When the formula is repeated and triumphs for 40 years, there is a reason for it. Since 1984, MTV with its VMAs (the awards for the best music videos of the year, the most important in the world in their category) knows how to bring to fans of global music – although predominantly American, it is undeniable – the best of each house: powerful voices, spectacle, great performances, surprises (not many) and looks to remember. And, as it has been doing for four decades, this Wednesday night (early morning in Spain; starting at five in the afternoon, New York time), it filled the stage with music and the usual hubbub of a network that, if not as groundbreaking or as leading today as it was between the eighties and the two thousand, continues to be a reference in global music, especially pop.
The UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, was packed with fans and especially artists who enjoyed drinks (waiters loaded with cocktails constantly passed between the singers) watching the performances of Eminem, who opened the night to applause and surrounded by look-alikes, and about twenty artists while awards were being handed out. Taylor Swift was the most nominated, with 10 awards, and became the most awarded, with six. She started winning from the first moment. She collected the first for the best video with collaboration, thanks to Fortnightwith Post Malone, who would also win the Video of the Year award, the most important of the night. As the awards were held on September 11, he remembered the victims of the 2001 attack. “When I woke up this morning in New York, on September 11, I could only think about what happened 23 years ago, about all those who lost a loved one and all those we lost. And that is the most important thing today, and everything that happens tonight is behind that.”
With the permission of the always wonderful Lenny Kravitz (shirtless and wearing a feather bolero), Shawn Mendes or Rauw Alejandro, the women were the undisputed queens of the gala. Anitta, who took home the award for best Latin artist for the second consecutive year. Lisa, although without Rosalía, sang with ease. New Woman and Rockstar (best K-Pop song award). The Spaniard was heard with Karol G, who set up a bar on the beach with couples dancing and moved among the public like a fish in water with If I Had Met You Before and tried to get Taylor Swift to move to some Latin beat, but it only came to some beat.
Sabrina Carpenter, one of the stars of the season and winner of the award for best song of the year for Espressooutdoing her mentor Swift, climbed onto a swing and kissed an alien, but above all she gave a nod to the astronauts who represent the awards (they are their statuettes) by surrounding herself with dozens of them for her performance; Megan Thee Stallion —who also acted as presenter— also projected her face onto the head of a giant one in the middle of the stage. Chappell Roan, another of the women of the moment and winner of best new artist, emerged from a dungeon dressed in armor and then set it on fire and sang Good Luck, Babe! Halsey set up a homemade garage with her (all-female) band to sing Ego, while Camila Cabello locked herself in a glass octagon. And GloRilla overcame without batting an eyelid a problem with her top, which came undone in the middle of her performance while singing on a table amidst flames.
One of the stars of the night was Katy Perry, honored with the award for her career of avant-garde videos, each one more spectacular than the last, a symbol of her career since its beginnings. She was introduced by her husband and father of her daughter, Orlando Bloom, and she returned the favor with an impressive 10-minute performance with a remix of half a dozen songs from her different eras. “You fell in love with her as Katy Perry. I fell in love with her as Katherine Hudson,” said the actor, using the artist’s real name. “You know her as a global superstar who brings love, light and her unique sense of humor to every song she writes and every video she creates. I know her as a mother, a partner, who brings the same love and joy to our family.” She thanked MTV (“thank you for believing in my weirdness from day one”) and her family for giving her “the deepest roots,” her fans for being with her “all my life,” and she also spoke of the importance of mental health in artists, especially women.
Not all of the awards were seen live during the gala; the main attraction was the performances and only a few were awarded live, while most were only tweeted, which did not please all fans. The big winner of the night was Swift, with half a dozen awards: the most important, the best video of the year for Fortnight (in whose speech he took the opportunity to ask for the vote, as he had done the night before after the presidential debate), along with song of the summer, pop artist, artist of the year, direction and editing. Also triumphing were Tyla, for best afrobeat for Toilet, Megan Thee Stallion with Yuki Chiba by Mamushi (best trending video), Benson Boone for the viral Beautiful Things (best alternative song), SZA for Snooze (best R&B), Lenny Kravitz for Human (best rock), Dua Lipa with Houdini (best choreography, performed by Charm La’Donna) and Eminem with the other Houdini (best hip hop).
In these 40 years, the MTV VMAs have seen Madonna dressed as a bride singing Like a Virgin (and kissing Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera), Lady Gaga wrapped in raw meat, Miley Cyrus twerking like never before, Michael Jackson kissing Lisa Marie Presley or Beyoncé announcing her first pregnancy by surprise. Maybe now, when it seems that almost everything has been seen, that there is little left to invent and when what is most liked in a world of networks and hyperconnection is to see the most authentic, they succeed by showing the artists dancing with a drink in hand while telling each other intimate details. So much so that they have several cameras pointed at them throughout the gala and that can be followed live. Everything changes, everything remains the same, so that the show can go on.
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