Trendy Africa at the American Music Awards

The 2014 American Music Awards, which hosted by Pitbull, was broadcast LIVE from the Nokia Theater L.A. on November 23rd, 2014. An annual event which kick start award season, it featured over 16 performances with awards in the categories of Pop/Rock, Alternative Rock, Country, Rap/Hip-Hop, Soul/R&B, Adult Contemporary, Latin, New Artist of the Year, and Artist of the Year.

Beyoncé and soul crooner John Legend were winners, with the queen bee receiving two awards for favorite female R&B artist and favorite R&B album. Legend received an AMA for favorite male R&B artist.

2014 American Music Awards - Roaming Show

Recording artists Iggy Azalea (L) and Jennifer Lopez perform onstage at the 2014 American Music Awards at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on November 23, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/AMA2014/Getty Images 

2014 American Music Awards - Show

Recording artist Ne-Yo (L) and host Pitbull perform onstage at the 2014 American Music Awards at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on November 23, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Other winners included the film “Frozen” which won top soundtrack, Katy Perry, Sam Smith, country artist Carrie Underwood and Iggy Azalea who beat out Drake and Eminem, much to the hip hop’s community’s surprise, to win favorite rap/hip-hop artist.  It’s an award which sparked a flurry of furious Tweets on social media as Twitter users expressed their anger at the state of hip-hop music.

The biggest winner of the evening was One Direction who won the coveted Artist of the Year and Taylor Swift who received the American Music Awards highest honor: the Dick Clark Award for Excellence which was handed to her by Diana Ross.

Thanking her fans, who made her the only artist to have three albums sell more than a million copies in a single week, Swift said, “What you did by going out and investing in music and albums is you are saying that you believe in the same thing that I believe in: that music is valuable and music should be consumed in albums and albums should be consumed as art and appreciated.”

Performers included 5 Seconds of Summer, Iggy Azalea, a gyrating Jennifer Lopez, Mary J. Blige who gave an expected powerhouse performance, Garth Brooks, Fergie, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Imagine Dragons, Jessie J, Wyclef Jean, Lorde, MAGIC!, Nicki Minaj, One Direction, Pitbull, Sam Smith and Taylor Swift.

By Samantha Ofole-Prince in Los Angeles. PHOTOS BY GETTY IMAGES

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