On Sunday night, the men of New Edition went head to head with New Kids on the Block in what was deemed the “Battle for Boston” during the 2021 American Music Awards hosted by Cardi B.
All six members of the iconic ’80s group — Ronnie, Mike, Ricky, Johnny, Bobby, and Ralph — took to the stage to rep for their hometown, giving us a hint of what we can expect as the fellas gear up to go on tour.
“We’re bringing the heat,” Bobby Brown told ESSENCE on the AMA red carpet, We’re bringing the heat tonight. Us and New Kids are doing something epic, long overdue. We’re all friends from Boston so us being on stage together for the first time, we have to give the crowd what they want.”
Giving audiences what they want is a little bit harder on the body now than it was when the men were in their teens and twenties Johnny Gill later joked.
“We’re just excited to have another opportunity to do this and get prepared to go out and do something that our fans have been waiting for for a long time,” he shared. “We’re gearing up now. We’re using Bengay. Some of us wearing Old Spice. We’re trying to change a few things around but we’re looking forward to it — 2022 it’s going down.”
Check out our chats with Chloe and Halle Bailey, Erica Banks, Coi Leray and more on the AMA red carpet in the video above.