Brutally honest reviews of every 2022 AMAs performance, including Dove Cameron, Imagine Dragons

For its 50th anniversary, the American Music Awards showcased generations of talent, from first-time nominee and performer GloRilla to timeless icon Stevie Wonder.

Highlights during the three-hour telecast included a sweet Pink tribute to Olivia Newton-John and the Wonder/Charlie Puth homage to Icon Award winner Lionel Richie, whose ripe catalog of solo work and Commodores songs gave the two a workout.

Memphis rapper GloRilla kicked off her performance seated on a lighted motorcycle before heading across the stage to meet Cardi B, her “Tomorrow 2” partner, for a heavily bleeped lyrical tradeoff.

The pair loped through their fall hit – clad in bright yellow (GloRilla) and blue (Cardi B) – looking loose as they swayed across the stage.

The Atlanta rapper opted for a chill vibe for two of his hits from his third album, “It’s Only Me.” An ocean of dry ice coated the stage as Lil Baby strolled through while unfurling the slow-burning “In a Minute.” During his thoughtful performance, he sat at the end of the stage, looking directly at the audience/camera as he shared his rapid-flow stories (at least what could be discerned in between bleeps). .

Doing her best Pink tribute, Carrie Underwood hung upside down above the crowd in a circular apparatus that zipped her to the stage.

Underwood has been going airborne on her current tour, so she looked comfortable dropping to the stage in bare feet and a pink, white and black catsuit as she sang the country-rock number.

But Richie pal Stevie Wonder and pop wunderkind Charlie Puth attempted to engage in a “Lionel Richie tennis match of copyrighted material,” as Puth called it, allowing for plenty of snippets.

With pianos facing each other, Wonder and Puth swapped Richie and Commodores classics, including “Three Times a Lady” (Wonder), “Easy” (Puth), “Jesus Is Love” (Wonder) and “Say You, Say Me” (Puth).

Richie hopped onto the stage to hug and backslap his tribute chorus, his graciousness apparent and heartfelt. .