Who runs the world? Girls! And, in this case, by the world, we mean the 2018 American Music Awards, and by girls, we mean musical powerhouses Carrie Underwood and Mariah Carey, who both debuted new songs during the show on Tuesday night. There were tons of important highlights from the show, but we still can’t get over these in particular.
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Underwood, dressed in a flowing maroon gown and surrounded by candles, belted out the poignant ballad “Spinning Bottles” from her new Cry Pretty album. This was her first time performing since the 2015 AMAs and her announcing recently that she was pregnant with her second child — and she didn’t disappoint. The stirring performance garnered Underwood a standing ovation from the crowd inside Los Angeles’ Microsoft Theater.
“I feel like when we wrote this song, ‘Spinning Bottles,’ we kind of each had people in our heads go through this,” she said of the substance abuse-inspired single on the red carpet preperformance. “It’s hard to write. It’s hard to get it out. It’s hard to say it’s gonna be on the album… It’s difficult to sing it to the world, but it’s life; that’s part of life. It’s hard to just put yourself out there like that.”
More: Carrie Underwood Proudly Shows Close-Up of Scar in Flashback Photo
It’s only the second award show she has attended since her terrifying 2017 fall, which resulted in injuries to her face and wrist, at her Nashville home.
In addition to performing the emotionally charged “Spinning Bottles,” the country superstar took home the award for favorite female country artist — her 13th AMA win.
Congratulations to @carrieunderwood on her Favorite Female Artist – Country award! #AMAspic.twitter.com/nuvESFDzWi
— ABC (@ABCNetwork) October 10, 2018
Also bringing down the house with a new hit was Mariah Carey, who took the AMA stage to perform her sultry single “With You.” Like Underwood, Carey was returning to the AMAs stage after an extended absence. Her last performance during the show was in 2008.
And, well, Mimi did not disappoint. Looking like a goddess on a pink platform in an ethereal silk gown, the pop icon delivered a flawless rendition of the first single from her upcoming album.
https://twitter.com/RafaRibeiroReal/status/1049854361533382656Maybe too flawless if you ask the Twittersphere, who seemed to suggest (and take issue with the fact) that Carey was lip-syncing the performance — something she has been accused of numerous times in the past.
But, c’mon… a great performance is a great performance, right? If the point is to entertain the crowd, Carey certainly accomplished as much. The singer, whose Vegas residency at Caesars Palace was recently extended, has been hard at work on her new album.
More: The Evolution of Mariah Carey
“I’ve been working on my new album for a while,” she told People. “This is a labor of love and I’m really excited. This is me at this moment in my life being able to express myself as a writer and a singer. I’m just really in a good place.”
It may have been a big night for the winners at the 2018 AMAs, but in our opinion, Tuesday night was equally big for two of our faves, Underwood and Carey.
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