The 2025 American Music Awards pink carpet felt much less like a step-and-repeat and extra like a cultural runway—the place Black excellence didn’t simply present up, it confirmed out, draped in silk, rhinestones, denim and legacy. It was an evening the place the ladies, the gays and the blokes walked just like the ancestors have been watching, and nobody dared disappoint.
Ciara arrived wanting like the longer term she’s at all times sung about, wrapped in metallic mesh and hips that don’t mislead no one. Her robe shimmered prefer it had its personal BPM, a slinky ode to early-2000s R&B glamour with a high-slit that stated: “Three children the place?” She floated throughout the carpet like a remix of goddess and gladiator, reminding us that motherhood hasn’t softened her edge—it’s simply given it extra polish.
Kai Cenat got here by in a glance that screamed “Theophilio meets Roc-A-Fella brunch”—a double-breasted cropped jacket over wide-legged leather-based trousers and chunky boots. The Twitch king turned cultural tastemaker gave a realizing smirk to the cameras, like he knew he was dressing for the second and the memes. That boy is style-literate, and it exhibits.
After which there was Shaboozey, who clearly got here straight from the Cowboy Carter afterparty and by no means took off his boots. His fringe-covered duster, suede pants and stacked hat made him appear to be the lead in a Blaxploitation-Western biopic. His outfit stated: “Nation is Black, it at all times has been, now take an image.”
However the evening in the end belonged to Janet Jackson.
Jennifer Lopez launched Jackson with a reverence rooted in historical past. Earlier than she turned J.Lo, she was simply one other fly lady within the background of Jackson’s “That’s the Approach Love Goes.” Tonight, Lopez stepped apart so Jackson may shine. And did she. With a medley of “Somebody to Name My Lover” and “All For You,” Jackson danced like time has at all times been on her aspect, reminding each TikTok dancer the place they actually received it from.
When Tasha Smith—her on-screen sister from Why Did I Get Married?—introduced her with the ICON Award, there wasn’t a dry eye or a quiet seat. This was greater than an award. It was a coronation. A recognition that Jackson didn’t simply affect pop—she bent it to her will. With each hair flip, physique roll and tender whisper of “Miss Jackson when you’re nasty,” she tell us that legacy seems good on her.
