I'm still reeling off of the craziness that was last night's
MTV's Video Music Awards! From Miley twerking to the *NSYNC reunion, there was a LOT to talk about, and my entire timeline was going off all night!The pre-show, hosted by various MTV correspondents including my favorite Sway, had appearances from
Robin Thicke,
Miley Cyrus,
Emeli Sande,
Lady Gaga, and more!
Danity Kane even showed up on the red carpet to make the
official announcement that they are back!!! Well, minus D.Woods. She has "other projects," but she needs to put that to the side because DK is about to blow back up, and I'm so excited! Their new song, "Rage," will be released soon, and I can't wait to hear!
During the pre-show, we also saw the first Moonmen of the night given away, one to
Pink and Nate Reuss for
Best Collaboration on "Just Give Me A Reason," and the other to
Thirty Seconds To Mars for
Best Rock Video ("Up In The Air"). New artist Austin Mahone performed his hit, "What About Love," and my favorite new singer, Ariana Grande, took the stage as well! Love her voice! I do wish that her stylist changed up her outfits though. Those little short sparkly dresses are cute for Nickelodeon, but the girl is 20! Let's throw something different in! She still did an amazing job though...her vocals are incredible!
As we all as know from the promos, the VMAs were held LIVE in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center.There was no host, which was cool, because in past years, hosts at these award shows don't really get all that noticed like they used to anyway.
Lady Gaga opened up the show with her newest song "Applause." Now, yes, Gaga is always a tad bit...different with her performances, but that's part of why I respect her. Though I wouldn't call myself a monster by no means, her talent and artistry can't be denied. The girl did different outfit changes on stage, giving different looks from her career so far! Overall, I loved the performance, and thought the song opened the show with a pretty big bang!
One Direction gave out the award for
Best Pop Video to
Selena Gomez for "Come and Get It." Other awards that were revealed (but not given stage time) were
Best Art Direction (Janelle Monae for "Queen"),
Best Choreography (
Bruno Mars, "Treasure"),
Best Cinemotography (
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, "Can't Hold Us"),
Best Direction (Justin Timberlake feat. Jay-Z, "Suit and Tie") and
Best Editing (
JT again for "Mirrors"), and
Best Visual Effects (Capitol City, "Safe and Sound").
The next performance was from
Miley Cyrus, and surprisingly,
Robin Thicke. Miley twerked all over the stage as she performed "We Can't Stop," and continued on acting a fool as she sang "Blurred Lines" with Robin. 2Chainz and Kendrick Lamar came out moments later to perform "Give It To U (Remix)" with Robin, but my mind was still stuck on Miley. One, who at MTV thought that it was a great idea to join Miley and Robin together?! They are two completely different artists, and it just didn't work! Robin, "Blurred Lines" is probably one of, if not the best song of your career so far (maybe behind "Lost Without You"), and you chose Miley to share your moment with? You had to have known better, and look what happened! Miley was a pure mess, dancing around, backing it up on Robin like he's not married WITH a kid! I realized though that we the public encouraged her.
Her dancing to "Wop" was cute and fun, and made me like the song a little more. We basically gave her the A-OK to complete dance around like a ho onstage (sorry, that's the word that stuck with me). "Oh it's just Miley, just little Hannah Montana twerking," but she went way too far last night! Miley said in interviews before the show that her performance would be bigger than the Britney-Madonna kiss some years back, but it wasn't. It was disgusting and annoying to watch, and I actually like the girl! I know that she's trying to shed her Disney image, but this isn't the way to go. If you want people to take you seriously as Miley, you have to take yourself seriously first! Billy Ray and Tish, PLEASE come get your daughter. *rant over*
Iggy Azalea and the Queen Bee
Lil Kim presented the
Best Hip Hop Video to
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis for "Can't Hold Us!" Of course, people went off on Twitter because Macklemore and Ryan are white, and people feel like they don't represent the hip hop genre with their style of music. I don't know if I buy into the white privilege thing completely when it comes to the VMAs. Yes, there have been some questionable choices, but people expected Kendrick Lamar to win for "Swimming Pools" in this category were fooling themselves. Yes, LYRICALLY, Kendrick Lamar is better than Macklemore. There's no denying that. In terms of the VIDEO (this, after all, is the VIDEO Music Awards), Macklemore had him beat. I wish people could see that these awards are not based off artist's music, but the videos they set around their music. Check the Grammys next year. I guarantee Kendrick's coming home with a few! Until then, calm down folks!
Kevin Hart got on stage to joke around a bit, which entertained the crowd He kept saying that he wasn't the host, but MTV should've paid him like he was! He was definitely on stage a couple of times thoughout the night! Kanye West then performed his song, "Blood on the Leaves," mostly in the dark as a silhouette. Even though I would've loved to actually SEE him, his energy on stage and the subject matter overrode that! He KILLED it! Later, Pharrell, Nile Rodgers, and Daft Punk presented the Best Female Video to Taylor Swift for "I Knew You Were Trouble." I was genuinely happy for her because I love the song and the video! However, when she accepted the award, she gave a shoutout to the unknown ex this song was about. I could make a guess on who it was, but I'll leave that be. It was just unnecessary, and disappointed the mini Swiftie in me. Ed Sheeran presented Best Video with a Social Message went to Macklemore & Ryan Lewis for "Same Love." It's an amazing song and great video, so I wasn't that upset about it beating out Beyoncé's "I Was Here."
Up next was the main event, and hands down the best moment of the entire show! Jimmy Fallon paid tribute to Justin Timberlake with the Michael Jackson Vanguard Music Award! Though he said that he felt like he didn't deserve it, he truly does. When he started singing his classic songs like, "Sexy Back," "Like I Love You," "Cry Me A River," and more, I realized that his music truly is timeless! These are songs that we're going to be rocking to when where 40 and 50, telling our kids, "You don't know nothing about that!" The performance, to me, is going down in VMA history! And THEN, he brought out *NSYNC!!!!! They only performed a minute medley of "Girlfriend," and "Bye Bye Bye" and yes, you could tell who was out of shape, but that made my LIFE! I grew up listening to them, and I was so excited the whole time, screaming, singing loud, and dancing right along with them! It was the best. They really should rethink the reunion tour! Just one good time for the fans!
Best Song of the Summer went to
One Direction for "Best Song Ever." NBA basketball player
Jason Collins and
A$AP Rocky announced the next performance. Jason, who announced that he was gay this year, was reading from the teleprompter, but A$AP was standing away from him like he was diseased, and even made weird looks. It was so awkward. I really wished that they had picked someone with a little more sense and maturity to announce the next performance. A$AP took away from that a little bit. They announced Macklemore & Ryan Lewis who performed "Same Love" with Mary Lambert. Jennifer Hudson also took the stage with them towards the end, kind of stealing Mary's shine a little bit, but it was still a very nice performance.
Emeli Sande and
Adam Lambert presented the
New Artist Award to
Austin Mahone. I don't know his music, because it's not for my age range, but he seems to be doing well with the tweens and
Drake who performed "Hold On, We're Going Home," and "Started From The Bottom." It was a good performance (even if Rihanna wanted to act like she was so bored throughout the show).
teens. Go him! T Boz and Chilli then announced
Best Male Video went to Bruno Mars for "Locked Out Of Heaven." Moments later, Selena Gomez then announced him singing "Gorilla," which was weird for me. It's a sexy song, but I don't find Bruno all that sexy (he's like a cute little big brother or something). It was a cool performance though, and his vocals are amazing! I will give him that! Video of the Year went to the one and only Justin Timberlake for "Mirrors," revealing that the video was a tribute to his grandparents. His grandfather passed away in December, and he dedicated the award to his granny. Allison Williams then announced Katy Perry who closed the show with "Roar." It's a catchy song but Katy has done way better in terms of performances and songs! I'm sure this song will do well because Katy always does well, but it's not her best. Maybe I'll catch on later. That always happens with me anyway.
The show was great. Had it's stale moments, especially after the JT performance (though that should've been the end of the show anyway). However, there were a lot of great moments, and overall I enjoyed it a lot! You can check out clips from your favorite moments and performances on
MTV!
What did you think of last night's Video Music Awards?
Images via MTV
