Billboard Music Awards 2018 Performers & Performances

The 2018 Billboard Music Awards air tonight on the NBC channel, starting at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT/5 p.m. PT. And, what’s the most important part of the BBMAs? The performances, of course.

Kelly Clarkson is this year’s host and she is also pulling double duty, as a performer. Recently, Clarkson spoke with Today to dish on her hosting gig and she revealed that this is her first official awards show hosting gig. She joked that, “If it’s great, it’s great, and if it’s not, it’s not. At least it’s still funny to laugh at! … You should tune in just to watch me epically fail, possibly!” And when it comes to live mistakes, Clarkson says, “I have this nervous thing. Even if we planned something, I look at the prompter and say something totally different! I don’t know what it is; I know how to read. I get nervous and then I just ramble about things I probably shouldn’t talk about. I’m actually very nervous because I have no filter!” For Clarkson’s big performance tonight, she is singing “Whole Lotta Woman”.

According to Billboard, Ariana Grande is opening up the BBMAs with a performance of her single “No Tears Left to Cry”. This will be her first awards show performance in a while. John Legend is another big name performing. His most recent live appearance was starring in Jesus Christ Superstar Live! this past Easter 2018.

The members of BTS, who are known for their insane dance moves, are also set to take the stage. They are performing their song “Fake Love” and they talked to Billboard about the choreography they have planned for their performance, explaining that, “There’s an old saying, like, ‘See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.’ We put that saying in the main part of our choreography. So it’s going to be an interesting point if you find this old saying in our choreography. It’ll be more powerful than ever.”

Ed Sheeran is set to perform during tonight’s BBMAs, but he will not be on site. Fans will get to see him tuning in live from his show in Dublin.

Salt-N-Pepa and En Vogue are teaming up for a highly-anticipated throwback performance, but they are not the only collaborators tonight. Christina Aguilera and Demi Lovato have gotten together to perform the song “Fall in Line”, Macklemore and Kesha are performing “Good Old Days”, Shawn Mendes and Khalid are singing “Youth”, and Camila Cabello is singing “Sangria Wine” with Pharrell Williams. Zedd, Maren Morris and Grey are also teaming up to perform the song “The Middle”.

Dua Lipa is singing her song “Homesick” tonight and Jennifer Lopez is set to kill it on stage with a performance of her song “Dinero”, but the most waited for moment of the evening will be Janet Jackson’s performance. Jackson is receiving the Icon Award tonight, which is something that Lopez has taken home in the past as well. Jackson recently spoke with Billboard about women in music today. She said that, “Music is more alive than ever. And more relevant. We women artists — and women in general — are saying we will not be controlled, manipulated or abused. We’re determined not to fall back to those days of emotional and even physical enslavement. It’s a blessing to be alive today and join in the fight for equality among all human beings.” In honor of her award and tonight’s big event, Jackson will perform for the first time in 9 years in a live, televised show.

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