As expected, MADONNA brought out several holograms of herself for her performance of “Medellin” with Latin artist MALUMA.

But HALSEY had something Madonna didn’t:  LESBIAN PORN.  Not really . . . but her performance of “Without Me” was a highly sexualized dance routine with another woman . . . with both of them wearing skimpy outfits.

I’m joking about it being porn, of course.  I mean, it was pretty erotic, but also very emotional and kind of amazing.  The song is about a relationship gone south, and you really felt that in the dance.

(Here’s a clip.  There doesn’t seem to be an official video of the whole thing online.  Here’s an unofficial version.  Halsey also came out later to do “Boy with Luv” with BTS.)

 

TAYLOR SWIFT and BRENDAN URIE started the show with Me!, although some people accused her of ripping off Beyoncéby including a drumline.

Other hot performances of the night included the JONAS BROTHERS and MARIAH CAREY, who won the Icon Award.

 

PAULA ABDUL closed the show with a medley of her hits.  It was high energy and the dancing was great, but it was RIDICULOUSLY obvious that she wasn’t singing.

But all of that was offset by the return of MC SKAT KAT during “Opposites Attract”.

(Skip ahead to the 2:55 mark for that.)

As for the winners, it was all about DRAKE.  He took home 12 trophies, bringing his total to 27.  He now has more Billboard Music Awards than any other artist in history.  CARDI B won six, and MAROON 5 took home four.

Drake’s awards included Top Artist . . . for which he thanked his MOM.

When he won Top Male Artist, he talked about the “unfortunate series of losses” in the music industry recently.  And when he won Top Billboard 200 Album, he congratulated Arya Stark from “Game of Thrones” for, quote, “Putting in that work last week.”

  

Speaking of acceptance speeches, IMAGINE DRAGONS used their time after winning Top Rock Artist to speak out against conversion therapy.

(Check out the complete winners’ list here.  And you’ll find some videos from the show on NBC’s YouTube page.)