Beech Tree News Network

Bruno Mars kicked off the 2013 Billboard Music Awards by performing a hit from his Unorthodox Jukebox album called “Treasure”.  It was a great performance from an excellent up and coming superstar. Comedian Tracy Morgan hosted the show held at the MGM Grand in Vegas.  He’s one of my favorite comedians, so I was looking forward to it.
Shania Twain presented Top Rap Artist (yes, you read that correctly) to Nicki Minaj.  You choose Nicki Minaj over Pitbull? I could tell this night would be weird.  Kelly Ripa does an amazing impression of Minaj, by the way.  Just figured I’d throw that in.
Selena Gomez performed next. When I say what kind of performance it was, keep in mind that the girl is 20 years old.  Well, it was akin to Egyptian princess meets Vegas showgirl.  For the record, the song, “Come and Get It” is being used for the promo of the new ABC show Mistresses. 
Jennifer Nettles introduced the Band Perry, of whom I’m rapidly becoming a fan.  Well, I like two songs of theirs.  That’s more like a fan of particular songs more than the band, I guess. I still count it, though.  They did a good job of their song “Better Dig Two”. 
Where else are you going to see Tracy Morgan and Psy dance on stage together? Then they introduce Chris Brown, to which I say “eh”.  Top Digital Song (yes that is a category) went to Carly Rae Jepson for “Call Me Maybe”.  The award signifies the most downloads.  She was in good company with, among others, Maroon 5 and Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.  Speaking of whom, they performed the smash “Thrift Shop”, definitely a personal favorite.  In fact, I have it as my ringtone for one of my best friends, who also loves the song.
Kid Rock had the quote of the night.  “Let’s give it up for people lip-synching under pre-recorded music”.  That got some laughs. He presented Top Rap Song to “Thrift Shop”.  It spent 15 weeks on top of the rap chart.  It’s one of the most downloaded songs of all time.  These guys were very humble and gracious in their acceptance speech.  I like that.  Fast forward through a Taylor Swift performance, as is the norm for me, and we head to break, 
Kacey Musgraves sang “Merry Go Round”.  I was happy to see that.  If you don’t know her, you should Google her.  It’s a great song! Madonna won the title of Top Touring Artist.  Her MDNA tour is the 2nd highest grossing tour of all time by a woman, second only to Madonna’s Sticky and Sweet tour. After she rambled on for a few minutes, some girl I’d never heard of introduced Justin Beiber; again, I fast forward.
Taylor Swift’s Red won album of the year.  It debuted #1 with 1.2 million copies; the biggest week for an album in over 10 years.  Ke$ha introduced a performance of “Feel This Moment” by Pitbull and Christina Aguilera.  Justin Beiber won Top Male Artist.  In what realm is he the top male anything? Miguel was next to perform.  The most memorable part wasn’t the song, however.  Most memorable was Miguel’s Hulk Hogan  big leg drop off the stage into the audience.  Every talk show joked about it.  There was even a you-tube clip inputting wrestling announcer Jim Ross calling the move.  The call was from Mick Foley’s cage-dive at King Of The Ring 1998.  It was funny. 
Ed Sheeran, who bears a striking resemblance to Mick Hucknall, lead singer of one of my favorites Reggae/Soul groups Simply Red, performed yet another song I’d never heard.  His performance was solely him singing and playing acoustic guitar, which was cool.  Too bad I’m not so much a fan of his.  Top EDM(Electronic Dance Music) artist went to David Guetta.  It was about this time I wanted the show to be over.  Jenny McCarthy(who I still like, for obvious reasons) introduced David Guetta, Ne-Yo and Akon to perform together. 
There was a contest to see who would co-present the Milestone Award with Cee-Lo Green. The award went to Justin Beiber.  This award was for musical ingenuity and innovation.  He’s the first artist under 19 to have 5 #1’s on the Billboard 200.  Oh, and the crowd booed him unmercifully, except for teenage girls.  One problem I had was that he got up there and said he should be taken seriously.  He said the other bull should not be spoken of.  Here’s an idea: stop doing all the other stuff! At least he thanked Jesus in his speech.
Artist of the Year was given to  Taylor Swift.  Erikah Badu and Janelle Monae introduced a performance by the legendary Prince, and bestowed the Icon Award to him.  He’s had over 30 massive hits, 7 Grammy Awards and an Oscar.  I have several of his songs on my Ipod.  He performed a slow jam version of his eighties hit “Let’s Go Crazy”.  I loved the cool change-up.  That was pretty much the best part of the three hour show.  Well, that and Miguel’s Hulk Hogan leg drop.

Hello.  My name is Andy Sullivan.  I received my bachelor’s degree in business from Mid-Continent University in June 2009.  I began writing for beechtree in July 2009.  I enjoy writing, photography, watching basketball and football, and playing guitar.  I also write a blog that encompasses sports and entertainment, called Sports and More, at http://andyuk79.tumblr.com If you have any comments, please leave them in the space below.  Thanks for reading!