone from Pitbull and Jennifer Lopez to Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood to a hologram performance by Michael Jackson.  Every year the show tries to top the previous year's show and this year succeeded.

The BBMAs are about celebrating music and the show can usually be mistaken for a concert with myriad interruptions for commercials and the occasional award.  This year, however, the show had a more balanced lineup of awards and musical performances.  Some of the night's big highlight performances included: 5 Seconds of Summer singing their smash "She Looks So Perfect", Imagine Dragons performing "Tiptoe", hologram Michael Jackson's rendition of "Slave to the Rhythm", and the premiere of Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood's "Somethin' Bad".  All of the performances were interesting, to say the least, but thankfully there was no major publicity stunt that caused pandemonium and mayhem.

Lambert and Underwood performing "Somethin' Bad"

Full Winners List
A more concise winners list can be found here.

The night's big winners were Lorde with Top New Artist and Top Rock Song, Carrie Underwood who took home the Billboard Milestone Award, Jennifer Lopez who was the first female to be awarded the Icon Award, Imagine Dragons with five wins including Top Hot 100 Artist and Top Rock Artist, and Justin Timberlake with his 7 wins including Top Artist and Top Billboard 200 Album.

Fashion

Carrie Underwood wore the lemon yellow Oriett Domenech Goddess Desire Gown.  The Milestone Award winner  looked classy and elegant as she walked the carpet in the gown. While it may have been overdressed for the BBMAs, the color helped to add a layer of playfulness and Underwood overshadowed all of the other styles on the carpet.

Kesha wore a black and gray gown with an elaborate mermaidesque train.  Her dress was overstated and too elegant for the atmosphere of the Billboard Music Awards, but she looked healthy and gorgeous on the carpet.

Nikki Minaj walked the carpet in a black Alexander McQueen gown. She brought a serious and sultry style to the carpet with the dress' strappy element.

Jennifer Lopez wore a sheer gown by Donna Karen to walk the red carpet.   The sexy see-through scarlet gown featured a high slit and a plunging neckline.

49th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards

The Band Perry opened the show with their song Chainsaw and dumped "sawdust" confetti over the whole of the audience which as you can imagine the stars were overjoyed about.  Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton hosted the awards together for the second year in a row.  Their opening monologue came off as somehow ill-prepared.  Shelton attacked Britney Spears and the tangent they ran through about Broadway and country stars not only didn't make sense (given that Reba and Dolly have already done Broadway shows) but also came off as very rude to Carrie Underwood who is already snubbed at the big country music awards shows. The remainder of the monologue dug into social issues and name dropped any star they could think of (Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, etc.) and was the extreme opposite of the class that Ellen exhibited as Oscar host, but then no one said this was supposed to be a classy affair I suppose.  

There were many, many performances, so many in fact that an hour of the show passed before a single award was presented.  Many of the performances were great and some of the night's highlights included a performance of "Golden" and "Rhiannon" by Lady Antebellum and Stevie Nicks and of course the legendary, the King himself George Strait performing "I Got a Car", and a tribute to Merle Haggard by Miranda Lambert and George Strait.

Complete List of Winners

Tim McGraw and Miranda Lambert were the top nominated artists with seven nominations each, followed by Keith Urban with six nominations.  Lambert took home awards for Single Record of the Year for "Mama's Broken Heart", Female Vocalist, Musical Event for "We Were Us" with Keith Urban and McGraw won Video of the Year for "Highway Don't Care". Urban shared the wins with both McGraw for "Highway Don't Care" and with Lambert for "We Were Us".  Merle Haggard was honored with the Crystal Milestone award for lifetime achievement, and on his 77th birthday no less.  The best was saved for last as the big award of the night, Entertainer of the Year, went to George Strait who was by far the most deserving of the nominees!

Next year, for their 50th anniversary, the awards will be held in Dallas Texas at Cowboy stadium.

Fashion

Photo courtesy Getty Images

Carrie Underwood looked stunning in this gown by Oscar de la Renta gown. Underwood graced the carpet looking flawless as ever, and showing off her new hair color.  She has our vote for best dressed and best hair!

Photo courtesy Getty Images

Miranda Lambert sparkled in a traditional Diamond gown from Randi Rahm. Her dress was elegant and flowed spectacularly as she walked the red carpet into the event.

Photo courtesy Getty Images

Danielle Bradbery looked gorgeous in this dress with a sheer skirt.  The Voice winner completed the look with Sarah Richey jewelry.

Photo courtesy Getty Images

Taylor Swift took a break from her usual old-Hollywood glam look to show off a different side in this crop top and high slit skirt. Whether the look was a hit or a miss is up for discussion, some will hate it and some will love it.

56th Annual Grammy Awards

The Grammys is the biggest awards show in the music industry. It is as much about the legendary performances that happen live as it is about who wins the coveted awards.  Tonight saw performances from everyone from the surviving members of The Beatles to Miranda Lambert and Billie Joe Armstrong paying tribute to the Everly Brothers.  


Beyoncé and Jay-Z opened this year's show with "Drunk in Love" in a spectacular and sexy display.  Lorde sang her hit song "Royals" in a display that was strange, to say the least (and was that a weeping angel on the screen behind her?).  Hunter Hayes premiered a powerful new song entitled "Invisible" and Taylor Swift played the piano and sang a wonderful rendition of "All Too Well".  Imagine Dragons and Kendrick Lamar collaborated and brought the house down! Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr performed "Queenie Eye". Carole King and Sara Bareilles performed a mash-up of "Beautiful" and "Brave" that was sensational! Metallica paid an inspired and rocking tribute to the late Lou Reed. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis performed "Same Love" accompanied by Madonna as Queen Latifah officiated the wedding of couples lining the aisle of the audience. The performances tonight were phenomenal as a whole and created a show that was worth watching! 

COMPLETE WINNERS LIST

Macklemore came into the show as a three-time Grammy winner from the awards presented pre-telecast and added another Grammy to his collection during the show for Best New Artist.  "Cut Me Some Slack", which was written by Dave Grohl, Paul McCartney, Krist Novoselic & Pat Smear, won Best Rock Song and was interestingly enough recorded using the original Sound City equipment.  Lorde and Daft Punk took home multiple awards, Best Song of the Year and Record of the Year & Album of the Year respectively. 

FASHION

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Anna Kendrick looked stunning in a strapless Azzaro gown.  She walked the red carpet with a classy air of style and grace.  She is definitely my choice for best dressed of the night! 

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Taylor Swift sparkled down the carpet in this gown by Gucci.  She looked stunning, but I have to say I would have liked this dress even more if it had been homogeneous in color and omitted the see-through part at the top of the gown, but it was gorgeous regardless.

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Pink showed off her amazing body in  Johanna Johnson and Rauwolf.  I could have done without the V in the middle of the dress which led to a curtainy look at the bottom, but Pink looked stunning regardless.