KANE BROWN AND CARDI B TAKE HOME THREE EACH

Record Breaker Swift Opened The Show With Crowd Pumping Performance

Cardi B Made Triumphant Return To The Awards Show Stage

Moving Tribute To The Queen Of Soul Aretha Franklin

Brought The Crowd To Their Feet

WHAT:

The “2018 American Music Awards,” the world’s largest fan-voted awards show, was hosted by ABC’s “black-ish” star, Tracee Ellis Ross, for the second year in a row! Ross wowed fans with her comedic timing, wit and numerous costume changes throughout the night, where music fans watched their favorite artists and pop culture icons come together to celebrate icons, musicians breaking barriers and those new to the contemporary music scene, live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Tuesday, October 9, 2018 at 8:00pm on ABC.

Taylor Swift stole the night with a fiery, heart-pumping show opening performance of her single “I Did Something Bad,” in a sparkly one piece and thigh high boots as a cobra emerged over the flames on stage. She continued to take the stage throughout the night, taking home a total of four awards – surpassing Whitney Houston’s record of 21 trophies, and setting a new AMA record for most wins by a female of all time, 23!

Jennifer Lopez took the stage to sing her new powerful ballad, “Limitless” from her film Second Act, and per usual wowed viewers with an electric performance and moving message.

Record-breaking female rapper, Cardi B, took over the AMA stage with a vibrant, Latin-inspired performance of her hit single “I Like It,” with J Balvin and Bad Bunny.

Gospel and soul’s biggest names came out to salute the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, in an uplifting performance directed by musical savant, Rickey Minor. Gladys Knight, CeCe Winans, Donnie McClurkin, Ledisi and Mary Mary sang gospel songs that Ms. Franklin had become synonymous with like “Amazing Grace” and “Climbing Higher Mountains,” that got the audience to their feet and reminded us why Aretha reigned Queen.

Live from Brisbane, Australia, rock duo Panic! at the Disco performed Queen’s cult classic rock ballad, “Bohemian Rhapsody,” that got the crowd singing along. The cast of the upcoming biopic about the song’s original creators, including Rami Malek, Joe Mazzello & Gwilym Lee, were onstage in Los Angeles to introduce the nostalgic performance.

Other memorable moments included benny blanco with Halsey & Khalid, Cardi B’s return to the award show stage after giving birth, Ciara and Missy Elliott’s dance inducing performance of their collab “Level Up,” Ella Mai’s performance of “Boo’d Up,” and her special encore performance presented by Xfinity.

The evening included additional knockout performances from Camila Cabello, Carrie Underwood, Dua Lipa, Mariah Carey, Post Malone featuring Ty Dolla $ign, Shawn Mendes with Zedd and Twenty One Pilots.

American Music Awards nominees are based on key fan interactions as reflected on Billboard.com, including streaming, album and digital song sales, radio airplay, social activity and touring. These measurements are tracked by Billboard and its data partners, including Nielsen Music and Next Big Sound, and reflect the time period of September 15, 2017 through August 9, 2018.

YouTube Music is the presenting sponsor of the “2018 American Music Awards.”

Capital One® Savor® Card and Subaru of America, Inc. are sponsors of the “2018 American Music Awards.” Media partner is Cumulus Media/Westwood One.

The “2018 American Music Awards” is produced by dick clark productions. Barry Adelman, Mark Bracco and Tracee Ellis Ross are Executive Producers. Larry Klein is Producer.

WHO:

Host Tracee Ellis Ross; Performers Benny Blanco with Halsey & Khalid, Camila Cabello, Cardi B featuring Bad Bunny and J Balvin, Carrie Underwood, Ciara & Missy Elliott, Dua Lipa, Ella Mai, Jennifer Lopez, Mariah Carey, Panic! at the Disco, Post Malone featuring Ty Dolla $ign, Shawn Mendes featuring Zedd, Taylor Swift, Twenty One Pilots and a special tribute to Aretha Franklin featuring Gladys Knight, Ledisi, Donnie McClurkin, CeCe Winans, Mary Mary; Presenters Amandla Stenberg, Amber Heard, Bebe Rexha & Florida Georgia Line, Billy Eichner, Busy Philipps, Chloe & Halle, Constance Wu, Evan Ross & Ashlee Simpson, Heidi Klum, John Stamos, Kane Brown, Kathryn Hahn, Kelsea Ballerini, Lauren Daigle, Lenny Kravitz, Liza Koshy, Macaulay Culkin, Normani, the cast of “Bohemian Rhapsody” including Rami Malek, Joe Mazzello & Gwilym Lee, Rita Ora, Sara Gilbert, Taran Killam & Leighton Meester, The Chainsmokers, Thomas Rhett, Tyra Banks and Vanessa Hudgens; AMAs Red Carpet Live Presented by Security Benefit hosts Jesse James Decker, Scott Evans, AJ Gibson, Erika Jayne, Laura Marano and Zach Sang; Additional nominees including 21 Savage, Grey, LANCO, Lil Uzi Vert, Marshmello, Migos, Additional attendees including Anderson.Paak, G-Eazy, NCT 127, Lauren Jauregi, Chantel Jeffries, Kris Wu and many more.

WHEN:

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

WHERE:

Microsoft Theater L.A. LIVE
777 Chick Hearn Court
Los Angeles, CA 90015

MORE:

For the latest American Music Awards news, exclusive content and more, be sure to follow the AMAs on social and join the conversation by using the official hashtag for the show, #AMAs.