Watch Kendrick Lamar & SZA Play The AMAs
Last night was the American Music Awards, an annual ceremony in which a small handful of pop superstars compete for fan-voted honors and everyone involved dresses like citizens of the Capitol in The Hunger Games. Taylor Swift and Justin Timberlake each won awards in multiple genres, confirming that the monogenre is real, and 25-year-old Rihanna won the inaugural icon award. Also in the building was Kendrick Lamar, who lost best hip-hop album to Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (because of course he did) and performed a quick medley of good kid, m.A.A.d. city hits alongside SZA, the R&B singer signed to TDE, the same label as Kendrick. Watch them do bits of “Swimming Pools (Drank)” and “Poetic Justice” below.
Some other performances of note: The surviving members of TLC performed “Waterfalls” with Lil Mama filling in for the late Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes; Lady Gaga and R. Kelly did a presidential rendition of “Do What U Want”; Rihanna gave a good reading of “Diamonds”; and Timberlake donned a guitar for his blooz-rocker “Drink You Away.” All of those are viewable here. And we’d be remiss not to mention the night’s most mesmerizing moment, Miley Cyrus performing the power ballad “Wrecking Ball” in front of a humongous kitten graphic that mouthed the words along with her. It’s truly astonishing A+ trolling, and you can watch it below.
She trippy, mayne.