Last night the MTV Video Music Awards made big winners out of Lady Gaga and Eminem. Gaga, who was nominated for a record-breaking 13 moon mans, was awarded Best Female, Pop, and Dance video for “Bad Romance” and Best Collaboration for “Telephone” (featuring Beyonce). Eminem took home Best Male and Hip Hop awards for “Not Afraid.” Video of the Year–you guessed it–went to Gaga for–right, again–“Bad Romance.” When she accepted the top prize (covered in meat, mind you), Gaga announced the name of her second record (it’s called Born This Way) and she even recited a line from a new song: “God makes no mistakes. I’m on the right track baby. I was born this way.” Look after the break for the full list of winners.
11.4 million viewers tuned into this year’s VMAs making it the third most-watched telecast in MTV history. See MTV? People want music videos, not crap reality shows. The over-the-top performances really made the show worth watching. Eminem started things off with a bang by performing his smash hit “Not Afraid” followed by “Love the Way You Lie” with a surprise guest appearence by a red-headed Rihanna. The Bieb followed with “Baby”, “Somebody to Love”, and a drum solo. Next his mentor Usher lit up the stage (literally) with an amazing dance routine for “DJ Got Us Falling In Love” and “OMG.” I really didn’t mind that he dropped most of his vocals from the performance; he is a dance god. And that light up floor was beyond cool. Florence + the Machine performed “Dog Days Are Over”, proving to be a huge contender in the music industry. That Florence Welch can sing. A bit later young miss Taylor Swift took the stage barefooted to sing her song about the Kanye West incident that happened last year. The song was introduced by a brief video recap of the incident; without that you might not have been able to tell it was even about the controversial night. I will have to scan the lyrics to find clues; anywho, let’s all move on from that fateful night, shall we? Swift looked great and the performance was classy, per usual. Drake, Mary J. Blige, and Swizz Beatz did “Fancy”, and boy did they sound great together. This marked Drake’s first time performing at the VMAs, and he proved he can work the crowd. I’m looking forward to what he’s got in store for next year. Linkin Park nailed it with a fun performance right outside the Griffith Observatory. And then came Mr. West.
Comedian Aziz Ansari hopped onto stage to give a hilarious introduction to the main (and closing) event. Anticipation built as Kanye walked onto stage donned in a red suit to meet his sampler. As ballarinas began to flutter around the stage, Kanye dropped the heavy beat to a never-before-heard track called “Runaway”. And the chorus goes: “Let’s have a toast for the douchebags, Let’s have a toast for the assholes, Let’s have a toast for the scumbags, Every one of them that I know/Let’s have a toast to the jerkoffs, That’ll never take work off/ Baby, I got a plan, Run away fast as you can.” With “Runaway” Kanye acknowledges his past mistakes in a rather tongue-in-cheek manner, but at the same time retains his comeback stature. In other words, it was a runaway success. Can’t forget to mention fellow G.O.O.D. Music artist Pusha T who added a worthy verse to the mix. Any “booos” that might have lingered before the epic performance had quickly turned into “Kanye, Kanye, Kanye” cheers by the time the song was over. Jump after the break to watch the performance, complete with Aziz’s intro.
A few more highlights.. Host Chelsea Handler did a great job (when she came out wearing that house I was in stitches, plus seeing Chuy there was a nice treat); house DJ Deadmau5 looked freakin’ sweet in his LED mouse head piece; Nicki Minaj’s pre-show performance (featuring will.i.am) was a ton of fun; and how amazing did MTV do up LA’s Nokia Theatre?
Video of the Year
Lady Gaga – Bad Romance
Best Male Video
Eminem – Not Afraid
Best Female video
Lady Gaga – Bad Romance
Best New Artist
Justin Bieber -f/Ludacris Baby
Best Hip Hop Video
Eminem – Not Afraid
Best Pop Video
Lady Gaga – Bad Romance
Best Dance Video
Lady Gaga – Bad Romance
Best Rock Video
30 Seconds To Mars- Kings and Queens
Best Collaboration
Lady Gaga feat. Beyoncé – Telephone
Best choreography
Lady Gaga – Bad Romance
Best Editing
Lady Gaga -Bad Romance
Best Art Direction
Florence + the Machine -Dog Days Are Over
Best Direction
Lady Gaga -Bad Romance
Best Cinematography
J-Z and Alicia Keyes- Empire State of Mind
Best Special Effects
Muse -Uprising
Breakthrough Video
The Black Keys – Tighten Up