Justin Timberlake, Imagine Dragons big winners at Billboard Awards

Justin Timberlake, hometown rockers Imagine Dragons and Robin Thicke were big winners at the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday in Las Vegas where a computer-generated Michael Jackson danced and sang a newly released song.

The annual televised awards show, a main showcase for the music industry, honoured Timberlake seven times, including top artist, top male artist and top Billboard 200 album for last year’s The 20/20 Experience. Timberlake, 33, who is on tour in Europe, accepted the awards in taped speeches with his touring band that numbers about 20 strong. Timberlake performs in the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi, on Friday.

“It’s not a competition, but if it was, I won. And guess what? I’m OK with that,” Timberlake said in a good-natured joke aimed at his competition, singers Miley Cyrus, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry and rockers Imagine Dragons.

The late ‘King of Pop’ Michael Jackson made an appearance as a hologram, performing his posthumously released song Slave to the Rhythm with a slew of dancers moving around his computer-generated image.

The performance prompted an emotional standing ovation with some audience members shown wiping away tears.

Imagine Dragons won five awards, including top Hot 100 artist for songs’ chart performance, top rock artist and top duo/group among others. The Grammy-winning Las Vegas band also performed their song Tiptoe on the show.

R&B singers Thicke, Pharrell Williams and rapper T.I. scored four wins on the back of their megahit Blurred Lines, including awards for top Hot 100 song, digital song and radio song and R&B song.

Lorde wins award

Seventeen-year-old pop sensation Lorde, dressed all in black with black feather fringes, captured the award for top new artist and top rock song for the hit Royals, which already landed her two Grammy Awards this year.

The teen, who has also won fans with her thoughtfulness and upending traditional standards of Hollywood beauty, said she was grateful to be able to mature in the spotlight and for the “dialogue around my work and myself.”

The Billboard Music Awards — which measures honours by sales, radio airplay, touring, streaming and other metrics — is a top venue for artists to unveil new songs in time for the summer.

Jennifer Lopez was honoured with Icon Award for lifetime achievement, and country singer Carrie Underwood won the fan-voted Milestone Award.

The show featured numerous performances, including from pop stars Shakira, Lopez, country duo Florida Georgia Line with country singer Luke Bryan, and Nickelodeon star Ariana Grande and Australian rapper Iggy Azalea.

Perry and Cyrus recorded performances from concerts in Britain to be shown at the awards. Cyrus performed a cover of the Beatles’ 1967 song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds with Wayne Coyne, the singer of rock group the Flaming Lips.

Rapper Pitbull kicked off the show alongside Lopez and Brazilian singer Claudia Leitte from the MGM Grand Garden Arena with a performance of We Are One (Ole Ola), the theme to next month’s football World Cup in Brazil.