After last evenings live showing of MTV’s “Video Music Awards” it’s hard to decide if the name maybe should have been changed to “The Lady Gaga Awards.” This new music superstar took home 8 of the 13 awards she was nominated for, including “Video of the Year” for her hit song Bad Romance. We can’t deny that this “lady” has talent. After singing a few bars of a song soon to be on her new album, “Born this Way” I had to hand it to her, she has a sensational voice. It’s her clothing choices that made us look around hesitantly and say, “Is this REALLY the future of the music industry?”
Each time she appeared on stage to receive an award (a total of 3 times) she had a different, nightmare inducing outfit. The first of which I believe is used in a Native American bird mating rituals. Complete with: feathers, a Mohawk headpiece, and shoes that appear to have been stolen from Pamela Anderson’s closet, then dunked in cement; the outfit completely made me forget how timeless her music is. The following two outfits included one made of complete leather(or, we hope, pleather) which she quotes “It’s too heavy to walk in” and after that, the meat of the cows appeared to be slathered on her body for the next outfit as she took the stage for her final award. Despite the fact that Miss Gaga appeared to have used a whole heard of cattle for her VMA “costumes,” we can happily walk away thinking, “I’m glad she’s on the radio so I don’t have to look at her.”
Other than Gaga’s outfits, there were a few memorable moments to the Video Music Awards, if you knew where to look. Chelsea Handler; a Cosmopolitan columnist and host of the show, “Chelsea Lately” provided some good celebrity slams, crude jokes, and happily spoke everything we whisper about our favorite music icons. Even though there wasn’t a repeat of the Swift/West drama (which we all still love to YouTube when we need a pick-me-up) the references to last year’s incident made us savor the memory. In allure to that, both Taylor Swift and Kanye West gave performances last evening. Taylor Swift sang a new song about last years “incident” which made our hearts melt as she sat on a chair, playing guitar, in a virgin white dress. All she needs is Romeo, a horse, and Taylor Lautner, and her new album, “Speak Now” will be complete. Kanye West gave a performance which caused me to change the channel, as he toasted the vermin of our society. Each year, I feel that his appearance on MTVs: VMAs makes us grow as individuals, and each year he becomes more and more enlightened.
Eminem opened last night’s performance with Rihanna, and with wonderful results. The rapper, who recently seemed to have come back from the dead, went home with two awards including “Best Male Video” and “Best Hip-Hop Video” both for his song Not Afraid. His live performance was sensational, and blew Rihanna away, as she was rather pitchy far too experimental with her verses.
My all-time favorite VMA moment however, was when America’s newest boy toy, Justin Bieber, won the award for best new artist. Having come from an “average Joe” background, this YouTube superstar was rather naive to MTV’s complex seating chart and had a very difficult time finding his way to the stage after his award was announced. I don’t believe I’m the only person who sat on the edge of my seat, nervously watching Justin scamper around the arena and hastily making his way to the stage after multiple turn arounds and help from security guards. He (luckily) made it to the stage where his “Beliebers” cheered for their new Zach Effron.
I must admit the VMA’s get less and less about Music each year, and more about outfits, glam, and drama. And last night was not the best for any of those categories. Maybe next year when MTV airs the “Lady Gaga Awards” we will be able to see Taylor Swift give Kanye West the ol’ left hook and Justin Bieber will actually have female background dancers, but until then, we just have to “Beliebe.”
(Below is the Performance list and Award Reciepients)
Performances (in order):
Eminem and Rihanna
Justin Bieber
Usher
Florence + the Machine
N.E.R.D. and Ciara
Taylor Swift
Drake, Mary J. Blige, and Swizz Beatz
B.O.B., Bruno Mars, Hayley Williams (Paramore)
Linkin Park
Kanye West
Awards:
Best Female Video: Lady Gaga for Bad Romance
Best Rock Video: 30 Second to Mars for Kings and Queens
Best Male Video: Eminem for Not Afraid
Best Pop Video: Lady Gaga for Bad Romance
Best Choreography: Lady Gaga for Bad Romance
Best Directing: Lady Gaga for Bad Romance
Best Editing: Lady Gaga for Bad Romance
Best Special Effects: Muse for Uprising
Best Art Director: Florence + the Machine for Dog Days are Over
Best Cinematography: Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys for Empire State of Mind
Best Hip-Hop Video: Eminem for Not Afraid
Best New Artist: Justin Bieber for Baby
Video of the Year: Lady Gaga for Bad Romance
Not Announced During the Awards Show:
Best Dance Video: Lady Gaga for Bad Romance
Best Collaboration Video: Lady Gaga featuring Beyoncé for Telephone
