Ariana Grande Makes Global-TV Debut of New Single 'Focus' on 2015 AMA's Tonight

By: Nov. 22, 2015
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dick clark productions and ABC announced today that Ariana Grande will perform at the "2015 American Music Awards," the world's biggest fan-voted award show. This will be the global television debut of Grande's new single, "Focus." She joins previously announced host and performer Jennifer Lopez, as well as 5 Seconds of Summer, Coldplay, Selena Gomez, Nick Jonas, Demi Lovato, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, One Direction, Gwen Stefani, Carrie Underwood, WALK THE MOON, duets from Meghan Trainor and Charlie Puth, Luke Bryan featuring Karen Fairchild of Little Big Town and the legendary Star Wars score to be performed by Pentatonix and a full-symphony orchestra. The "2015 American Music Awards" will broadcast live TONIGHT, NOVEMBER 22 at 8:00 p.m., ET on ABC.

Ariana Grande performed for the first time on the AMA stage in 2013 and took home the title of New Artist of the Year Presented by Kohl's. In 2014, she performed "Bang, Bang" with Jessie J and Nicki Minaj. Grande also performed a medley of her hit songs "Problem," "Break Free" and "Love Me Harder," joined by The Weeknd. This year, she is nominated in the categories of Artist of the Year and Favorite Female Artist - Pop/Rock.

Within less than a year, Ariana Grande captured #1 on the Billboard Top 200 twice-first with her Republic Records debut, Yours Truly, and also with its 2014 follow-up, My Everything. Yours Truly yielded the game-changing pop smash "The Way," featuring Mac Miller, which went double-platinum, landed in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 and seized #1 on the iTunes Overall Top Songs chart. Meanwhile, the platinum-selling My Everything garnered a Grammy Award nomination for "Best Pop Vocal Album" and spawned the five-times platinum hit "Problem," featuring Iggy Azalea. Upon the single's release, Ariana became "the youngest woman to debut with over 400K sold first-week" while the song ranked as the 5th "highest digital song debut for a female artist" and 9th-highest ever. Moreover, it debuted at #1 in 85 countries, topping the iTunes Overall Top Songs and Pop Songs charts for four weeks. During release week, My Everything was #1 on Spotify as Ariana personally rose to #1 on Billboard's Artists 100 chart. She also became the first woman in history and the first artist since Michael Jackson to simultaneously have three songs-"Problem," "Break Free," featuring Zedd, and "Bang Bang" with Nicki Minaj and Jessie J-in the Top 6 of the Digital Songs Chart. "Bang Bang" went platinum and was Grammy-nominated for "Best Pop Duo/Group Performance." In 2013, she was named "Best New Artist" at the American Music Awards. Other accolades followed with Ariana winning Favorite Breakout Artist at the "People's Choice Awards" 2014, the Young Influencer Award at the "iHeartRadio Music Awards," the Radio Disney Chart Topper Award, Choice Female Artist and Choice Single "Problem" at the 2014 "Teen Choice Awards," and more. At the 2014 "MTV VMAS," "Problem" was named "Best Pop Video" as well.

To help fans express their passion and excitement for the show, THE AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS and Twitter are launching custom Twitter emojis for all performers. All performers will have featured Twitter emojis to celebrate their appearances as they are announced. Viewers will be able to activate the Twitter emojis by Tweeting any of following hashtags from today through the end of the show on November 22:

Ariana Grande: #AriAMAs

Already announced performer Twitter emojis include 5 Seconds of Summer (#5SOSonAMAs), Luke Bryan and Karen Fairchild (#LukeKarenAMAs), Coldplay (#ColdplayAMAs), Selena Gomez (#RevivalAMAs), Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (#MandRLonAMAs), Nick Jonas (#NickJonasAMAs), Demi Lovato (#DemiOnAMAs), One Direction (#AMAs1D), Charlie Puth and Meghan Trainor (#MeghanCharlieAMAs), Gwen Stefani (#GwenOnAMAs), Carrie Underwood (#CarrieonAMAs), WALK THE MOON (#WTMonAMAs), and Star Wars (#StarWarsAMAs) and Pentatonix (#PTXonAMAs). Additional Twitter emojis will be available soon.

Taylor Swift leads the "2015 American Music Award" nominations with six nominations. Ed Sheeran and The Weeknd tie with five nominations each, while Sam Hunt, Nicki Minaj, Sam Smith, Meghan Trainor and WALK THE MOON earn three nominations each. Additionally, Jason Aldean, Chris Brown, Luke Bryan, Drake, Fetty Wap, Florida Georgia Line, Ariana Grande, Maroon 5, Bruno Mars, One Direction, Charlie Puth, Rihanna, Mark Ronson and Wiz Khalifa each receive two nominations.

For a full list of nominees please visit http://www.theamas.com/2015-nominees/

The American Music Awards winners are voted entirely by fans. Voting for all categories except New Artist of the Year Presented by Kohl's, Artist of the Year and Collaboration of the Year Un-leashed by T-Mobile is now closed.
• November 12 (12:01 a.m., ET) - November 19 (11:59 p.m., ET)
o Voting period for the final five Artist of the Year nominees.
o Note: The Artist of the Year winner will be determined by the total votes received through the entire voting period.
• November 1 (12:01 a.m., ET) - November 22 (9:00 p.m., ET)
o Voting period for New Artist of the Year Presented by Kohl's and Collaboration of the Year Un-leashed by T-Mobile.
Fans can vote for Artist of the Year once per day per platform and 100 times per day per platform for New Artist of the Year Presented by Kohl's and Collaboration of the Year Un-leashed by T-Mobile. Here are the ways you can vote:
• Via AMAvote.com - Voting available for remaining three categories
• Posting a status on Facebook that includes the nominee's name and the category's hashtag within the post(s) - Voting available Artist of the Year only
• Via Twitter
o Artist of the Year and New Artist of the Year Presented by Kohl's: A Tweet that includes the nominee's name or Twitter handle, the category name and #AMAs within the post(s)
o Collaboration of the Year Un-leashed by T-Mobile: A Tweet that includes the collaboration title, the category name and #AMAs within the post(s)
For more information on how to vote, please visit http://www.theamas.com/vote/voting-faq/

As always at the American Music Awards, artists will be honored in the genres of Pop/Rock, Alternative Rock, Country, Rap/Hip-Hop, Soul/R&B, Adult Contemporary, Contemporary Inspirational, Latin, EDM, Soundtrack, New Artist of the Year Presented by Kohl's, Song of The Year, Collaboration of the Year Un-leashed by T-Mobile and Artist of the Year.

American Music Awards nominees are based on key fan interactions as reflected in Billboard Magazine and on Billboard.com, including album and digital singles sales, radio airplay, streaming, social activity and touring. These measurements are tracked by Billboard and its data partners, including Nielsen Entertainment and Next Big Sound. The data covers the reporting period of September 15, 2014 to September 13, 2015.

Preceding the ABC broadcast for the 7th-consecutive year will be the "Coca-Cola Red Carpet LIVE! @ The 2015 AMAs" pre-show. Live coverage will stream online for fans worldwide starting at 5:00 p.m., ET / 2:00 p.m., PT on November 22nd at Yahoo, this year's official digital distributor of THE AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS pre-show. The live stream can also be watched at TheAMAs.com and ABC.com.

The "2015 American Music Awards" sponsors and partners include Coca-Cola, Cumulus Media / WestwoodOne, Kohl's, Music Choice, Samsung, Shazam, T-Mobile, Time Warner Cable and Yahoo.

The "2015 American Music Awards" is produced by dick clark productions. Allen Shapiro and Mike Mahan are Executive Producers. Larry Klein, Barry Adelman and Mark Bracco are Producers.

For the latest American Music Awards news, exclusive content and more, be sure to follow the AMAs on social and join the conversation by using the official hashtag for the show, #AMAs.

Image: AMA Facebook


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