Five of the best performances from the American Music Awards

The American Music Awards took place last night, with lots of people winning trophies like "best country lady" and "most votes for One Direction". It was all very exciting, I'm sure, but the main draw was the spectacle of pop's toppermost stars playing their songs in a live environment.

There were a patience-testing 19 performances - including a weird a capella rendition of the Star Wars theme. But some of them were actually worth watching. These are they.

Ariana Grande - Focus
The best vocal performance of the night - on a cabaret version of Grande's hit single. Bonus points for her grandmother Marjorie, who can be seen dancing in the audience.




Coldplay - Adventure of a Lifetime
In which Chris Martin is surrounded by dancing gorillas.




Selena Gomez - Same Old Love
The dancers do all the heavy lifting here, but the song is still a corker.




Alanis Morissette and Demi Lovato - You Oughta Know
Giving the censors kittens, here are two of pop's fiercest ladysingers with a gutsier version of Adele's Someone Like You.



Justin Bieber - Justin Bieber Medley
Thankfully, it's only a medley of the recent, good stuff. The acoustic version of What Do You Mean is superb, and then you get the chance to see Bieber being waterboarded. Bonus!

PS: Sorry for the Coldplay video auto-playing. If anyone knows how to fix that, message me on twitter.

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