IHeart Radio Music Awards - The Best Moments

The Clear Channel network threw itself an awards show last night because nothing says “I Heart Radio” like television, right? All kidding aside, the iHeartRadio Music Awards ended up being much more entertaining than expected. Here were a few of the best moments.

When the first trophy of the evening was awarded to Rihanna, she was nowhere to be seen. Allegedly, she was stuck in traffic on the 405, on the other side of Los Angeles. Woops.

Rihanna would later win again in the most unusual award category: Best Fan Army. Her “navy” triumphed, but since the show’s awards were voted for by the fans themselves, aren’t they all essentially voting for themselves in this category? Weird.

When “Wrecking Ball” by Miley Cyrus won the Best Lyrics trophy (the trophy went to Cyrus, despite the fact that the song was written by five other people). To top it off, the award was picked up by her dad, Billy Ray Cyrus, who for some reason thought it was a good time to talk about George Jones dying in April 2013.

The show was a tribute not only to Clear Channel but to Los Angeles, with artists telling stories about how L.A. affected their lives and careers. The best one belonged to Kendrick Lamar, who remembered how when he was just eight years old, he got to see Dr. Dre and 2Pac filming a video in Compton: “My town, my city, my swap meet.” Then Lamar did a killer cover of “California Love.”

Most of the evening’s musical performances were solid, if not especially memorable. The final performer, however, was Pharrell Williams, who showed up with a full squad of go-go dancers and reminded everyone what an amazing year he’s had while singing, dancing, and flirting with Rihanna. Afterwards, he accepted the “IHeartRadio Innovator” trophy from Gwen Stefani; after praising the Lord, he said, “If you don’t believe in God, you at least believe in the universe and all the stars above — there’s much more than we are. You gotta believe in something bigger than yourself.” It was a much-needed perspective on a night where there often didn’t seem to be anything bigger than Clear Channel.