Kevin Winter/Getty Images Entertainment
.
Last night, the American Music Awards took place in Los Angeles, which saw pop music’s hottest names come together. The big winners of the evening were Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj. In case you missed it, we were taking notes, so keep reading to check out our full recap.

.
The show kicked off with Usher performing “Numb” and although the stage started out dark, it soon became an explosion of green lasers and choreographed dance moves. The song morphed into a soulful rendition of “Climax” that saw him bring the song to its, uh, climax by running in place on a treadmill. Finally, it all ended with a glitchy version of “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop,” although will.i.am was absent for his verses.
.

.
Ryan Seacrest gave out the first award of the night — best Pop Rock/Male Artist — to Justin Bieber, who confessed “I love everybody” during his enthusiastic acceptance speech. Afterwards, Taylor Swift won the award for Favorite Country Artist Female and thanked her fans by saying, “I’m really really happy now and it’s all because you.” Oh, and did we mention that she looked absolutely stunning in her sequined gown?
.
The next performance was courtesy of Carly Rae Jepsen, who was lowered onto the stage in a telephone booth to sing “This Kiss,” although her backup dancers did a lot more moving than she did. Then, she played some song titled “Call Me Maybe.” Perhaps you’ve heard of it?
.

The Wanted were next on the list and they performed a pyro-fueled rendition of “I Found You,” wearing dark suits as females danced on risers behind them alongside their band.

Randy Jackson then introduced his former American Idol all-star Kelly Clarkson, explaining, “I can’t believe it’s been ten years and she’s now releasing a greatest hits record.” However, sporting blonde locks and a feather-strewn dress, you might not have recognized her at first.
.
Clarkson got the crowd on her side by performing an all-star medley of her hits that kicked off with “Since You Been Gone” as confetti fell from the ceiling. She then started fist-pumping to “Stronger” before the lights were dimmed and a disco ball started spinning for her ballad “Catch My Breath.”

Next up, Neo and Stacy Keibler came out to present the best rap/hip-hop album. Their opening line of “when the AMAs first aired in 1974, hip-hop was something the Easter Bunny did” had us wondering who exactly was writing the show … our grandparents? Cheesy one-liners notwithstanding, Nicki Minaj won the award and came onstage in a fluorescent (surprise!) gown.
.
Cyndi Lauper came out with her thick accent to introduce Ke$ha, who launched into “Die Young” dressed as Our Lady Of Guadalupe, sporting braids and a gold one-piece outfit with a crew of backup dancers in Day of the Dead-esque skeleton face paint. There were also quite a few jump kicks and a tribal drum breakdown that Ke$ha complimented with some percussion of her own.

No Doubt proved that they haven’t aged at all during their rendition of “Looking Hot,” which also illustrated that no amount of energy can make this song listenable.
.

.
Keeping the 90s vibe alive, Linkin Park won the award for Best Rock/Alternative Artist. Then, eleven-time AMA winner Taylor Swift hit the stage to perform “I Knew You Were Trouble” in a very elegant setting with a masquerade ball theme. We’ll be honest, while the performance was captivating, we have no idea what Swift has to do with the country music community at this point.
.

.
It shouldn’t have been a surprise when Usher snagged the award for Favorite Soul/R&B Artist, while Luke Bryan won his very first AMA for Favorite Country Male. Linkin Park were on the stage following the presentation and although “Burn It Down” sounds huge on the album, it sounded strangely flat during their AMA performance, reinforcing the fact that rock really isn’t the focus of the awards show.
.

.
Nicki Minaj brought the energy back up as she swaggered through”Freedom” sporting a parka and surrounded by snow-covered trees.
.

.
There’s no doubt that Pink gave the strangest performance of the night, in which she essentially re-created the music video for her new single “Try.” In fact, it felt more like a piece of performance art then an AMA performance as the duo tossed each across the stage.

The pop kept flowing as the Backstreet Boys and their weird facial hair came out to present The Old Navy Artist Of The Year Award to Carly Rae Jepsen. The Favorite Country Band, Duo Or Group Award went to Lady Antebellum, who dedicated the statue to the one million plus fans who came out to see them on tour this year.
.
From there, Carly Rae Jepsen introduced Justin Bieber, who performed a stripped-down acoustic version of “As Long As You Love Me,” accompanying by an enthusiastic guitarist who seemed to be getting more into the song than Bieber himself. Don’t worry though, Bieber brought the party. The next thing we knew he was on top of a stack of fake speakers performing “Beauty And A Beat” and, you guessed it, Nicki Minaj emerged from behind the stage to perform her verse, grinding against Bieber in an all-black outfit (her third of the night of you’re keeping tabs).
.
frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen>
.
It was pretty funny to see Elisha Cuthbert talk about EDM, but the genre’s rise to mainstream prominence was capped off with the inaugural Favorite Electronic/Dance Music Artist award, won by David Guetta (who wasn’t in attendance but sent in an acceptance speech from Brazil). Christina Aguilera then gave a Lotus-centric performance, proving that her voice is as strong as ever these days.
.

.
Pitbull transformed the AMAs into a block party during his performance of “Don’t Stop The Party,” and Justin Bieber won another AMA for “Believe,” solidifying another big night for the icon (when isn’t it a big night for the Biebs!?).
.

.
Carrie Underwood once again reinforced our belief that modern country has nothing to do with country music, although we did enjoy her performance of the gospel-inspired “Two Black Cadillacs.”
.

.
We also have to mention that Brandy paid tribute to Whitney Houston by introducing an AMA montage of Houston winning various awards over the course of her career. Swizz Beats, Chris Brown and Ludacris then busted onstage to perform “Everyday Birthday” alongside roughly 800 female backing dancers, and Brown couldn’t help himself from ripping off his shirt at one point.
.

.
Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist went to Nicki Minaj, who must have been exhausted walking from the audience to the stage all night long, especially because it looked like she almost tripped over her gown a few times in the process. Next, Carrie Underwood won her fourth award for Favorite Country album, which means that every disc she’s put out has won this award. Host Ryan Seacrest was barely present during the Awards show but he did find time to introduce Stevie Wonder, who dedicated “Master Blaster” to Dick Clark before segueing into “My Cherie Amour” and “Sir Duke.”
.

.
Will.i.am presented the biggest award of the night, Artist Of The Year, and it went to, drumroll please…Justin Bieber! Mrs. Bieber (as in, his mom) was dragged onstage to help accept the award. “I want to thank you for always believing in me,” he told her. “It’s hard growing up with everything going on and everyone watching me and I wanted to say that as long as you keep believing in me, I will always make you proud.” We’re not exactly sure what that means, but hey, we’re not really sure what we would say in his situation either.
.
The final performance of the night came from Psy. You’d have never guessed, but he performed his ubiquitous hit “Gangnam Style.” Just when it seemed like the song had been beaten to death and there were no new wrinkles to throw in, Hammer came out to sing “2 Legit To Quit” and dance Gangnam Style alongside Psy, which was an interesting moment of spontaneity during an otherwise predictable albeit entertaining awards show.
.

.
Best Pop Rock/Male Artist: Justin Bieber
Favorite Country Artist Female: Taylor Swift
Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Album: Nicki Minaj
Favorite Rock/Alternative Artist: Linkin Park
Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist: Usher
Favorite Country Male: Luke Bryan
Old Navy New Artist Of The Year: Carly Rae Jepsen
Favorite County Band, Duo Or Group: Lady Antebellum
Favorite Electronic/Dance Music Artist: David Guetta
Favorite Pop/Rock Album: “Believe,” Justin Bieber
Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist: Nicki Minaj
Favorite Country Album: Carrie Underwood
Artist Of The Year: Justin Bieber
.
.
.
.