Ariana Grande, award shows, Drake, Ella Mai, Fox, Garth Brooks, iHeartMedia, iHeartRadioMusic Awards, Marshmello, music, Taylor Swift, TV
March 15, 2019
Drake won the most prizes (four) at the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards. Following close behind, with three prizes each, were Ariana Grande and Ella Mai. Neither artist attended the ceremony, but Grande did have a prerecorded performance that was televised on the show. Drake won the prizes for Male Artist of the Year, while his “Scorpion” album was named Hip-Hop Album of the Year, and his song “God’s Plan” won Hip-Hop Song of the Year and Most Thumbed-Up Song of the Year. Grande won the awards for Artist of the Year, Female Artist of the Year and Pop Album of the Year (for “Sweetener’). Mai won the awards for R&B Artist of the Year, Best New R&B Artist and R&B Song of the Year (for “Boo’ed Up”).
The following is a press release from iHeartMedia:
The 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards brought the biggest names in entertainment and fans together from Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles to celebrate all things music live on FOX; on iHeartMedia radio stations nationwide and on iHeartRadio, the all-in-one digital music, podcast, on demand and live-streaming radio service on March 14, 2019. Hosted by T-Pain, the fan-fueled iHeartRadio Music Awards featured performances and incredible collaborations including Alicia Keys, Ariana Grande, Backstreet Boys, Ella Mai, Garth Brooks, Halsey with special guests Yungblud and Travis Barker, John Legend, Kacey Musgraves with special guest Chris Martin, lovelytheband and Marshmello with special guest Lauv.
The 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards honored Alicia Keys with the iHeartRadio Innovator Award; Garth Brooks with the first-ever Artist of the Decade Award; Halsey with the iHeartRadio Fangirls Award presented by L’Oréal Paris; and Taylor Swift with the Tour of the Year Award.
In addition, iHeartMedia partnered with leading short-form mobile video app TikTok to present seven awards in the seven days leading up to the Thursday, March 14 telecast. Beginning Thursday, March 7, winning artists were presented their awards and gave acceptance speeches that aired exclusively on the TikTok app each morning at 8:00 AM ET. Winners included Panic! At The Disco for Alternative Rock Album of the Year, Jason Aldean for Country Album of the Year, twenty one pilots for Rock Album of the Year, Marshmello for Dance Artist of the Year, Imagine Dragons for Most Thumbed Up Artist of the Year, the Chainsmokers for Dance Album of the Year and Lauren Jauregui’s dog, Gracie, for Cutest Musician’s Pet.
The official hashtag of the evening, #iHeartAwards2019 trended #1 on Twitter Worldwide and in the U.S.
Additional highlights included:
- For the first-time ever, the iHeartRadio Music Awards presented an AI (Artificial Intelligence) voice assistant with an award. The iHeartRadio Game Changer Tech Award, which honors the most innovative use of technology that brings fans closer to the music they love, was awarded to Amazon’s Alexa. Garth Brooks and Bobby Bones spoke to Alexa, who gave a tongue-in-cheek acceptance speech. Watch it HERE.
- Halsey opened the show with a stirring performance of “Without Me.” She was later joined onstage by YungBlud and Travis Barker for the song, “11 Minutes.”
- Kacey Musgraves performed her hit, “Rainbow,” sitting on an actual rainbow, with surprise guest Chris Martin accompanying her on piano.
- Jamie Foxx presented Alicia Keys with the iHeartRadio Innovator Award and later came back to introduce her performance. The iconic superstar performed for the first time ever with her son, Egypt, who accompanied his mother on piano for a special medley of her new song, “Raise A Man,” and one of her biggest hits, “You Don’t Know My Name.”
- In a world television premiere, Ariana Grande gave an intimate performance of her new hit single, “Needy,” accompanied by violinists.
- For the first time in the iHeartRadio Music Awards show history, winners of three Best New Artist categories – Marshmello (Best New Pop Artist) with special guest Luav, lovelytheband (Best New Rock/Alternative Rock Artist) and Ella Mai (Best New R&B Artist) – came together to perform a medley of their hits including “Happier,” “broken” and “Trip”
- John Legend performed his new song, “Preach,” backed by a choir.
- Backstreet Boys started their performance of “No Place” from the audience before seamlessly transitioning into their iconic hit, “I Want It That Way.”
- Actor and Country music fan, Chris Pratt, surprised those at the show by presenting Garth Brooks with the first-ever Artist of the Decade Award. It was a rare award show appearance for Brooks, who performed a live medley of his number one hits — with Pratt even joining in on stage to sing along — before accepting his award.
Award presenters of the March 14 telecast included Bebe Rexha, Chris Pratt, Elle Fanning, Jamie and Corinne Foxx, Katy Perry, Maren Morris, Nicole Scherzinger, Pharrell Williams, Robin Thicke, Shay Mitchell, Steven Tyler, Zedd and more.
In addition, the show featured celebrity guest appearances from 5SOS, AJR, Alan Bersten, Baby Ariel, Badflower, Betty Who, Billie Eilish, Brent Faiyaz, Drake Bell, Draya Michele, Dylan Scott, Faithe Herman and Parker Bates from This is Us, Grey, Hannah G. from The Bachelor, Heidi Klum, Jana Kramer and Michael Caussin, Jessica Szohr, Jordan Davis, Kat Graham, Katie Stevens from The Bold Type, Lele Pons, Madison Beer, MAX, Miguel, Nia Sioux, Nio Garcia, Reza Farahan, Russell Dickerson, Stassi Schroeder, Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix from Vanderpump Rules, Tank, Three Days Grace, Tiffany Young, TK Kravitz, Wayne Brady, Zara Larsson and more, plus iHeartRadio personalities including Angela Yee, Bobby Bones, Danielle Monaro, Elvis Duran, Enrique Santos, Gandhi, Sisanie, Tanya Rad, more.
Category winners were:
Song of the Year:
- “The Middle” – Zedd, Maren Morris, Grey
Artist of the Year:
- Ariana Grande
Female Artist of the Year:
- Ariana Grande
Male Artist of the Year:
- Drake
Best Duo/Group of the Year:
- 5 Seconds of Summer
Best Collaboration:
- “Finesse (Remix)” – Bruno Mars featuring Cardi B
Pop Album of the Year:
- “Sweetener” – Ariana Grande
Best New Pop Artist:
- Marshmello
Alternative Rock Song of the Year:
- “High Hopes” – Panic! At the Disco
Alternative Rock Artist of the Year:
- Imagine Dragons
Alternative Rock Album of the Year:
- “Pray for the Wicked” – Panic! At The Disco
Best New Rock/Alternative Rock Artist:
- lovelytheband
Rock Song of the Year:
- “Safari Song” – Greta Van Fleet
Rock Artist of the Year:
- Three Days Grace
Rock Album of the Year:
- “Trench” – twenty one pilots
Country Song of the Year:
- “Meant to Be” – Bebe Rexha featuring Florida Georgia Line
Country Artist of the Year:
- Luke Combs
Country Album of the Year:
- “Rearview Town” – Jason Aldean
Best New Country Artist:
- Jordan Davis
Dance Song of the Year:
- “The Middle” – Zedd, Maren Morris, Grey
Dance Artist of the Year:
- Marshmello
Dance Album of the Year:
- “Sick Boy” – The Chainsmokers
Hip-Hop Song of the Year:
- “God’s Plan” – Drake
Hip-Hop Artist of the Year:
- Cardi B
Hip-Hop Album of the Year:
- “Scorpion” – Drake
Best New Hip-Hop Artist:
- BlocBoy JB
R&B Song of the Year:
- “Boo’d Up” – Ella Mai
R&B Artist of the Year:
- Ella Mai
R&B Album of the Year:
- “My Dear Melancholy” – The Weeknd
Best New R&B Artist:
- Ella Mai
Latin Song of the Year:
- “X” – Nicky Jam and J Balvin
Latin Artist of the Year:
- Bad Bunny
Latin Album of the Year:
- “Vibras” – J Balvin
Best New Latin Artist:
- Manuel Turizo
Regional Mexican Song of the Year:
- “Mitad Y Mitad” – Calibre 50
Regional Mexican Artist of the Year:
- Calibre 50
Regional Mexican Album of the Year:
- Con Todas Las Fuerzas – Banda Sinaloense MS de Sergio Lizárraga
Label of the Year:
- Republic Records
Producer of the Year:
- Louis Bell
Songwriter of the Year:
- Frank Dukes
Most Thumbed Up Artist of the Year:
- Imagine Dragons
Most Thumbed Up Song of the Year:
- “God’s Plan” – Drake
Best Lyrics: *Socially Voted Category
- “Consequences” – Camila Cabello
Best Cover Song: *Socially Voted Category
- “You’re Still The One” – Harry Styles and Kacey Musgraves
Best Fan Army presented by Taco Bell: *Socially Voted Category
- BTSArmy – BTS
Best Music Video: *Socially Voted Category
- “Delicate” – Taylor Swift
Social Star Award: *Socially Voted Category
- Agnez Mo
Cutest Musician’s Pet: *Socially Voted Category
- Gracie – Lauren Jauregui
Best Solo Breakout: *Socially Voted Category
- Tiffany Young
Song That Left Us Shook: (New Category) *Socially Voted Category
- “I’ll Never Love Again” – Lady Gaga
Favorite Tour Photographer: (New Category) *Socially Voted Category
- Helene Pambrun (Harry Styles)
For a full list of categories visit iHeartRadio.com/awards.
Executive Producers for the iHeartRadio Music Awards are Joel Gallen for Tenth Planet and John Sykes, Tom Poleman and Lee Rolontz for iHeartMedia.
Proud partners of the 2019 iHeartRadio Music Awards include “Five Feet Apart” in theaters March 15, Norwegian Cruise Line, L’Oréal Paris, Taco Bell®, TikTok and Total Wireless.