At the 2025 American Music Awards on Monday night, both Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani took the stage. Shelton made his first appearance at the AMAs, performing his patriotic track “Stay Country or Die Tryin’,” and later returned to introduce a medley by his wife. Stefani started with her recent country-influenced single “Swallow My Tears” from her Bouquet project, then quickly moved into performances of her 2006 song “The Sweet Escape” and her 2005 Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper “Hollaback Girl.”
Despite the energetic performances, some audience members at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas shared after the event that viewers at home may not have realized the performances were not live. Those in the venue reportedly saw an empty stage during Shelton’s part and viewed a video of Stefani’s set.
Even though the show didn’t mention during the broadcast that the sets were pre-recorded, this is a common approach for award shows like the AMAs. A production insider told Billboard that both performances were taped ahead of time in front of live audiences.
On Tuesday night (May 27), Shelton addressed the online discussions with a post on X: “Just now seeing these stories about Gwen and I pretaping our performances for the AMA’s. We came and performed when the show asked us to.. Really nothing else to say,” finishing the message with a shrug emoji. Stefani later re-shared his post.
Stefani had not made any official remarks as of press time, but she did appear to post live commentary during the awards show, highlighting artists like Benson Boone and Gloria Estefan.
Just now seeing these stories about Gwen and I pretaping our performances for the AMA’s. We came and performed when the show asked us to.. Really nothing else to say. ♂️
— Blake Shelton (@blakeshelton) May 28, 2025
