• Fergie reunited with will.i.am, Taboo, and apl.de.ap on stage at the 2026 AMAs
• The Black Eyed Peas won Best Throwback Song for their 2010 hit “Rock That Body”
• Fergie called the group her “longtime friends and brothers” and held their hands during the speech
• She revealed that her 12-year-old son Axl finally put the song on his playlist
• It was the first time the original lineup appeared together at a major awards show since Fergie’s 2018 departure

Fergie is back with her boys — and she could barely keep it together.

The singer reunited with will.i.am, Taboo, and apl.de.ap on stage at the 2026 American Music Awards on Monday night to accept the Best Throwback Song award for “Rock That Body,” the group’s 2010 anthem that beat out Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris” and 4 Non Blondes’ “What’s Up?” in the new AMAs category celebrating classic songs that have found second lives on TikTok and social media.

It was the first time the original Black Eyed Peas lineup appeared together at a major awards show since Fergie stepped away from the group in 2018 to focus on her solo career. And the 51-year-old was not hiding how much it meant to her.

“What a moment,” she said, visibly emotional while tightly gripping will.i.am and apl.de.ap’s hands. “I want to thank all of the fans for voting for this so I can stand up here right now with my longtime friends and brothers, the Black Eyed Peas.”

The Son Who Finally Listened

The sweetest part of the night came when Fergie talked about her 12-year-old son Axl, whom she shares with ex-husband Josh Duhamel. Despite spending years creating massive hits with the Black Eyed Peas, it was “Rock That Body” that finally made the preteen give his mom’s music a chance.

“I get to now say this. I finally, finally get to say this on TV: Hi, Axl! ‘Rock That Body’ we did it!” she beamed from the stage.

She also turned to the fans making TikToks and Instagram videos with the group’s music. “Sometimes, the content you make is so big and the feelings are so big for me it’s overwhelming to look because there’s so much love that you put into it,” she told the crowd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. “I just wanna say thank you from the bottom of my heart. I see you. You mean so much.”

The Road Back

Fergie was the lead vocalist of the Black Eyed Peas from 2002 to 2018. During that run, the group sold more than 80 million albums worldwide and topped the Billboard Hot 100 three times with “Boom Boom Pow,” “I Gotta Feeling,” and “Imma Be.”

When will.i.am confirmed her departure in 2017, he was clear about where things stood: “Nobody is replacing Fergie. She’s working on her solo project at the moment.” J. Rey Soul has since taken over vocal duties, but the original chemistry was never replicated.

The classic lineup got together quietly in December to celebrate all four members turning 50. Monday’s AMAs appearance was the first time that reunion went public — and went big.

Standing on that stage in Las Vegas, holding hands with the guys she once toured the world with, Fergie looked like she was exactly where she was supposed to be.

The post Fergie Holds Back Tears in Black Eyed Peas AMAs Reunion appeared first on Cream.

• BTS won Artist of the Year, Song of the Summer, and Best Male K-Pop Artist at the 52nd AMAs
• Cardi B swept hip-hop with three wins including Best Hip-Hop Album for Am I The Drama?
• Sabrina Carpenter took Album of the Year for Man’s Best Friend plus Best Female Pop Artist
• Queen Latifah returned to host 31 years after her first time co-hosting the show
• Karol G, BTS, and Twenty One Pilots delivered standout performances at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas

BTS are back — and they’re taking everything with them.

The South Korean megagroup won Artist of the Year at the 2026 American Music Awards on Monday night, capping a triumphant return to the AMAs stage with a sweep of all three categories they were nominated in. They also took Song of the Summer for “Swim” and Best Male K-Pop Artist, opening the show with a pretaped performance from their Arirang World Tour at Allegiant Stadium before storming the stage live midway through the telecast.

“Everyone is belting out their songs during commercial breaks,” Yahoo’s Taryn Ryder reported from inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. “I don’t know the last time I’ve seen anything like this at an awards show.”

Cardi B Made History

The Bronx rapper swept hip-hop clean. Cardi B won Best Female Hip-Hop Artist, Best Hip-Hop Song for “ErrTime,” and Best Hip-Hop Album for Am I The Drama? — her long-awaited sophomore album that debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 after seven years of fans waiting. With three Best Hip-Hop Song wins across her career, she’s now the most decorated rapper in AMA hip-hop song history.

Kendrick Lamar took Best Male Hip-Hop Artist off the strength of GNX, and SZA won Best Female R&B Artist for the second consecutive year.

Sabrina Carpenter’s Pop Coronation

Sabrina Carpenter claimed Album of the Year for Man’s Best Friend, plus Best Female Pop Artist and Best Pop Album — her first AMA victories ever. The sweep demonstrated the fan connection she’s built over the past year, one that’s translated into genuine chart dominance.

Bruno Mars reasserted himself in R&B with three wins: Best Male R&B Artist, Best R&B Song, and Best R&B Album.

K-Pop’s Takeover Is Complete

It wasn’t just BTS. KATSEYE won New Artist of the Year plus Best Music Video for “Gnarly” and Breakthrough Pop Artist in their first year of eligibility. HUNTR/X featuring EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami took Song of the Year for “Golden” and Best Vocal Performance. The K-pop and K-pop-adjacent presence across the winners list was impossible to miss — a sign of just how far fan-voted shows have tilted toward global audiences.

Queen Latifah Ran the Night

Queen Latifah hosted the 52nd AMAs, returning 31 years after she first co-hosted alongside Tom Jones and Lorrie Morgan in 1995. She wore a floor-length fur coat on the red carpet in 94-degree Vegas heat and brought the room together between a delightfully strange mix of performances: nostalgia from Hootie & the Blowfish and New Kids on the Block with Keith Urban and Billy Idol, balanced against the now of Karol G, Maluma, Teddy Swims, Teyana Taylor, and Twenty One Pilots.

The AMAs partnered with 11 military and veterans’ services organizations this year, with Latifah and Darius Rucker sharing tributes to active-duty service members throughout the broadcast.

BTS closed the night where they started it — center stage, holding the biggest trophy of them all.

The post BTS, Cardi B and Sabrina Carpenter Dominate the 2026 AMAs appeared first on Cream.

• BTS will make a special appearance at the 52nd American Music Awards on May 25, 2026 — their first awards show in four years.
• The group is nominated for Artist of the Year, Song of the Summer, and Best Male K-Pop Artist.
• Their return follows the release of their No. 1 album Arirang and a record-breaking world tour launch.
• The show airs live on CBS and Paramount+ from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, hosted by Queen Latifah.
• BTS originally made their U.S. TV debut at the 2017 AMAs — the first Korean group ever to perform on the show.

BTS is coming back to the American Music Awards, and ARMY is not ready. CBS and Dick Clark Productions announced that the supergroup will make a special appearance at the 52nd annual AMAs on Memorial Day, Monday, May 25 — marking the first time the seven-member act has stepped onto an awards show stage in four years.

It’s a full-circle moment. BTS made their U.S. television performance debut at the very same show back in 2017, performing “DNA” and becoming the first Korean group ever to take the AMAs stage. They returned in 2021 and made history again, taking home the coveted Artist of the Year trophy — the first group to win that prize since One Direction in 2014-15, and the act that snapped Taylor Swift’s three-year run at the top. This year, both are back in the category.

In total, BTS has won 11 AMAs, putting them second only to Alabama — who hold a staggering 23 trophies — for the most wins by a group in the show’s history. They’ll have a chance to add to that tally with three nominations this time around: Artist of the Year, Song of the Summer for “Swim,” and Best Male K-Pop Artist. Fan voting is open now.

A Return Fueled by the Biggest Comeback in Years

The appearance isn’t just a one-off — it comes at the peak of what might be the most significant chapter of BTS’s career yet. All seven members completed their mandatory military service in South Korea before reuniting to release Arirang, their sixth studio album and their first LP in nearly four years. The record debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and held the top spot for three weeks — the first BTS album to do so — while racking up 641,000 total copies sold in its first week, the most by any group since Billboard began tracking streaming numbers in 2014. That includes 532,000 in pure album sales alone.

“Swim,” the album’s lead single, became their seventh No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent four weeks at the top of the Billboard Global 200. The group is currently in the middle of their extensive Arirang world tour, and this summer they’re also set to co-headline the first-ever halftime show at the 2026 FIFA World Cup final alongside Shakira and Madonna in July.

Safe to say, the timing of this AMAs appearance couldn’t be more loaded.

What Else to Expect on May 25

Queen Latifah — returning to host the AMAs for the first time in 30 years — will helm the night from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The show airs live coast-to-coast starting at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT on CBS and Paramount+.

Taylor Swift leads all nominees with eight nods, including Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, and Song of the Year. Sabrina Carpenter, Morgan Wallen, Olivia Dean, and Sombr each follow with seven nominations.

The performance lineup is packed: Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Billy Idol, International Artist Award of Excellence recipient Karol G, Hootie & the Blowfish, Katseye, Keith Urban, Maluma, The Pussycat Dolls with Busta Rhymes, Riley Green, Sombr, Teddy Swims, Teyana Taylor, Twenty One Pilots, and more. Darius Rucker will also be honored with the Veterans Voice Award, as the show spotlights military and veterans service organizations throughout the night.

BTS’s specific role — whether they’re performing, presenting, or something else entirely — hasn’t been revealed yet. But given everything they’ve built toward this moment, whatever they’ve got planned, it’s going to be worth the wait.

The post BTS Is Coming Back to the AMAs After 4 Years Away appeared first on Cream.