AMAs 2012: Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, among winners (list updated live)
The American Music Awards are now officially upon us, and with that we’re going to have a full list of winners here. Of course, keep in mind that unlike many other awards shows out there, there really are not that many trophies handed out over the course of the evening; instead, we have a small sampling thrown in around about a billion performances.
In addition to announcing the victorious artists, we’ll also give a bit of a snap judgment based on the competition, and also the pre-show odds of them taking home a trophy.
Best Male Pop / Rock Artist – Justin Bieber. Get ready for the Biebs to have a big night. The show
Female Country Artist – Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift is like “The Daily Show at the Emmys; she always wins, even to the point where the category itself is pretty irrelevant. The only thing that made this really entertaining was seeing presenter Eric Stonestreet fumble around with the trophy, and then not even give it to her until after her speech.
Favorite Rap Album – Nicki Minaj, “Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded.” Unless you are a mainstream artist like Nicki, it’s hard to win this trophy. The voters here are mostly young people, and few of them have the knowledge of rap to really vote for anyone else.
Favorite Rock / Alternative Group – Linkin Park. What was with these nominees? Where was Maroon 5, Mumford & Sons, or a band that has made much more of a splash over the past year?
Male Soul Artist – Usher. Shocked? You shouldn’t be, since this is his third win in a row.
Male Country Artist – Luke Bryan. These are the sort of winners that we love. Luke was so happy to win, you couldn’t help but to cheer him along during his speech.
New Artist of the Year – Carly Rae Jepsen. Wait, you’re saying that Carly beat One Direction. Something smells fishy here! Then again, this fulfills the age-old rule that you should always give the trophy to someone who is actually at the show.
Country Group – Lady Antebellum. There are not very many groups there that really pose as threats to this supergroup in this category, so we can see them winning more than three straight trophies that they have here.
Electronic Dance Music – David Guetta. This is the first award given out in this category, and Guetta has to be rather pleased that he is taking home the inaugural trophy. It’s also certainly deserved on the basis of being a supreme talent alone.
Pop / Rock Album – Justin Bieber, “Believe.” Jenny McCarthy is really the winner here for staking her claim on the kid. It was strange, uncomfortable, and a great TV moment.
Rap Artist – Nicki Minaj. Again.
Country Album – Carrie Underwood. It was a nice night for country, since the awards were really handed out to everyone.
Artist of the Year – Justin Bieber. What else is there to say? The public are voting, and whenever this happens the guy always has a great shot of winning. In a sweet moment, he did bring his mom up on stage with him.