The same week it announced its favorite apps and games of the year, Apple is celebrating the best music of the year with the first-ever Apple Music Awards.
The event serves to recognize the “best and boldest musicians of 2019 and the enormous impact they have had on global culture.” Billie Eilish will be playing live at the Steve Jobs Theater from 6:30pm PST on December 4 – at the time of writing that’s just a matter of hours away.
You can catch the stream live through the Apple Music app – if you’re reading this later it’s sure to be available after the event, too.
Billie Eilish took home the top prize, Artist of the Year, with Apple noting that her “blunt relatability” helped make the 17-year-old artist a “global phenomenon” in 2019. Her debut record “WHEN WE FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?” also won Album of the Year after more than a billion streams, and she shared the Songwriter of the Year award with her brother and co-writer Finneas.
That’s a lot of praise from Apple – no wonder she’s been picked to play the event. There are also rumors that Apple is laying down $25 million for a Billie Eilish documentary for TV+.
Elsewhere, Lizzo won Breakthrough Artist of the Year after her successful album hooked listeners with its blend of rap, soul, and pop influences. “Lizzo’s joyful, bawdy message of self-love is the perfect soundtrack — or antidote — to 2019,” says Apple. And Lil Nas X bagged the Song of the Year award for “Old Town Road,” which was the most-played single across all of Apple Music this year.
Apple, being Apple, has also spent a shocking amount of time designing the award trophies, which comprise a “custom silicon wafer suspended between a polished sheet of glass and a machined and anodized aluminum body.” Wow.
If you’re a Billie Eilish fan, you’ll no doubt be tuning into the Apple Music Awards later – and if you’re not, take a look anyway to see what the popular kids are listening to these days.