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2020 Billboard Music Awards: Host Kelly Clarkson's 'stank face' at Lil Nas X leaves fans in splits

Kelly Clarkson also performed a cover of Whitney Houston’s 'Higher Love' alongside Pentatonix and Sheila E

The 2020 Billboard Music Awards opened with host Kelly Clarkson performing a cover of Whitney Houston’s 'Higher Love'. Clarkson was joined on-stage by two-time BBMA nominees Pentatonix, and the renowned drummer and Prince's protege Sheila E. The official BBMA handle tweeted about Clarkson's performance from its official handle saying, "Kelly Clarkson, Pentatonix and Sheila E on one stage bringing us the 'Higher Love' tonight?! YES PLEASE! #BBMAs," while the official NBC handle, praising Clarkson's performance, tweeted, "Does Kelly Clarkson know how to open a show or does Kelly Clarkson know how to open a show?"

Soon, Clarkson's name started to trend on the micro-blogging site, but for different reasons. One of the reasons was Clarkson using a remote to control the audience sounds and reactions and the laugh-track during a show that's devoid of audience due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The official BBMA handle tweeted a short video of Clarkson and the remote control writing, "No audience, no problem! Right, Kelly Clarkson?"

The remote reminded the viewers at home of 'iCarly', the hugely popular Nickelodeon teen show that ran from 2007 to 2012. The show, which starred Miranda Cosgrove, Jennette McCurdy, Nathan Kress and Jerry Trainor, was about a teenager who creates her own web-show called 'iCarly' with her best friends in the apartment loft that she and her older brother live in. It featured 'Sam's Remote' where one pushes different buttons and they make silly sound effects. Pointing this out, one BBMA viewer tweeted, "Just waiting here for Kelly Clarkson to hit the 'RANDOM DANCING' button," while another said, "Kelly Clarkson got that iCarly audience remote," and then added, "Please tell me y'all remember that remote OMG!"

Another user, referring to 'iCarly', tweeted, "Not Kelly Clarkson using Sam from iCarly’s audience remote. She’s about to do some random dancing at this point." Meanwhile, a stan account, calling the remote cringe, said, "When I thought the BBMAs couldn’t get more cringe worthy, not having audience and giving Kelly Clarkson the ability to control the laugh track just proved me wrong LOL." Another viewer tweeted, "Kelly clarkson bringing some iCarly vibes to de #BBMAs."

Another thing that the viewers took notice of is the face Clarkson made after Lil Nas X accepted his award for the Top Hot 100 song for ‘Old Town Road’. A user posted a video of it and wrote, "I CANT STOP LAUGHING HELP," while another wrote, "We caught that shade Kelly Clarkson the side eye to Lil Nas X was real. #BBMAs" A different user, noticing Clarkson's reaction, said, "Damn Kelly Clarkson just threw a serious stank face at Lil Nas X while she thought the camera wasn’t on her." One more user tweeted about it saying, "Ohhh nooo, Kelly Clarkson showed her real thoughts about Lil Nas x’s speech before the she knew the cameras were on her."