2015 American Music Awards Performance Reviews

Hey guys! Basically, I'm going to review each of the performances that took place during the 2015 American Music Awards this past Sunday. Let's get right to the performance reviews!

• Jennifer Lopez – Waiting For Tonight / Dance Medley

Review: The host of the AMAs kicked off the show with a performance I was divided on. Her performance of Waiting For Tonight really wasn't anything special. If anything, I was kind of impatiently waiting for it to finish. Then she goes into the dance melody full of songs from this year. There were songs like Can't Feel My Face, Where Are Ü Now, Bitch Better Have My Money, Anaconda, Hotline Bling, and many more. It was pretty good at different moments. But it really wasn't something I told all my friends about.

Overall Grade: 7 out of 10

• 5 Seconds Of Summer – Hey Everybody!

Review: Although the song is mediocre, these guys did a reasonably well job performing this song. But again, it wasn't anything special. Good performances require good songs. And this one unfortunately does not qualify.

Overall Grade: 7 out of 10

• Selena Gomez – Same Old Love

Review: My mother didn't realize that Selena Gomez swears in this song until they had to mute that part. Similar to 5 Seconds of Summer, the performance was good in terms of how the vocals turned out, but not something I told all my friends about.

Overall Grade: 7 out of 10

• Carrie Underwood – Heartbeat

Review: I really didn't care for this one. It wasn't horrible. But it wasn't good either. So yeah. Not much else to say about this performance.

Overall Grade: 6.5/10

• Demi Lovato – Confident

Review: What a strong voice this woman has! It's the first really good performance of the night. I just love her voice! Nice job, Ms. Lovato!

Overall Grade: 9 out of 10

• Meghan Trainor/Charlie Puth – Like I'm Gonna Lose You / Marvin Gaye

Review: Meghan Trainor kicked if off with the boring Like I'm Gonna Lose You. I was bored out of my mind during this part of the performance. I just don't really like her voice. But I have heard worse. That's really the only good thing I can say about the song. Then Charlie Puth joined for Marvin Gaye. Puth really disappointed me with this one. His vocals weren't really that good in this performance. Trainor did a mediocre job at best as always. This performance was kind of a mess. This was definitely something I told my friends about. And I did not say good things. Don't even get me started on the kiss at the end that made me really uncomfortable. And I heard that after that, they're still just friends. No one can be "just friends" with the person whose ass they grabbed.

Overall Grade: 3 out of 10

• Ariana Grande – Focus

Review: I do not like the way this one started. I was really worried that it would keep up for the whole song. Thank god it didn't. The performance got so much better as soon as she went into the actual song. Everything about the performance worked out really well. When she reaches the high notes, it just sounds amazing. The backup dancers did a really good job. My only concern is that I think her dress was really short. But aside from that, it was an excellent performance.

Overall Grade: 9.8 out of 10 (I can't give it a 10 because of that beginning.)

• One Direction – Perfect

Review: These boys don't sound the best live. I was kind of disappointed by it. I love the song. But the performance is what I'm on the fence about. It didn't wow me as much as I hoped.

Overall Grade: 7 out of 10

• Gwen Stefani – Used To Love You

Review: This was a sweet performance full of emotions. But it really wasn't any more than that. I'm not saying it's a bad thing. But I wasn't over-the-top in love with it. Now it was definitely one of the better performances throughout the entire night. It at least had my attention, unlike Carrie Underwood and another certain performance we'll get to later. But it was kind of something I forgot about. Overall, it was good. Just not great.

Overall Grade: 8 out of 10

• Nick Jonas – Chains / Levels / Jealous

Review: I would say this performance was pretty good. I didn't necessarily love it. But I liked it. I liked the choir that came out when Jonas began singing Jealous. But overall, it wasn't something I was trying to look up and watch again.

Overall Grade: 8.5 out of 10

• Coldplay – Adventure Of A Lifetime

Review: 7 years since this band hit that stage. Coldplay has always been a favorite of mine. Their new single, Adventure Of A Lifetime, did not disappoint me. Their performance of the song was pretty fun to watch. Chris Martin's vocals were pretty on point. Overall, I really enjoyed it.

Overall Grade: 9 out of 10

• Walk The Moon – Shut Up and Dance

Review: I'm really tired of this song. Can it just be removed from radio completely? The performance wasn't horrible, but I would've been fine without it. Overall, kind of uninteresting, but not terrible.

Overall Grade: 6 out of 10

• The Weeknd – The Hills

Review: This performance left me speechless. This song itself is amazing. But the performance was excellent. The Weeknd's voice sounded amazing. All of the fire around the him made the scenery look really cool. And everything about this performance was spot on! I absolutely loved this one. Definitely one of my favorites and definitely one of the performances I was talking to my friends about and I only had good things to say about it.

Overall Grade: 10 out of 10

• Luke Bryan/Karen Fairchild – Home Alone Tonight

Review: I found this one to be kind of a show filler. That doesn't mean it's bad, but I really didn't care for it. But there have been worse performances within this one night.

Overall Grade: 7 out of 10

• Macklemore & Ryan Lewis/Leon Bridges – Kevin

Review: I thought this one was really good. The rapping was on point and I thought Leon Bridges did a nice job in the chorus. I wasn't in love with it. But it was still pretty good.

Overall Grade: 8.5 out of 10

• Alanis Morissette/Demi Lovato – You Oughta Know

Review: I was fascinated by this one. But it almost another show filler in my opinion. I didn't love it. I didn't hate it. I don't have too much of an opinion on it.

Overall Grade: 7 out of 10

• Celine Dion – Hymne à l'amour (Tribute To Paris Victims)

Review: I'm gonna get so much hate for this one. While I do realize this performance was a tribute to those who lost their lives in the Paris terrorist attacks, it was really boring. I didn't understand a single word and I didn't really think Celine Dion's singing was as amazing as a lot of people said. As much as you guys probably disagree with me, I'm going to have to categorize it as a throwaway performance.

Overall Grade: 5 out of 10*

*Please note that if this wasn't a tribute to the Paris victims, it would've gotten a lower grade.

• Pentatonix – Music of Star Wars

Review: As someone who has been a pretty big fan of Star Wars, I definitely enjoyed this one. I could've listened to this one for a little while longer. This is what I like to hear from Pentatonix. It was definitely far from boring. Overall, I really liked this one.

Overall Grade: 8.5 out of 10

• Justin Bieber – What Do You Mean? / Where Are Ü Now / Sorry

Review: This one started kind of slow with What Do You Mean?. I liked it. But I wasn't that impressed until Justin got into Where Are Ü Now, where he showed off some pretty sick dance moves. His vocals in those two songs were pretty good. Then he did what made my heart melt. He performed Sorry........in the rain. I really enjoyed that part of the performance. Watching Justin perform with water pouring on him was amazing. This was another one of my favorite performances of the night and I was definitely talking to my friends about it and how amazing it was.

Overall Grade: 10 out of 10


Top 5 Performances
5. Demi Lovato – Confident
4. Coldplay – Adventure Of A Lifetime
3. Ariana Grande – Focus
2. The Weeknd – The Hills
1. Justin Bieber – What Do You Mean? / Where Are Ü Now / Sorry

Bottom 5 Performances
5. Luke Bryan/Karen Fairchild – Home Alone Tonight
4. Carrie Underwood – Heartbeat
3. Walk The Moon – Shut Up and Dance
2. Celine Dion – Tribute To Paris Victims
1. Meghan Trainor/Charlie Puth – Like I'm Gonna Lose You / Marvin Gaye

So yeah. Those were my reviews on each performance from the 2015 American Music Awards. Did you agree with my reviews? Did you disagree? Let me know in the comment section down below. But before I wrap this post up, I thought it would be a good idea to start a Song War competition! Basically, I will have 32 songs. Each song gets paired up and you'll vote for the better one. That'll continue all the way until we reach the Top 2, where you'll then vote for which song you think should win the entire competition. Plus, there may or may not be some wild card voting some time in this competition. The first survey will be down below. But first, here are the 32 songs in this competition:

• Adam Lambert – Ghost Town
• Adele – Hello
• Alessia Cara – Here
• Ariana Grande – Focus
• Audien/Lady Antebellum – Something Better
• Daya – Hide Away
• Demi Lovato – Confident
• Drake – Hotline Bling
• Elle King – Ex's & Oh's
• Ellie Goulding – On My Mind
• Fall Out Boy/Demi Lovato – Irresistible
• Fifth Harmony/Kid Ink – Worth It
• Flo Rida – My House
• Gwen Stefani – Used To Love You
• Halsey – New Americana
• Justin Bieber – Sorry
• Justin Bieber – What Do You Mean?
• Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – Downtown
• Meghan Trainor/John Legend – Like I'm Gonna Lose You
• Nico & Vinz/Kid Ink/Bebe Rexha – That's How You Know
• One Direction – Drag Me Down
• One Direction – Perfect
• Panic! At The Disco – Victorious
• Pentatonix – Can't Sleep Love
• Rachel Platten – Stand By You
• R. City/Adam Levine – Locked Away
• Rudimental/Ed Sheeran – Lay It All On Me
• Selena Gomez – Same Old Love
• Shawn Mendes – Stitches
• Taylor Swift – Wildest Dreams
• The Weeknd – The Hills
• X Ambassadors – Renegades

Now that you've seen the song list, it's time for you to get voting! The link to the Google Form is down below! Also, I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!
Link: https://docs.google.com/a/s207.org/forms/d/1MvAyss_4c-5bx2InCZi0obJ5Mlhr4ryHBCs9YaZU1RY/viewform