2021 American Music Awards: Cardi B's outfits, BTS' big win, and all the moments you missed

The evening began with the silky smooth sounds of Silk Sonic, and good thing because Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak singing “Smoking Out The Window” live for the first time in coordinating red suits is exactly what we needed to get the big night started with the right amount of hype.

Okay we take that back and let’s talk about that ICONIC Cardi B entrance because it was everything. Pyrotechnics were involved, Cardi was looking all regal in a velvet dress and feather head-dress, and the honest rap star also let us know her armpits were sweatier than usual. Basically it was 100% Cardi and we’re 100% obsessed.

"Ya’ll rappers ain’t got nothing on JoJo Siwa." Cardi slayed the whole evening but this moment in particular had especially had us geekin'.

Coldplay and BTS’ AMA performance of “My Universe” was an explosion of color and sound from start to finish. Superstar forces collided for a monumental moment on the AMAs stage. And BTS was just getting started.

Giving us chills and making us hate our exes as she always does, Olivia Rodrigo did NOT betray us with her hauntingly beautiful performance of “Traitor." It'll take us two weeks to get over it.

Bring the theatrics per usual, Tyler, The Creator hit the AMA stage for a performance with the chillest and illest performance of "MASSA".

Singing their chart-topping duet "If I Didn't Love You," Jason Aldean and Carrie Underwood performed along the river in Nashville. But first the pair flashed back to the early days in Georgia and Oklahoma, showing off old memories and putting their hometown roots on full display.

No tongue this time, but we wonder if Chlöe "blacked out" during this performance too? We on the other hand… didn’t blink once. Like for real, not at all, and with all those flashing lights that’s like really impressive. Anyway, Chlöe’s performance of “Have Mercy” had us saying just that (how Uncle Jesse of us).

Sparkling and shining Mickey Guyton graced the stage for a powerful performance of her anthem of inclusivity “All American” in front of a giant American flag. Blowing kisses to the crowd at the end of her performance, she shared a special message, telling all of us — "No matter where you're from, your race, your creed, who you love. You're all American. Remember that."

Generations of boy band greatness touched down in LA for "The Battle Of Boston." Trading hits to screaming fans, which yes, included BTS, these "old school” boy band-ers showed us that stans were a thing way before tweets. Both New Kids On The Block and New Edition brought it, for a much appreciated dose of nostalgia giving us prom night slow dance flashbacks. Eventually the battle turned into them all sharing the stage for a "Is This The End" and "Please Don't Go Girl" mashup that had everyone swooning and swaying.

Coming through at the AMAs with his ode to Applebees, Walker Hayes had the entire AMAs crowd up doing their TikTok dance thang including Joey McIntyre and his mini-me son. Walker even got his pretty wifey to get up and do a little jig. We’re kinda jealous we weren’t there.

The evening was full of winners, including Olivia Rodrigo nabbing the award for New Artist of the Year. But TBH, BTS had themselves quite the night with wins and not one, but two performances -- the last of which was their mega hit “Butter" which closed out the show. Like we said BIG night for BTS!