The late Michael Jackson has made a stunning but not-so-surprising "appearance" at the Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas on Monday as a hologram, while two Australian acts also performed at the event, which is one of music's big showcases.
The cat was out of the bag last week that Jackson's holographic image would feature after two companies which own patents to the technology – used to digitally resurrect the image of late rapper Tupac Shakur in 2012 at the Coachella music festival – attempted to take out an injunction in the United States to stop the awards. They failed after lawyers for Jackson's estate and the producers of the awards argued doing so would cause them irreparable harm.
Jackson's hologram was used as the centrepiece to a spectacular but rather creepy performance of the single Slave to the Rhythm which included the late singer's trademark 'moonwalking' dance moves. The song was released by Sony Music recently as part of the posthumous Jackson album Xscape, which was based on music made by Jackson but not released during his lifetime.
Michael Jackson's hologram takes the stage.
The digital image of Jackson was dressed in a signature gold-embossed jacket, white T-shirt, gold belt and red trousers and looked inspired by Jackson in his early 30s.
Jackson died in June 2009 aged 50 from acute propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication after a heart attack. The singer's death was ruled a homicide and his physician Conrad Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to four years in jail.
Reaction on social media was mixed with many fans shocked at how life-like the hologram looked, while others were split between commenting the performance kept his legacy alive and feeling Jackson’s memory was disrespected by it.
The hologram danced to the new Jackson single ''Slave to the Rhythm''.
Others took it as a chance for gallows humour. American writer Gloria Fallon wondered if Michael Jackson’s brothers were ‘‘desperately trying to figure out how to trick a hologram into going on ‘‘just 1 more tour’’ with them [sic]’’. Several younger users reasoned if Jackson could perform at the Billboard awards that way then surely they could attend school as holograms too.
Xscape was released last week to mixed reviews. It went to number one in the United Kingdom and number three in Australia and is expected to vie for the number one spot on America's official Billboard charts. But many critics panned the album's release as distasteful, arguing that if Jackson had wanted to release the music he would have done so.
Fairfax Media reviewer Bernard Zuel wrote "There is no getting around the simple fact that this is an album which shouldn't have come out."
Justin Timberlake was the big winner at the awards, collecting seven awards including top artist, top album and top male artist. The recovering Kiwi teen superstar Lorde won two awards, top new artist and top rock song for Royals, which might surprise people who think of rock music as a little rougher than Lorde's terrific slice of savvy pop.
Five Seconds of Summer, from Sydney, played their worldwide smash hit She Looks So Perfect at the ceremony which was held at the MGM Grand after their fans deluged Twitter in the lead-up to the event. The hashtag #5SOSBBMAs trended around the world, with a huge 430,000-plus uses in 24 hours. Australian rapper Iggy Azalea also performed, dueting with Ariana Grande on the song Problems
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