American Music Awards boast star power

Justin Bieber dances with pop group LMFAO as they perform at the American Music Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday. The top nominee, Adele, had to call in sick due to her recent vocal-cord surgery, and superstar winners such as Rihanna were busy travelling overseas. Still, the 39th annual American Music Awards weren't lacking in star power: Nicki Minaj, Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift and more than a few dancing robots were there. We're looking back at the most memorable moments of the evening - and if this year's winners list had you calling shenanigans for three hours straight, you have nobody but yourself to blame. The AMAs is basically a popularity contest for popular music. All awards are determined by online voting. Maybe you should have spent your October hitting refresh on the AMAs website. Best reason for Taylor Swift to feign surprise Sure, Swift has won just about everything but an ESPY, but facing off against Adele and Katy Perry in the artist of the year category, Swifty wasn't necessarily a lock. So when she was called to the podium, we bought into Swift's OMG-ing a little more than usual. "This is like one of the craziest things that has ever happened to me," she said, slapping her face in (mock?) disbelief. The AMAs, we'll note, are determined by online voting. "Thank you to the fans, the fans, and also to the fans," Swift said, at a loss for words. Cutest cutaway Sure, they're apparently chummy in real life, but we're 99.99 per cent certain the AMAs producers only sat Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez next to each other so that they could cut away to a shot of the twosome singing along to Minaj's Super Bass. Both pop stars have gone viral with YouTube clips featuring their takes on Minaj's most bubble gum single - a song she broke out during her opening number featuring David Guetta. Most blatant product placement Her music video for Papi was a straight-up car commercial, but for Jennifer Lopez, the shilling didn't stop after filming wrapped. Sure, there were a few distractions - a guest appearance from Pitbull, terrible lip synching, an extended bit featuring JLo humping the stage in a nude, bedazzled onesie. But nothing could take your attention away from the sponsored vehicle taking up a major chunk of the stage. It's a wonder her backup dancers didn't contort to spell out the phrase "Buy Fiat!" for the song's grand finale. Best way to ruin Christmas Gratuitous mentions of "shorties" and a Jason Mraz-indebted vibe already make Bieber's Mistletoe a hard sell as a new holiday classic. But we were feeling Bieber's AMAs vision of Christmas future even less. That is what was going on in his rather bare bones AMAs performance, right? How else to explain his spacey whiteand-red leather ensemble? Or why he was rocking around inanimate red and green neon poles - instead of a Christmas tree? Best way to create a club atmosphere onstage The answer? Hire a super-sized choir to join you for an AMAs number. Enrique Iglesias recruited a singing group to back him up on I Like How It Feels and by the time he segued into his second song, the clubby (and raunchy) Tonight, the vocal crew played double-duty as clubland extras. Sure, the choir's uniform - sweatshirts - was a little casual for the dance floor, but they still looked classier than whatever the music video's guest stars - the guys of Jersey Shore - were wearing. Pinkest performance No, this honour doesn't go to Harajuku Barbie Minaj, but rather Katy Perry, who scored a special AMA because she charted five No. 1 singles off one album, her mega-hit Teenage Dream. A vision in Pepto from her hair to her acoustic guitar while performing current single The One Who Got Away, we can only think the long-lost love she was singing about preferred purple. Best reminder we'd rather be watching the Junos Drake's performance of Headlines was solid (though, personally, we think the production could have used a little more razzle dazzle. Maybe a recreation of the SkyDome roof? You know, like the video). Still, it served to remind us of the Toronto MC's memorable turn as host of this year's Junos. Like the AMAs, that awards show featured appearances from Canadian superstars Drake and Bieber - but it was also free of American performers the likes of, say, OneRepublic and Daughtry. Small mercies. Best way to extend the run-time Jennifer Lopez, Adam Levine, Pitbull: they all played double-duty during the AMAs telecast, appearing in two performances apiece - because a three-hour-plus run-time simply isn't enough for the average pop fanatic. Biggest surprise Bieber got a chance to redeem himself from that lacklustre Mistletoe number, making a surprise appearance during LMFAO's closing performance. He did this by dancing the Running Man while wearing Zubaz pants, but we'll take it. Perhaps because he's just 17, Bieber didn't stick around for the second half of the party-pop duo's production: a goofy striptease number to Sexy and I Know It.