2018 Billboard Music Awards: Performances Ranked

Hey guys! The Billboard Music Awards took place last Sunday night. So I decided to do a quick ranking of all the performances from worst to best. I'll also give a brief explanation for why I liked or disliked each performance. I won't talk about the awards or anything like that because these shows are honestly just popularity contests. So we're just going to talk about the performances here. So with that, I hope you enjoy and let's get right into it.

17. Zedd/Maren Morris/Grey – The Middle
This may just be because of my strong distaste for the song, but I just did not find this performance very interesting at all. I will say that Maren Morris did sound pretty good considering how autotuned her voice sounds in the actual song. But that's the only redeeming quality of this performance. Other than that, it was nothing special. Overall Grade: 2/10

16. Dua Lipa – New Rules
This performance was also not very interesting. It may have something to do with the fact that I'm kind of sick of the song. But there was really nothing interesting going on. Dua Lipa was just singing and she didn't even sound that good. I don't know. The performance just seemed like it was missing a lot. Overall Grade: 2.5/10

15. Jennifer Lopez/DJ Khaled – Dinero
This song is honestly just not good. The performance of it was not that good either. There really wasn't anything special about it. Jennifer Lopez has sounded better. I don't really need to listen to her go on about how she wants money. DJ Khaled did absolutely nothing to help this performance. His shouting may have been somewhat amusing when he performed Wild Thoughts at the Grammys, but now it was just annoying. So yeah. Not a good song and not a great performance. I know JLo can do better. Overall Grade: 3.5/10

14. BTS – Fake Love
The big performance of the night was really not that big of a deal. I find these guys to be overrated and most of the Korean girls to be crazy. Now I won't say they're completely talentless because there are good dancers. I'll give them that. But that's the only thing they have going for them to me. I don't really like the song. I'm not really huge on them. Yet these guys seem to be a pretty big deal right now. My friend was texting me as the show was going and she said that she was only watching for BTS. I don't know. I guess I'm just on board with K-pop as a whole. But let's be real here, I don't think these guys will be remembered in about a year from now. They are no One Direction. They will soon fade away. Overall Grade: 4/10

13. John Legend – A Good Night
Now things are starting to get good. John Legend is one of those artists who I may not always keep up with. But he has good songs every now and then and he is a talented individual. That being said, I do think this song is good and he sounded pretty good vocally. I guess my only piece of criticism is that it wasn't very memorable. There wasn't really much going on, which I guess can also be looked at as a good thing from a different perspective. Sure, the backup dancers were cool and all. But when I was going through the list of performances in my head by the end of the show, I completely skipped over this one. It was good though, just not very memorable. Overall Grade: 7/10

12. Camila Cabello/Pharrell – Sangria Wine / Havana
Pharrell Williams and Camila Cabello started this one off with a performance of their new song Sangria Wine. I haven't listened to it in full yet, but it sounded decent from the performance. I'm not sure what was going on with Pharrell's outfit. But that aside, the performance of it was good. Nothing great. But it was enjoyable to watch. But I did enjoy the performance of Havana more. Sure, Camila is not the best singer. But I will admit that she has good stage presence and she is a great dancer, which is no surprise since she was once part of Fifth Harmony. So overall, I enjoyed this a reasonable amount, which is pretty good considering that I wasn't exactly looking forward to it. Overall Grade: 7.25/10

11. Janet Jackson – Nasty / If / Throb
Before receiving her icon award, Janet Jackson made her big stage return. I don't have much to say here and I'm really not the best person to critique this performance given that I'm not familiar with the majority of her music. But I have much respect for her to still be able to perform as good as she did. It wasn't amazing to me, but I found it to be enjoyable and I'm sure people who grew up listening to her loved it more than I did. Overall Grade: 7.5/10

10. Ed Sheeran – Galway Girl
From Dublin, we got to see Ed Sheeran perform the very Irish hit of his, Galway Girl. I don't think I've ever seen or heard this song performed live, but I thought he did a great job. I don't have much to say about it other than the fact that he sounded great and he's very talented with that guitar. Overall, I found it to be an enjoyable performance. Overall Grade: 8/10

9. Shawn Mendes – In My Blood
The first of two Shawn Mendes appearances is his performance of his current hit, In My Blood. I never really talked about the song ever since it debuted on the Weekend Countdown. I've had it in blue the past couple of weeks, but I might change it back to green because I do think it is a good song. He certainly did a nice job performing it live. I really liked the set. All in all, I thought it was a pretty good performance. Overall Grade: 8/10

8. Salt-N-Pepa/En Vogue – Shoop / Let's Talk About Sex / Push It / Whatta Man
I don't have much to say here because I actually don't know who these people are. But I thought the performance was very energetic and enjoyable. These ladies really brought the energy to the stage and I found the performance to be thoroughly entertaining. It was a great way to close out the show. Not much else to say. But overall, I thought it was pretty damn good. Overall Grade: 8/10

7. Kelly Clarkson – Medley of Hits
After her little introduction, host Kelly Clarkson did a little bit of a mashup performance singing a bunch of 2017-2018 hits like Humble, Thunder, Young Dumb & Broke, There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back, Look What You Made Me Do, Too Good At Goodbyes, Finesse, and Shape of You as well as Maren Morris' 2016 country hit, My Church. I thought this was very entertaining and enjoyable. I personally didn't see it coming. But I enjoyed just about every second of it. So yeah. Kelly Clarkson is killing it. Overall Grade: 8/10

6. Shawn Mendes/Khalid – Youth
Soon after In My Blood, Shawn Mendes returns with Khalid for an emotional performance of their new song Youth from Shawn's new self-titled album. I think this song is really good and I really liked their performance of it. It's a song that I think needs to be heard by everyone as the lyrical content ties into the big problem in the world currently of school shootings. Both artists sounded very good on the vocals and I like how they brought in that choir. It made the performance much more emotional and moving. Overall, I thought it was a powerful performance. Overall Grade: 8.5/10

5. Macklemore/Kesha – Good Old Days
The dynamic duo returns yet again. Macklemore and Kesha perform the underrated Good Old Days. A performance of this song is nothing we haven't seen before. But these two bring their A-game every time. Macklemore sounds the same as he usually does, which doesn't mean bad by any means. But Kesha sounded amazing in this performance, which I guess is also nothing new. But I can't help but think about all those comments saying that she can't sing without autotune. This performance was live proof that this woman has a naturally fantastic voice. I love the song and I thought the performance was great. Overall Grade: 9/10

4. Khalid/Normani – Love Lies
Next we have the performance from Khalid and Normani Kordei from Fifth Harmony of the hit from the Love, Simon soundtrack, Love Lies. I thought this was a great performance and these two should certainly collaborate again. It was definitely a steamy performance and I could really feel the chemistry between these two artists. Khalid sounded really good (congrats on Top New Artist by the way) as well as Normani. And to make it even better, Normani really showed off her incredible dancing. I know she competed on Dancing With The Stars last year and made it to the finals. It makes perfect sense why. This girl has some serious moves. I always knew she was good in Fifth Harmony. But damn, she still has it even when she goes solo. So yeah. Great performance. Overall Grade: 9/10

3. Kelly Clarkson – Whole Lotta Woman
Of course the show wouldn't be complete without a performance from the host, Kelly Clarkson herself. She is a very talented artist and she is truly a gem from American Idol. This performance showcased exactly what I love about her. She sounded fantastic live and the song is catchy. The chills were strong towards the end. I don't have anything else to say because you just need to watch the performance to understand what I'm getting at. Overall Grade: 9.5/10

2. Ariana Grande – No Tears Left To Cry
The opening performance ended up being one of the best of the night. My expectations were not very high for this performance. But Ariana really did kill it with her performance of No Tears Left To Cry. I've noticed in the past that she always sounds fantastic performing live and this performance was no different. She was pitch perfect. She sounded amazing. I loved the set. The song has definitely grown on me. Ariana Grande has impressed me again. Overall Grade: 10/10

1. Christina Aguilera/Demi Lovato – Fall In Line
There may be a little bit of bias here because I love Fall In Line. Christina Aguilera and Demi Lovato are two of the biggest female voices in the music industry currently and hearing them come together is just amazing in my opinion. I understand that the performance wasn't exactly perfect as Demi Lovato struggled a little bit vocally. But putting that aside, I thought they did a fantastic job. I absolutely love Christina's voice and Demi sounded great for the majority of it. The set was good. I loved their outfits. I love the song's deeper meaning. At the end, you can see Tyra Banks in the audience saying, "That was powerful," and it really was. So yeah. Like I said, I probably favored this because I love the song. But either way, it was a fantastic performance and, in my opinion, the best of the night. Overall Grade: 10/10



So yeah. That was my ranking of all the performances from the 2018 Billboard Music Awards. Keep in mind that these were all my opinions. But that's all I have for you guys today. I hope you enjoyed. I'll be back either tomorrow or Sunday hopefully with the Weekend Countdown post for this upcoming weekend.