Justin Timberlake is so happy about his Billboard win tonight, he just had to sing about it. The 33 year old pop singer wasn’t able to attend the Las Vegas ceremonies this year (he’s currently touring in Europe), but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t record a special acceptance speech just for the show.
Timberlake accepted the award for “Top 200 Album” by taping a clip of him and his touring band singing a gospel-inspired “Thank You.” Timberlake, who beat out Beyonce and Drake for the award, was surprised and honored by the prize. Justin said tonight, “I’m shocked. I’m stunned. I’m really surprised…[I] don’t even wanna say thank you, we wanna sing thank you.”
.@jtimberlake celebrates his win http://t.co/6NfJy4zjBm #BBMAs
— BillboardMusicAwards (@OfficialBBMAs) May 19, 2014
Timberlake wasn’t the only grateful and overwhelmed recipient of the night. Lorde, the 17 year-old New Zealand native, took home to award for Top New Artist and said: “This is embarrassing, I wrote my speech on my phone. I wrote this when I was 15, and now I’m 17 and a half now. I’m so thankful. And I’m so grateful for everything I’ve learned.” Imagine Dragons (or: the biggest band in the world right now) took home the Top Rock award for “Night Visions.” After receiving their award, they said, “Thank you to radio for playing us! This is an incredible honor.”
But perhaps the biggest moment of the night was a performance of “Slave to the Rhythm” by a holographic Michael Jackson, who danced along to the newly released song. His image was rendered by computer-generated imaging; the sight of the late singer seemingly “dancing” at the awards show prompted an emotional standing ovation from the crowd.
The Billboard Music Awards, hosted this year by rapper Ludacris, determines its winners by measuring the sales, radio play, and streaming of an artist’s music. It’s also become known as the main award show for artists to unveil performances of their new summer anthems. Billboard’s magazine tracks music popularity through sales, and has maintained a televised awards show since 1989. Congrats to Timberlake and all of the other winners tonight!
I just need show filled with clips of Justin Timberlake winning awards. His acceptance speeches were the best part. #BBMAs2014
— Anjie (@00anjie) May 19, 2014
Image via Wikimedia Commons
