Rihanna was the night’s big winner, taking home four trophies including artist and song of the year for the slow tune Stay at the iHeartRadio Music Awards yesterday at the Shrine Auditorium.
“It’s not easy what we do. It’s very difficult at times. It’s a lot of pressure to be a lot of things, and I’ve never felt comfortable being anything other than myself – and I just thank my fans for being supportive,” said Rihanna.
The pop star also won best fan army and hip-hop/R&B song of the year for the anthemic Pour It Up.
Meanwhile, Pharrell is still full of tears of joy – even after that viral interview with Oprah Winfrey.
The producer-rapper-singer was teary-eyed after he performed a medley of his hits at the iHeartRadio Music Awards and earned the innovator award for his contributions to music.
“I never dreamt in a million, million, million years as a producer that I would be standing here as an artist,” the 41-year-old told the crowd. “All I did was write the songs and you guys did all the heavy lifting, all the hard work.”
Pharrell performed his songs Happy and Come Get It Bae, as well as two of last year’s biggest hits that he was a part of – Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines and Daft Punk’s Get Lucky.
“I gotta thank my saviour, I gotta thank God … my wife and my son, Rocket,” said Pharrell, who rarely acknowledges his personal life.
Pharrell famously cried in an interview with Winfrey last month. She appeared in a video, which included Beyonce and Lady Gaga, praising Pharrell’s talent.
Pitbull kicked off the first iHeartRadio Music Awards with a colourful performance – and words for Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling who was banned for life from the NBA and fined $2.5 million Tuesday for making racist comments.
Pitbull, who won best collaboration for the No. 1 hit Timber with Kesha, performed that song and Wild Wild Love with girl group G.R.L. and female background dancers who wore white and gold.
Usher also enticed the crowd when he danced slickly to the new Michael Jackson single, Love Never Felt This Good, and 20-year-old Ariana Grande performed her new jam Problem in a mini black dress and white knee-high boots that even had Rihanna blushing.