Billboard Music Awards 2021 concluded with a spectacular set of performances on May 24, 2021. The awards show was hosted by Nick Jonas. Legendary singers like Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis awed the audience with their performance of the 90s hit track Optimistic. They also collaborated with soul and gospel singers Ann Nesby and the Sounds of Blackness.
Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis perform Optimistic at the Billboard Music Awards 2021
Optimistic is a 1991 track that hit #3 on Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. It also made it to the top 20 of the Dance Club Song listing. The track is from the debut album of Sounds of Blackness titled The Evolution of Gospel. The song is produced by R&B songwriting duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis along with Garry Hines. Ann Bennett-Nesby gave vocals for the original composition. This song was once again revived on the stage of Billboard Music Awards 2021.
According to Billboard, the 2021 rendition of Optimistic was delivered as a tribute to the music composing duo’s hometown of Minneapolis. The song was performed at Prince’s Paisley Park in Minnesota. The duo gave a shout out to the “place that musically has always represented change to the status quo”. The acapella rendition by the original team also had pictures of recent activism, much of it centred around the recent Minneapolis events.
