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Billboard Music Awards promise emotional, high energy performances on ABC

The Billboard Awards will be a dramatic affair of performances including tributes to Prince and a 7-minute medley from Britney Spears.
Adele Performs At The SSE Hydro

The Billboard Music Awards will feature a mix of emotional and explosive performances.

Madonna will pay tribute to Prince, who died last month; Kesha will now sing live Sunday after her performance was initially canceled by her former mentor; and Celine Dion — who recently lost her husband and brother — will perform Queen’s “The Show Must Go On.”

The show, airing live on ABC from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, will open with a 7-minute medley from Britney Spears, and other high energy performances from Justin Bieber, Pink and Rihanna will take place during the three-hour event.

Other performers include Blake Shelton, Gwen Stefani, Ariana Grande and the Go-Go’s.

The Weeknd is the top nominee. He is nominated for top artist with Adele, Taylor Swift, Bieber and Drake.

Kesha’s Tribune Back On

(CNN) — Singer Kesha is looking forward to performing a Bob Dylan tribute at Sunday’s Billboard Awards after a back and forth dispute with Kemosabe Records.

According to Billboard, Dr. Luke’s Kemosabe Records rescinded its initial approval for Kesha to perform Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me, Babe” during the show.

“I’m very sad and sorry to say I won’t be allowed to do this,” Kesha said in an Instagram post. “I just wanted to make very clear that this performance was about me honoring one of my favorite songwriters of all time and has never had anything at all to do with Dr. Luke.”

Kesha has been using locked in a legal battle to try and get released from her contract with Kemosabe Records and its parent company, Sony Music Entertainment, in light of her accusations that she was drugged, emotionally abused and sexually assaulted by her former producer, Dr. Luke.

Dr. Luke, whose legal name is Lukasz Gottwald, has denied her allegations.

Kesha added in her Instagram posting that the planned performance was not about Gottwald.

“I was never going to use a picture of him, speak of him or allude to my legal situation in any way,” she wrote “I simply wanted to sing a song I love to honor an artist I have always looked up to. thank u all for the continued support.”

Once he got the promise that the artist won’t use the tribute as a platform to talk about her legal battle with Gottwald, she got the green light to perform.

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