Billboard’s Reminder That Old is the “New” New

With the deaths of Donna Summer and Robin Gibb last week and the earlier losses of Whitney Houston and Adam “MCA” Yauch, this year’s Billboard Music Awards show was heavy on nostalgia.

But aside from a moving performance from Jordin Sparks, who sang Houston’s trademark hit “I Will Always Love You,” the show was more a reminder of why modern day tunes just can’t stack up to those old favorites.

Houston’s daughter, Bobbi-Kristina—who alongside the rest of the family accepted Houston’s Billboard Millennium Award—summed it up well when she said that there “would be no one else like” her mother.

This portion of the show more than made up for various production hiccups and the fact that co-hosts Julie Bowen and Ty Burrell were essentially playing broad versions of their characters on ABC’s “Modern Family.”

Most of the night’s performances were average—more flash than bang. Chris Brown won top R&B artist, but his performance was more about spectacle than musical precision. With BMX riders performing tricks behind him and a wild dance routine, it was obvious he was wasn’t singing.

Natasha Bedingfield was trying her best when she attempted to smoothly serenade the audience with the sultry Donna Summer classic “Last Dance.” In spite of an honest effort, all Bedingfield did was fumble the words in what was ultimately a less than stellar tribute. That had to be the reason why they cut to a commercial in the middle of her performance.

But that was a more-fitting tribute than the mere seconds of silence for Gibb, who passed away about an hour before the show. Yauch, meanwhile got a quick reference from Billboard’s Top New Artist, Wiz Khalifa and an homage in the form of a performance of “You Gotta Fight For Your Right to Party” by Cee-Lo Green and the Goodie Mob. But that performance was ultimately more robotic than soulful.

The same thing goes for Nelly Furtado’s new single.

Aside from the tributes to music legends lost and Stevie Wonder’s acceptance of the Billboard Icon Award, it was a night for long acceptance speeches from pop stars like Katy Perry and Justin Bieber,

The duo of Sparks and John Legend were the only group to do their subjects proud. Bobbi-Kristina’s tears during the performance were more than justified. The emotions conveyed, especially in Sparks’ performance, made up for the glitz and glamour surrounding most of the event.

2012 Woman of the Year Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech was also a refreshing change of pace. Warm and sincere, Swift spoke about being home-schooled while she tried to advance her career and the sacrifices her family made for her success. She was likable and real.

The few real musicians who did perform were solid. Carrie Underwood was her normal stellar self, needing only a microphone to show off her talent, while rockers Linkin Park didn’t need fireworks or fancy pyro to prove they’ve come a long way as live performers over the past few years.They, of course, had fireworks anyway- for effect.

But it wasn’t enough to save a show that, between blatant product placement and over the top performances, simply wasn’t captivating.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14267 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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