Just when we thought awards season was over, the iHeartRadio Awards slid in there. The ceremony took place Monday, April 1st, live on FOX from the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles with rapper Ludacris as the host.
There were a few outstanding accolades that were made known prior to the award ceremony. Cher was honored with the Icon Award, Beyoncé was awarded the Innovator Award, while Greenday and TLC both received iHeartRadio Landmark Awards. No award show is complete without a few performers: this included Ludacris, Justin Timberlake, Green Day, TLC, Jelly Roll, Lainey Wilson and Tate McCrae.
Here is a list of all of the winners from Billboard. First off is the All-Genre categories: Song of the Year went to SZA’s “Kill Bill,” while Artist of the Year went to Taylor Swift. One Republic won for Duo/Group of the Year and Best Collaboration went to Rema and Selena Gomez for their hit “Calm Down.” Producer of the Year went to Jack Antonoff. However, he didn’t win Songwriter of the Year — Ashley Gorley did; he has written songs for artists such as Jason Derulo, Kelsea Ballerini, and more.
Next is genre-specific categories. Starting off with iHeart’s new category Pop Song of the Year, Miley Cyrus won for her single “Flowers.” Another one is Pop Artist of the Year, which Taylor Swift won. For Best New Artist in Pop and Country, Jelly Roll won. Pop Album of the Year went to Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts, while Lainey Wilson’s song “Heart Like a Truck” won for Country Song of the Year.
Morgan Wallen was awarded 2 trophies for Country Artist of the Year and for Country Album of the Year, “One Thing at a Time.” Hip Hop Song of the Year went to Lil Durk ft. J. Cole for their song “All My Life.” Rapper Drake won Hip-Hop artist of the year, while Ice Spice won Best New Artist in Hip-Hop. Metro Boomin won Hip-Hop Album of the Year for his album “Heroes & Villains; he was also nominated for R&B Song of the Year, which he lost to SZA for her song “Snooze.”
SZA sweeped almost the entire R&B category, winning R&B Artist of the Year and R&B Album of the Year for her album “SOS.” The only category she didn’t win was R&B Best New Artist — that went to Victoria Monet.
Olivia Molloy, a senior at Queens College majoring in Advertising, is thrilled that SZA won the majority of the R&B categories and Song of the Year.
“Her music is timeless, I love her and her voice,” said Molloy. “I was surprised but I understand why she was nominated 8 times- she has been around for a while making music and she has a team behind her helping her create good music and music videos.”
Alternative Song of the Year went to Blink-182 for “One More Time,” while Fall Out Boy won Alternative Artist of the Year. Rookie Noah Kahan was awarded Best New Artist in Alt and Rock in addition to being nominated for 2 socially voted categories: Best Lyrics and the Social Star award.
When asked why Noah Kahan’s music deserved the nomination for best lyrics, Junior Media Studies major Alex Birk said, “It makes so much sense for him because his songs have relatable lyrics and his music always has a message of some sort. He should be the one to look out for because I think his music is starting to become more popular.”
Alternative Album of the Year went to boygenius for “the record” and Rock Song of the Year went to Linkin Park’s “Lost.” Foo Fighters won Rock Artist of the year and Metallica’s “72 Seasons” won Rock Album of the Year.
Kenya Grace’s song “Strangers” won Dance Song of the Year and DJ Tiesto received the award for Dance Artist of the Year. Shakira made a comeback, being nominated twice for Latin Pop/Urban Song of the Year, the song“Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol.53” coming out on top. Karol G won Latin Pop/Urban artist of the Year and Latin Pop/Urban Album of the Year for “MAÑANA SERA BONITO.”
The winner of Best New Artist in Latin Pop/Urban is Young Miko. Peso Pluma and Eslabon Armado were named the winners of Regional Mexican Song of the Year. Peso Pluma was also named Regional Mexican Artist of the Year, Best New Artist in Regional Mexican and Regional Mexican Album of the Year for “Genesis.”
Three new categories were introduced: K-Pop artist of the Year, which Jung Kook won, K-Pop Song of the Year, which went to “Cupid (Twin Version)” by FIFTY FIFTY, and Best New Artist in K-Pop, which went to NewJeans. For K-Pop Album of the Year, Stray Kids won for the album “5-Star,” and Best African Music Artist went to Burna Boy.
The next section is the socially voted categories. “Is It Over Now? (Taylor’s Version)” won Best Lyrics, Cruel Summer won TikTok Bop of the Year and Swiftalso won favorite tour style. Jung Kook had two more wins for Best Music Video for “Seven” feat. Latto and his former K-Pop group BTS won Best Fan Army. Gracie Abrams won the Social Star award, with Louis Tomilson’s tour photographer Joshua Halling winning for Favorite Tour Photographer. The last two new categories were Favorite on Screen, which went to j-hope’s “IN THE BOX,” and Favorite Debut Album, which was awarded to singer V for “Layover.”
