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The 2008 American Music Awards had a variety of singers performers and seemed to lack variety on the awards. Christina Aguilera opened the show with a 7 medley 7 minute performance. I love Christina but I really expected more from her with this. I thought she spent too much time trying to change outfits or change up the one she had on. She didn’t sing as much as she could have and spent most of the tunes yelling out yeah or oooh while the back up singers and back up recording played. Disappointing is the best way to describe her performance.

My favorite performance was from Pink with “Sober”. I haven’t heard that song yet but I was very impressed with her. I thought she was the best performance of the night. She later performed a duet with Sarah McLachlin. Beyonce danced more than sang “Single Ladies” and she seems more interested in trying to flip her hair and bounce around. A real artist doesn’t have to jiggle all over the stage in order to impress the viewers. Enough already. The Jonas Brothers were outplayed by the music. They squeaked and sang out of tune and the girls still screamed. What’s up with that? I really don’t like the idea that the media continues to try to compare these boys to the Beatles and the hysteria that surrounds the group. That’s complete crap. The brothers even went as far as wearing the same material and same colored suits as the Beatles wore in their performances. These boys need to realize they are not even close to such brilliance as the Beatles. They never will be. Bad move by the publicist.

Mariah Carey made an appearance and performed a dull song. She could have done better than that. After all, it is an award show not the Mariah hour. Pussycat Dolls were funny. I enjoyed watching all the girls trying to dance on the poles as one girl couldn’t remove her jacket and others faltered on their moves. If they were going to be creative they should have had the poles lift up above the stage. At least that would give something for the audience to look at. They rely a lot on their wardrobe opposed to their singing ability. Apparently they had a recording backing them up as they struggled from one position to another. Shame on them. They could also do better. I have seen their performance of “When I grow Up” on another show and it was extremely entertaining.

New Kids on the Block made the show for me. I am so glad to see them together again. I saw them many years ago perform on the AMA’s and the Grammys and fell in love with these entertainers. They aren’t the greatest singers but they do entertain. It isn’t all about the singing and it isn’t all about the dancing. It is about the connection the artist has with their fans. Loved it.

Other performers consisted of Annie Lennox (who achieved the Lifetime Achievement Award), Cold Play, Leona Lewis, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, Ne-Yo, Kany West among others. I was very impressed with the list of singers this year. Even though many critics feel as though this year’s AMA’s wasn’t as vibrant as in past years I must say this years list of entertainers were great. I love variety and the award show offered something for everyone. They had hip hop, rap, pop, and rock. Previous years were very disappointing with all of the hip hop artists that performed. It got real old fast.

Rihanna also performed and won several awards. I have become a fan after her last album and I wasn’t happy that she performed “Rehab” which I feel is one of the worst songs from the album. She was surrounded in scaffolding and it served no purpose. Since Justin Timberlake came out a few minutes before handing out the award to Annie Lennox, I thought he would show up with Rihanna since he does have a bit part on the song, but he didn’t. I would really rather see JC Chasez come out as opposed to Justin anyway. JT is getting old and I am quite frankly tired of seeing him.

Overall, the American Music Awards was good. I wish they offered more variety in awards. Most definitely they need a better host next year. Jimmy Kimmel is simply annoying and not funny. Chris Rock would be great in this venue or Ross the intern from the Tonight Show. Kimmel tries too hard to be funny and turns to insults in order to get any laughs.