The 2017 AMAs promised to be political and empowering but – with a few exceptions – delivered the same old formula that feels less urgent than ever

“This year, perhaps more than any in recent history, we needed the power of music to help us escape the news of the day,” announced Jamie Foxx during the cold open to the 2017 American music awards, before introducing Pink and Kelly Clarkson’s somber rendition of R.E.M.’s Everybody Hurts. “We needed that power to help us heal from hurricanes, wildfires, hate, and hatred-fueled violence.”

On a night that celebrated the achievements of pioneers including Whitney Houston and Diana Ross, while conferring its awards upon a slew of young white men including Niall Horan, Shawn Mendes and the Chainsmokers, the 45th annual American music awards oscillated between rejecting and reaffirming 2017’s national political moment.

While there were no statements as dramatic as Green Day’s searing, Trump-bashing 2016 AMA performance, the 2017 AMAs made it clear from the beginning that the evening was going to serve in part as a reaction and response to the news today. The show, promised the host, Tracee Ellis Ross, was going to be “filled with earth-shattering women”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Pink and Kelly Clarkson perform. Photograph: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

But Lady Gaga was the only woman to win an award all night (favourite female pop/rock artist) and, outside of her category, Julia Michaels and Halsey were the only women among the 30-plus nominated artists. It was hard at times to tell whether the AMAs’ message of female empowerment was a genuine progressive declaration or simply a way to cover up the appalling gender imbalance in the show’s nominees.

The AMAs is a fan-voted awards show whose nomination process is derived from “key fan interactions … including album and digital song sales, radio airplay, streaming social activity and touring”, according to the organisation. Absent the sort of industry gatekeeper quality of the Grammys, the AMAs serve in a sense as pop music’s id: a competing spectacle that lets the Top 40 zeitgeist run rampant. In theory, the spectacle is a pure reflection of commercial trends unfettered by the type of aesthetic curation that causes the Grammy’s to prioritize Adele over Beyoncé.

That could make for a refreshing show of unpretentious pop purity, but this year’s AMAs were absent of many of the most surprising and distinct personalities that have defined this year in music.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Christina Aguilera onstage at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles. Photograph: Jeff Kravitz/AMA2017/FilmMagic for dcp

It was no surprise that A-listers like Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar and Sam Smith were nowhere to be found, but the utter absence of 2017 chart-toppers such as Cardi B, Migos and Luis Fonsi made for an evening of music that failed to capture the year of pop spectacle it claimed to represent.

Even Post Malone, who’s song Rockstar has spent more than five weeks at No 1, was relegated to the audience. Equally baffling was the absence of Sam Hunt, whose Body Like a Backroad was by some metrics the most popular single in modern country music history and a top 10 pop crossover in its own right.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest South Korean boyband BTS. Photograph: Chelsea Lauren/Rex/Shutterstock

That said, there were a number of noteworthy moments throughout the night, from Pink’s acrobatic performance of Beautiful Trauma to the electrifying US television debut of the seven-piece South Korean boyband BTS, to Selena Gomez’s understated (if potentially lip-synced) rendition of her new single Wolves, to Christina Aguilera’s deeply reverent, high-drama tribute to Whitney Houston.

Elsewhere, Shawn Mendes and Niall Horan delivered rote versions of their latest hits, and Khalid’s promising performance of Young Dumb & Broke was ruined by a forced pairing with Imagine Dragons that recalled the Las Vegas band’s equally incongruous pairing with Kendrick Lamar at the 2014 Grammys.

Performing via video from her concert in Washington DC, Lady Gaga served as the show’s elder-stateswoman of 21st century pop, delivering a fiery take on her current single The Cure.

Later on, Mike Shinoda delivered an emotional speech when the surviving members of Linkin Park dedicated their award for favorite alternative rock artist to the band’s late frontman, Chester Bennington.

Play Video 0:48 Barack and Michelle Obama pay tribute to Diana Ross at 2017 American music awards - video

But the evening’s high point came last, when 73-year-old Diana Ross accepted her lifetime achievement award – complete with filmed testimonials from Taylor Swift and Barack and Michelle Obama – with a heartwarming and crowd-pleasing medley of hits including I’m Coming Out, Ease on Down the Road and The Best Years of My Life, before inviting her extended family on stage to accept her award and close the broadcast.

But apart from a smattering of promising performances, the 2017 AMAs felt like a missed opportunity: instead of highlighting the most interesting and compelling new sounds, styles and stars that have emerged throughout the course of they year, the show doubled down on an excessively safe and predictable slew of blue-eyed balladeering heartthrobs including Nick Jonas, Horan and Mendes, whose vision of pop feels less urgent than ever.