Here we have the "2021 Billboard Music Awards" and the title this time is pretty self-explanatory. This awards ceremony here is closely linked to the charts and commercial success. Actually, at the very end of this show, you can also see the detailed description of what exactly played a role here in determining the winners (and nominees). They still kept it vague enough, so you cannot simply do the maths yourself in advance and find out who would end up triumphant. But let's look at the very basics first: This aired in the second half of May, so it is not even a month old, actually approximately half a month. And the focus is on music and sadly, this awards show is just as bad, if not worse, as all other recent music awards shows. The key problem (one of many) is that these shows are always lost in stage performances really. And the award element becomes forgettable. So kinda fitting here too that this show started with a music performance and ended with one. I wish they would instead actually be what the title suggests. We have two writers and two directors here. One of the directors has won a few Emmys in the past and one of the writers has many nominations. The other two are not complete rookies, but nowhere near as successful. I cannot really say "famous" because the fellas here are not too known. The running time of the show stated here on imdb is no less than three hours. The show itself, the one I watched without commercials, is slightly over two hours long, which means that almost one third are commercials here. Really rough and there is no excuse for that, especially because during the broadcast you also see brands here and there. Shame on you, NBC!

The host you can see on the poster here on imdb and it is one of the Jonas Brothers. Well, he did not have that much screen time to be honest. Which was probably a good thing because he did nothing for me. But I guess this hosting job was one reason why Priyanka Chopra (the wife) was also part of this show on one very brief occasion. And why the Jonas Brothers played the final song of the night. Nothing to be proud of. It was the opposite of a highlight really. I always read that the are super successful to this day and still even taken seriously now as grown-up singers, but I completely don't see why. Nothing special about them at all. But the show had major issues early on already. DJ Khaled I find so unlikable and he was the opening act plus a few others. His music does nothing for me either. But wait and see, things to get worse. I honestly could not look at the screen anymore when Michelle Obama gave everybody a little video message (of course the crowd loved it) and told us about the amazing talent and depth that is Alicia Keys. Sigh. The only thing I can agree with here is that she was not as terrible in the very early stages of her career as she is now. But I still find her incredibly overrated. Then again, the Obamas were always all about make-believe, so fitting inclusion. Things don't get any better soon. Pink (or P!nk as the cringeworthy spelling) received a big award too and was introduced by Jon Bon Jovi. Their anecdote about how he got married and it broke her heart was so disgustingly gooey and again very cringeworthy. You may think it's my favorite word, but there is no better way to describe it. Admittedly, Pink's stage performance with her child later on was pretty spectacular from the acrobatic perspective. But that's it. What is this? Cirque de Soleil? There was also almost no singing as they were busy with their poses I guess, but then again the song was trash anyway.

But people seemed to really enjoying bringing (their) kids to the stage because Drake also did not show up alone. His win was maybe among the more acceptable of the night, but I just cannot take Bad Bunny seriously. Or when Machine Gun Kelly takes hom awards in categories in which AC/DC is also nominated, then there is nothing to add. Or there even was a category in which the BTS boys from Korea won, again nominated against AC/DC. I am not even much of a fan of the latter, but these winners show you all that is wrong with modern American music. There is quality there wihout a doubt, but you won't find it on the winners' lists of these events here. Speaking of BTS, it was said that they already won one award the fifth year in a row or something. Or won it the first time five years ago. I am not sure, but I'm kinda glad I don't remember. They are so irrelevant. All the songs sound the same and let's not even talk about the way they look into camera one by one here. I mean Backstreet Boys etc. Were also not exactly legendary musicians, but compared to BTS they were five leages above them. Their songs also all sound the same. I was so embarrassed listening to Butter on one occasion. I guess their fans now will one day truly be embarrassed about supporting the most generic and artificial band out there.

Oh yeah, this was held during the corona pandemic still, but it showed that the numbers are going down. There were crowds, no distancing between the fans, but they had to wear masks. The quantity was also really high, so I kinda doubt they tested all of them in advance or something. Maybe one good thing, but you must still wonder why people would go see this event. Another crucial key problem with music awards shows is that the presentation is really disrespectful for the most part because many winners (and nominees) are not even part of the show because many categories are omitted. You can check out wikipedia for the entire list of winners. The good news is that without omitting these the show would have ran for considerably longer and nobody would want that. But if they instead replaced the music performances with these categories and announcements and keep it at 2/3 hours like that, I may have even given a higher rating. This is not reality though and probably never will be. In other words, this abomination of an awards ceremony will most likely barely change in the coming decade and sadly remain was unwatchable as it was with the 2021 editions. Lowest possible rating for me here. I think it deserves all the hate and criticism out there. Another negative highlight was when one murdered musician received an award and his mother and brother entered the stage paying tribute to him this way, but they were in such a positive and delighted spirit that it felt all kinds of wrong honestly, as if there was no grief whatsoever. But it kinds fits this cold and artificial music industry in which everybody is best friends with everybody (obviously),but truly artistic achievements are the last thing you will find here. That's why you get acts like The Weeknd taking home all these trophies. It's all about the money. Nothing else. Stay far, far away and don't support any of this!