Fashionable celebrities, flashing lights, cheering people. This was the scene at the 49th People’s Choice Awards (PCAs) ceremony held on February 18, 2024 which contained four broad categories, each with their own award subcategories. The People’s Choice Awards featured all realms of entertainment in 2024: movies, TV, music, and pop culture. Along with these awards, there were three performances, one by Lainey Wilson, one from Kylie Minouge, and one by Lenny Kravitz who was also honored with the Music Icon Award. Adam Sandler was also recognized with an award, the People’s Icon Award. The People’s Choice Awards are a great way to get fan input and for fans to feel included within a community they don’t often have a say in, as these awards are fan voted.
In the movies category, Barbie was the biggest award winner, which won both Movie of the Year and Comedy Movie of the Year; As well as Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, and America Ferrera winning PCAs for their acting in Barbie. The second largest winner was The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes which won Action Movie of the Year; Along with its star Rachel Zegler, who played Lucy Gray Baird, winning Action Movie Star of the Year. Other winners included Oppenheimer which won Drama Movie of the Year. Along with Jennifer Lawrence who won Comedy Movie Star, and Jenna Ortega who won Drama Movie Star.
Within the TV category, Grey’s Anatomy won show of the year for the sixth time. Kevin McKidd, who plays Dr. Hunt on the show, thanked the creator of the series, Shonda Rhimes, as well as all “writers and creators and crew members of the show, past and present.” Other shows that did well were Only Murders in the Building which won Comedy Show and The Last of Us which won Drama Show. These two shows were also honored with their stars Selena Gomez and Pedro Pascal winning Female and Male TV Star of the Year. The talk shows that won PCAs were The Kelly Clarkson Show and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Taylor Swift unsurprisingly was the biggest winner within the music category, winning three awards; Female Artist of the Year, Pop Artist of the Year, and The Concert Tour of the Year. Olivia Rodrigo and Ice Spice were awarded, Rodrigo winning Song of the Year with “vampire” and Album of the Year with GUTS. Ice Spice won the award for New Artist and Collaboration Song of the Year for “Barbie World.” Other notable winners were Jung Kook (Male Artist), Nicki Minaj (Hip-Hop Artist), Beyoncé (R&B Artist), and Stray Kids (Group/Duo).
In the final category of pop culture, Taylor Swift won Social Celebrity of the Year, her boyfriend Travis Kelce won Athlete of the Year, and Chris Rock won The Comedy Act of the Year with his special Selective Outrage.
The two performers at the PCAs were Lainey Wilson and Kylie Minogue. Wilson sang a mashup of four of her songs: “Country’s Cool Again”, “Things a Man Oughta Know”, “Heart Like a Truck”, and “Watermelon Moonshine.” Minogue gave a riveting performance of her hit song “Padam Padam.”
Before receiving the Music Icon Award, Lenny Kravitz performed a medley of some of his most famous songs: “Fly Away”, “It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over”, “Let Love Rule”, “Are You Gonna Go My Way”, along with his new song “TK421.” He then accepted the award and gave a moving speech about staying true to oneself. He stated “to me, [the word icon] means you’ve made an indelible mark by being who God created you to be and daring to be different.” He continued, “When I was first coming up, a lot of people offered me deals. But they wanted me to change. My music wasn’t black enough. It wasn’t white enough. It didn’t fit nicely inside a box.” He also said that his career is, “about enjoying and being grateful for the journey and using the gifts that God gave you,” which he followed up with some advice, “never follow the trends. Set your own pace and recognize that the best is right here, right now, in front of you.”
Adam Sandler was the other person honored at this year’s PCAs, where he was awarded the People’s Icon Award. He claimed that he had misheard which award he was being presented and instead thought he won “People’s Sexiest Man Alive,” which he gave a speech for.
He stated that “Three words keep popping into my head right now: about freaking time,” and that he had been “waiting patiently on the sexy bench.” He then went on to joke about his physical features: “My abs, don’t have any. My hip bones, under there somewhere. My belly button, lost that thing years ago.” It was a humorful speech that had the audience cracking up.
The 49th People’s Choice Awards were a great display of talent in the acting and music industry. All three performances were entertaining and the speeches given by award winners were unforgettable. The People’s Choice Awards are one of the few award shows where fans can vote on their opinions which makes this award show a great display of seeing what fans like, not just highly acclaimed critics and academy voters.
