Nicole Scherzinger and the Pussycat Dolls will return to the American Music Awards stage on May 25, this time alongside Busta Rhymes, in a performance that brings the group back to the show 20 years after its first appearance there.

Scherzinger said it is incredible to be taking the stage with the group again after so long, adding that she believes their first American Music Awards performance may have been in 2006. She called Rhymes a legend and said she had just done a couple of shows with him over the weekend overseas, making the reunion feel immediate rather than nostalgic.

The performance lands after a busy stretch for Scherzinger, who recently closed a run as Norma Desmond in Sunset Blvd. and appeared in a PBS special filmed during her October 2025 debut at London's Royal Albert Hall. In that special, she blended Broadway standards and Pussycat Dolls songs, underscoring how closely her solo work and group identity have become linked in the same season of her career.

The Dolls announced their reunion in March 2026 and released a new track, Club Song, after a long stretch of unfinished business. The group had previously tried to come back together in 2019, but that plan collapsed when the pandemic forced the tour to be canceled. Their next scheduled performance is at Outloud Music Festival during L.A.'s WeHo Pride celebrations.

For Scherzinger, the return is about more than replaying an old hit list. She said she is with her girls in a new iteration and hopes the group can be a light of hope, joy and empowerment. She also said she wanted to share her passion and love for storytelling through song and music, and that she did not want to simply do what people expected. That same instinct helped shape the recent solo shows she opened with Don't Rain on My Parade, starting with an intimate, self-funded performance at New York City jazz club The Django before bringing similar sets to London and Los Angeles.

The American Music Awards slot now gives the group a high-profile test of whether the Pussycat Dolls can turn a reunion announcement into a live moment that feels current. Scherzinger's answer, in her own words, is clear: the point is not just to look back, but to step onstage as the women they are now and make the return mean something in the present.