Last night’s American Music Awards show was packed with memorable performances, like a surprise Nelly appearance that made the St. Louis rap veteran go viral on Twitter. However, one performance fans didn’t get to see was reggaeton star Bad Bunny’s; today, Billboard revealed the reason for his absence: he tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of the show.
It was a blow for Bad Bunny and his fans after his “Dakiti” collaboration with Jhay Cortez reached No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 chart and he won Favorite Male Latin artist and Favorite Latin album at the AMAs for his album YHLQMDLG. He was billed to perform “Dakiti” with Cortez but was forced to pull out due to his positive test. Billboard‘s sources say he’s doing okay.
Fortunately, the other big-name star who missed the show had a more positive reason for doing so. Taylor Swift also skipped the AMAs, but only because she is so busy re-recording her first six albums in an effort to reclaim ownership of her music. There were still plenty of crowd-pleasing performances from the likes of Bebe Rexha (who performed with Doja Cat), Billie Eilish, BTS, Dua Lipa, Lil Baby, Megan Thee Stallion, and The Weeknd, who performed with Kenny G(!).
Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.