INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA, United States (Reuters) — Music’s biggest stars attended the iHeartMusic awards show on Sunday (March 5) in Inglewood California. Justin Timberlake won best song of the year for “Can’t Stop The Feeling” and used the awards podium to talk to youths that struggle with being identified as different.
“I want to take this opportunity to speak to young people right now ’cause there are a lot of you looking at me. If you are black, or you are brown or you are gay, or you are a lesbian, or you are trans, or maybe you are just a sissy singing boy from Tennessee,” said Timberlake who is from Memphis. “Anyone that is treating you unkindly, it is only because they are afraid or they have been taught to be afraid of how important you are,” he added.
Katy Perry kicked off the show performing her song “Chained to the Rhythm” with a cast of child dancers. Big Sean gave a rousing performance of his hit song “Bounce Back” right before the Chainsmokers one the first of their two awards for best new artists.
“We wont take this award lightly, ‘Best New Artists’ comes with a lot of responsibility,” said Drew Taggart when accepting the award. “We wont let you guys down. To every kid out there that is making music at home, your dreams are closer than you think they are. Just believe in yourself and believe in your friends. Thank you,” he added.
The DJ duo of of Taggart and Alex Pall and also took home the prize for ‘Best Dance Song’ with singer Halsey.
The Chainsmokers performed “Something Just Like This’ with Coldplay’s Chris Martin. Coldplay took home the prize for “Best Tour.”
Ed Sheeran and Sean Mendes also performed during the show which ended with Bruno Mars winning the prize of Innovator of the year and performing to the packed Forum in Inglewood. The show was broadcast in live in the United States on TBS, TNT, and TruTV.
