One of music’s most iconic nights aired last Wednesday, and it’s safe to say, I miss the old Video Music Awards.
Music lovers like myself have been anticipating the MTV VMAs since the date, performers and nominations dropped. I was so excited to see who was going to take home the big awards of the night. It has been one of my favorite award shows due to the amazing energy and the moments it brings.
This year marked the 40th anniversary of the VMAs, and I believe MTV honored it correctly but more could’ve been done. Even though MTV didn’t impress me as much, the artists did. Many artists took inspiration from iconic looks from past VMAs, like rapper GloRilla’s outfit which was inspired by TLC’s Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes. The host of the show this year, Megan Thee Stallion, channeled her inner Britney Spears by coming out in a green and teal outfit with a python around her arms, just like Britney did for her iconic 2001 VMA performance.
One thing that MTV did that I thoroughly enjoyed was during the show, they played snippets of iconic VMA performances from years before. Performances from Michael Jackson, Madonna, NSYNC and many more were highlighted, and I thought that was pretty neat to see.
To start off the show, Eminem returned to the VMA stage with an amazing performance of “Houdini” and “Somebody Save Me,” which are two out of the three singles on his most recent album “The Death of Slim Shady.” It was my favorite performance of the night since he took us back to his memorable 2000 performance with the walk in with “clones” of himself.
Other Performances that I enjoyed were those of Sabrina Carpenter, Brazilian singer and songwriter Anitta and LL Cool J who led a Def Jam tribute. The infamous Video Vanguard award was given to Katy Perry, and I feel it was rightfully deserved. She performed most of her hits like “Teenage Dream,” “Firework” and “Dark Horse.” I truly believe that Katy was the perfect person to give this award to this year due to her creativity and contribution to the world of music videos. I’m eager to see who is given this award next year.
The biggest award of the night, Video of the Year, was awarded to Taylor Swift. Nominees for Video of the Year included Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, Doja Cat, Eminem and SZA. Taylor also took home Artist of the Year, which makes her VMAs most decorated solo artist.
Although there were highlights of the night, a few things stuck out to me. First were the back-to-back performances. A lot of award categories were not announced on the main stage, and I feel that could have been prevented if they cut down the amount of performances. I feel it’s important that we highlight smaller categories as much as they highlight the bigger ones because the artist who won worked just as hard to get those.
Second, the Video Music Awards just aren’t as iconic and memorable as they used to be. Past VMAs included some of the most seminal and controversial moments in the music industry and pop culture. Although the controversial moments may not have gone well in the media, it provided excitement, and we just don’t see that happening anymore. It’s not just with the VMAs, but with award shows in general. Last year’s show, we had an exciting moment when NSYNC reunited and came to present the award for Best Pop Video. Fans all around the world were ecstatic to see them back together, and we didn’t have that exciting factor this year.
Finally, award shows are becoming more and more predictable every year with whos taking home what award. Again, the exciting factor is gone when the same artist is being called. It takes out the anticipation of hopefully seeing your favorite artist win. Granted, since the VMAs are mainly fan voted, it’s pretty clear who’s going to get what based on the artists’ relevance and how many fans are actually voting.
To wrap it up, the show this year was good to say the least, but it wasn’t exciting. It makes me want to travel to the past to see peak VMAs like the 90s and 2000s, since they offered so much more than they do now. Hopefully, next year we can get that excitement factor back and the VMAs go back to being as iconic as they once were.