Billboard Music Awards 2017: Drake To Have ‘Memorable,’ ‘Astounding’ Performance

Drake has an ace up his sleeve and it has everything to do with the 2017 Billboard Music Awards where he will be performing this year. The 6 God has 22 nominations this year including Top Artist, Top Rap Artist, Top Radio Songs Artist and Top Billboard 200 album with Views. Could he be joining opening act Nicki Minaj for their “No Frauds” hit? Whatever his magical moment entails, Drake will make a rare television appearance on the T-Mobile Arena Stage today May 21, 2017, at 8 p.m. ET and 5 p.m. PT on ABC.

Mark Bracco, who is the Billboard Music Awards’ executive producer, said that Drake will provide viewers with a memorable performance. The promise to expect something more from Dreezy is drawing in audiences, especially since Drake has refrained from performing at major awards shows recently.

“You know, Drake does not perform on television very often so I think whenever he does it’s a real event.”

In fact, the last time he performed on an award platform was when he and Rihanna performed “Work” at the Brit Awards in 2016.

“We built a real terrific relationship with his team, working creatively with them and coming up with a big idea, and I think it’s gonna be a very, very big moment in the show. It’s not a surprise necessarily but it’s gonna be a moment that people aren’t exactly expecting…. It’ll be memorable, I promise you that.”

Bracco said that they had been working very hard to make the 2017 Billboard Music Awards a spectacular success.

“I always joke we start planning next year’s show the day after this year’s show.”

According to XXL Mag, Bracco said that the 2017 Billboard Music Award team and Drake’s people worked in collaboration for months to make this event a memorable one.

“We were talking with Drake’s people for months about doing the show. Obviously he then became the biggest nominee and that’s a big deal and just trying to come up with something really different and unique and exciting and spectacular… And that’s what Drake deserves is a big, huge moment and, luckily, in working with his team I think we’ve come up with something creatively that’s going to be really astounding.”

Drake is not the only artist who has been avoiding performing at awards shows. According to Billboard, other artists who have not been performing at these events include Kanye West and Justin Bieber “despite racking up nominations at events including the BET Awards and this year’s Grammy Awards.”

Ludacris and Vanessa Hudgens, who will be co-hosting the 2017 Billboard Music Awards, have their work cut out for them as an amazing list of artists has been nominated. Both Drake and dance breakout stars The Chainsmokers have been nominated in 22 categories at the 2017 Billboard Music Awards. Other artists who have been nominated include Kevin Gates, A Tribe Called Quest, J. Cole, Future, DJ Khaled, Nicki Minaj, D.R.A.M, The Weeknd, Lil Yachty, Twenty One Pilots, and Beyonce. Inquisitr provides a complete list of nominees should you wish to see if your favorite artist made the list.

The who’s who of the music industry will be performing this year, including Nicki Minaj who will open the show with Lil Wayne, Jason Derulo, nd David Guetta. According to Inquisitr, “Miley Cyrus will perform ‘Malibu’ for the first time on national television.” Camilla Cabello will perform “Crying in the Club,” Celine Dion will deliver a heartwarming performance of “My Heart Will Go on” in tribute to Titanic’s 20th anniversary, and Prince Michael Jackson will also act as a presenter during the awards.

Gang gang gang ? @VanessaHudgens #bbmas #BILLBOARDMUSICAWARD #BBMAsBTS pic.twitter.com/LxJKqvcU0u

— Jason Derulo (@jasonderulo) May 21, 2017

In honor of Chris Cornell, Soundgarden and Audioslave’s lead singer, who passed away this week, Imagine Dragons will perform a tribute in his memory.

You can also follow the red carpet pre-show for the 2017 Billboard Music Awards on Twitter on Sunday, May 21, 2017, where it will be live-streamed exclusively starting at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT. Watch the pre-show on Twitter at BBMAs.twitter.com or via @BBMAs.

[Featured Image by Jack Plunkett/Invision/AP Images]