AMAs 2025: Fans Confused by Blake Shelton & Gwen Stefani Prerecorded Performances

Fans online are reacting to videos that reveal that Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani‘s performances at the 2025 American Music Awards were not performed live during the Monday, May 26, awards show on CBS. The married couple were also not seen on the red carpet before the event began.

TikTok videos from audience members show that Shelton’s performance of his song “Stay Country or Die Tryin’” and Stefani’s medley of her greatest hits were pre-recorded and played on a big screen in the BleauLive Theater at Fontainebleau in Las Vegas. While the performances played onscreen, the lights were off on stage as crew members rearranged the set. See the videos below.

The performances were recorded live, based on the visible crowds in the videos, but just not during the actual awards show on May 26. Shelton also introduced his wife’s performance, and he did so in front of a crowd. According to one fan who say they were in the audience, these performances were recorded live on Saturday, May 24. TV Insider has reached out to CBS for confirmation but did not hear back by the time of publication.

“When Blake Shelton is ‘performing’ at the [American Music Awards] but there’s no Blake Shelton in sight,” a fan captioned the TikTok video of Shelton, who was the first performer of the night after host Jennifer Lopez opened up the show with a six-minute medley of the 2024’s biggest hits.

@savewithfelix @Gwen Stefani performance was pre recorded as well 😩🫠 #amaawards #blakeshelton #gwenstefani #jlo ♬ original sound – Save with Felix

The Stefani video, posted by a different fan, was captioned, “Gwen Stefani Live at the AMAs… the live view…” and “We’ve been lied to.” “LIKE WHATTT,” they added. “Why would they say performing live when they aren’t even here??”

@alywinder LIKE WHATTT… why would they say performing live when they aren’t even here?? 😭 #gwenstefani #ama #livetv #dissapointme #taylorswift ♬ original sound – Aly Winder

The Stefani video was posted on X/Twitter, prompting someone who claimed to be in the pre-recording audience to reply.

“This was recorded on Saturday! I was there, Gwen and Blake’s presentation was recorded!” they said.

It’s not known if other 2025 AMAs performances were pre-recorded. Given that the venue only had one stage, it’s possible that pre-recordings were necessary to allow the crew time to change the sets between performances. Productions with multiple stages allow more time and space for performances to be live the night of while the other stages are reset simultaneously for the next performers.

Other 2025 AMAs performances include Sir Rod Stewart, the Lifetime Achievement Award recipient who closed out the night with a lively performance of his hit song “Forever Young,” Janet Jackson, in her first TV performance since 2018 (she performed “Someone to Call My Lover” and “All for You” before accepting the ICON award. Benson Boone, Lainey Wilson, and Reneé Rapp, and Manuel Turizo and Becky G also performed.

2025 American Music Awards, Available Now, Paramount+