Is nostalgia the next big music awards show trend?

Vulture

Sunday's American Music Awards will feature performances by Green Day, Toni Braxton, and Shania Twain -- artists who emerged in the 1990s. "There’s nothing unusual about awards shows finding some time to spotlight the past, but what’s relatively new is the extent to which music industry kudocasts are leaning into nostalgia as a weapon against ratings erosion," says Josef Aaalian. As he points out music awards shows like the AMAs and the Billboard Music Awards have been losing young viewers. "By booking talent familiar to viewers who were alive and buying records in the ’80s and ’90s (when buying records wasn’t just some niche hobby), shows like the AMAs and the BBMAs hope they can stem or maybe even slightly reverse the Nielsen erosion that’s endemic to TV right now," he says.