“I want to thank my mom for her relentless effort in my life… To win any award is incredible, but to win this award is surreal,” Drake said on the evening of May 1st, holding his BBMA award for #TopArtist. Toronto-native Drake took home 12 BBMA awards this year, making him the artist with the most BBMA wins ever: a grand total of 27 awards.
From a bright performance of #ME! to an Ella Mai win of Top R&B Artist, the 2019 BBMAs were filled with pleasant surprises and well-deserved victories.
Here is your 2019 BBMAs recap! #UmusicBBMAs
Taylor Swift & Brendon Urie: ‘ME!’ Performance
There is no better way to open an award show than with a Taylor Swift performance. At 8:00pm EST on May 1st, Taylor Swift and Brendon Urie gave the first ever live performance of ‘ME!’ for the BBMA audience.
With more hidden Easter eggs throughout the performance and over 40 drummers, the first performance of the evening had everyone in the brightest, sparkliest mood.
Juice WRLD wins Top New Artist
Presented by X-men’s Sophie Turner and Tye Sheridan, Juice WRLD accepts the award for Top New Artist. Juice WRLD was up against Bazzi, Dua Lipa, Lil Baby, and Ella Mai.
Halsey performs ‘Without Me’ and ‘Boy With Luv’ alongside BTS
Halsey’s 2019 BBMAs performance of ‘Without Me’ was a theatrical piece that involved raw emotion and told a story. No one expected anything less from the multi-talented artist.
Later on in the show, Halsey performed a song with BTS called ‘Boy With Luv’ and had an outfit change mid-performance!
Following the award show, Halsey blacked out her Instagram and Twitter – most likely indicating a new musical era.
Ella Mai wins Top R&B Artist
Unsurprisingly, Ella Mai dominated the R&B categories of the night. Not only did the ‘Boo’d Up’ singer win Top R&B Artist, Top Female R&B Artist, and Top R&B Song. Ella was up against artists like Khalid, H.E.R., and The Weeknd. Ella is the third woman to win the Top R&B Artist award since BBMAs relaunched in 2011 – the first two were Rihanna and Beyoncé.
Tori Kelly wins Top Gospel Album for ‘Hiding Place’ and performs with Dan + Shay
Tori Kelly took home the award for Top Gospel Album for ‘Hiding Place’.
Halfway through the show, Tori performed ‘Speechless’ with Dan + Shay.
Jonas Brothers perform ‘Jealous’, ‘Cake By The Ocean’, AND ‘Sucker’
Prior to the award show, Nick had described the performance as ‘special’ and a member of the Jo Bros team had described the performance as ‘magical’. Both words proved to be extremely accurate. The brother trio collectively performed Nick and Joe’s ‘solo’ songs to commemorate the past, but finished their medley with a fiery performance of ‘Sucker’!
During the performance, the boys stopped to kiss their wives on the mouth. Yes. Wives. Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner tied the knot directly following the BBMAs!
Imagine Dragons wins Top Rock Artist
Presented by Florida Georgie Line, Imagine Dragons took home the award for Top Rock Artist. Imagine Dragons were up against lovelytheband, Panic! At The Disco, Queen, and Twenty One Pilots. The group used their acceptance speech to shine light upon the LGBTQ+ issue of conversion therapy.
Ariana Grande performs ‘7 Rings’ from Vancouver, Canada
Ariana Grande is currently on her Sweetener World Tour. Due to conflicting schedules, the pop princess was unable to attend the awards. However, she refused to let her fans down. Ariana pre-recorded her performance of ‘7 Rings’ for the BBMAs at her Vancouver show on Saturday, April 27th. The performance aired live during the award show and featured a pink car with ‘BBMAs’ spray painted onto it.
Ariana won the Billboard Chart Achievement Award and Top Female Artist!
Madonna and Maluma perform ‘Medellín’
Holograms and CGI were only a couple of factors that made up the hypnotizing performance of ‘Medellín’. If this performance is any indication of this Madonna era, it just may be one of her best yet!
‘Girls Like You’ wins Top Hot 100 Song
‘Girls Like You’ by Maroon 5 ft. Cardi B won the 2019 BBMA award for Top Hot 100 Song! The band was absent from the award show which left Cardi B in charge of accepting the award. Cardi claims that when she was asked to be on the song, she was 5 months pregnant and ‘couldn’t even breathe’. Despite her physical state, Cardi knew the song was going to be a hit and recorded her part anyway.
‘Girls Like You’ also won: Top Radio Song, Top Collaboration, and Top Selling Song.
Lauren Diagle performs ‘You Say’ and wins Top Christian Artist
Lauren Diagle captured the attention of BBMA viewers from around the world. Lauren’s alluring voice and graceful stage presence had multiple people Shazam’ing to save ‘You Say’ to their music libraries.
Lauren also won: Top Christian Song (for ‘You Say’) and Top Christian Album (for ‘Look Up Child’)
Drake wins 12 awards and is now the artist with the most BBMA wins (EVER)
Drake now holds the record for most BBMA wins EVER. With an astounding total of 27 awards, Drake has taken the record from Taylor Swift who currently holds 23 awards.
Drake’s most notable wins and speeches include Top Billboard 200 Album, where he ‘shouts out’ Arya Stark and encourages fans to support the artists they love:
Top Artist is the most coveted award at the BBMAs and Drake took it home. In his speech, he thanks his mom for driving him to piano lessons, hockey, and the Degrassi set:
BTS are massive fans of Drake and were finally able to meet him at the show. BTS’ Army were happier for the K-pop group than the boys themselves were!
That’s a wrap on the 2019 BBMAs! We want to hear about your favourite performances and wins from the night. Tweet us at @umusic to talk about it – join the conversation! #UmusicBBMAs