In the UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, some of the world’s greatest musical artists were all gathered last night, Sept. 11, to celebrate the Video Music Awards (VMAs). This year was the 40th anniversary of the VMAs, and it was hosted by Megan Thee Stallion.
The VMAs is a fan-voted award ceremony. About a month prior to the actual event, fans start to vote for who they think deserves to win each category. Then, on the night of the celebration, the results are announced, and whichever artist got the most votes gets awarded with an MTV “Moonman.”
Overall, the show was put together very well. There was always something going on, either a performance, an award being given out or a speech being said. It kept me locked in most of the time. There were a few songs that dragged on, and I feel like they could have been cut down to one minute and instead of continuing on for three.
The night opened with Eminem emerging from the crowd singing his recently released song, “Houdini.” The crowd was loving it; he excelled in getting them pumped up and ready for the night. It then transitioned to Jelly Roll singing, “Somebody Save Me,” his remix with Eminem, giving me full-body goosebumps. The switch was so perfect, and I was not expecting it to go from a very upbeat song to a more emotional one.
The first award given out was Best Collaboration with six songs in the category. The trophy was presented by Olympian Jordan Chiles and Flavor Flav. It went to Taylor Swift and Post Malone for “Fortnight.” Unfortunately, the acceptance speeches were awkward. Taylor Swift kept on praising Post Malone and how wonderful he was to work with. When the microphone got passed to Post Malone, he could barely form a sentence about her. After about 30 seconds of stuttering, he thought of something to say. I felt bad for him because he got put on the spot, and I am sure he was not expecting that he would have to be giving her compliments about her work ethic. The pair later on in the show also won Video of the Year for the same song.
Every year, one artist is selected to get the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard award. This year the immensely talented Katy Perry was chosen. To open up her performance, Orlando Bloom, her husband, introduced her in the sweetest way possible. He talked about how talented she is and just how dazzling of a person she is, which made me cry.
To open up, Katy Perry started by singing “Dark Horse.” As she sang, she was connected to a harness that made it look like she was flying all around the stage. Then she transitioned into “ET,” “California Gurls,” “Teenage Dream,” “I Kissed a Girl,” “Firework” and lastly her newest song, “Lifetimes.” The whole time my mouth was dropped, and I think she had the best performance of the night. It was very entertaining, emotional and it just showed how big of a star she truly is and why she deserves this award.
After she gave the biggest performance of the night, Orlando Bloom came back and gave her the award. She did not have the best speech, it was not very compelling, but then I reminded myself that she just got done running around doing flips, so she may have not been in the right headspace.
Alongside evolving talent from legendary artists, new talents also arose. This year’s best new artists were narrowed down to Chappel Roan, Gracie Abrams and Tyla. While they were broadcasting the event, they were encouraging viewers to go and vote between these three. At the end of the night, Chappel Roan was announced as the Best New Artist. She also performed “Good Luck Babe” earlier in the night, which the crowd greatly loved.
Another heart-stopping performance was Sabrina Carpenter. She had the honor of being introduced by the one and only Cindy Lauper. It started by panning to her looking like a princess sitting on a small swinging platform. She opened with “Please Please Please,” which brought the energy to a whole new level. Through my TV screen, I could see the pure excitement people had by just hearing her voice. She then went into “Taste” and “Espresso.” Also, for some odd reason, she kissed an alien which was an interesting statement. Her performance was also well done. It was the perfect amount of time unlike some that just kept on going. “Espresso” was later announced as Song of the Year by Miranda Lambert.
The next performance is one of the reasons why I was so excited to watch the VMAs. Shawn Mendes, for the first time ever, performed his new song “Nobody Knows,” which just got released today, Sept. 12. It opened with a lot of smoke and him playing his guitar. The song is pretty slow but so beautiful. The only complaint that I have is that it was kind of hard to hear and understand what he was singing. Throughout the whole song, he seemed so happy and light-hearted; he was just enjoying himself, as he should.
Some other songs during the night were “Godspeed” and “June Gloom” by Camilla Cabello. My first thought was that Shawn Mendes is here, and this is definitely awkward. She had a very neat setup. Cabello was in a glass room shaped like an octagon. Her voice was very pleasant, but it just was not bringing a lot to the table. Also, she threw a computer and I think her goal was for it to shatter, which it did not do. She picked it up again and slammed it on the floor and it still did not shatter. Overall, it was not what I was expecting.
Announcing the next act was the iconic queen herself, Paris Hilton. She introduced Lisa, a K-Pop artist who is part of Blackpink. At first, I really enjoyed her set, but as it went on, it became more and more boring, it never ended. It felt like the longest three minutes of my life. It also did not help that she kept repeating the same line over and over again. It was also very evident that she was lip-syncing, and the crowd seemed disconnected from her. She kept doing weird poses that reminded me of something Hannah Montana would do. Toward the end of the evening, she got the award for best K-Pop song.
Benson Boone also had a powerful production. Personally, I think he won best dressed. He was in a stunning, blue sequin jumpsuit; it was everything and more. I have always known he was a good singer, but, after this performance, I have a whole new level of respect for him. His voice was so astonishing and his stage presence was immaculate. One moment he was slowly singing “Beautiful Things” while playing the piano, and then I blinked and he was running around doing front flips. This was a very strategic move on his part. By luring the crowd in, it made him so much better, because a singer needs confirmation and confidence from the audience to be sensational.
Throughout this night, I felt every emotion under the moon. Each artist did a fantastic job and clearly poured their heart and soul into this memorable evening. The results for all of the categories can be found at https://www.mtv.com/vma/vote/.
