Over the years, the Video Music Awards (VMAs) has been the site of some of the most memorable pop culture moments like Britney Spears’ snake performance and Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech. This year’s VMAs did not disappoint, giving audiences more of the magic they have come to expect. From memorable performances to bizarre fashion moments, this review covers it all. Now, let’s get into it!
The Show:
One aspect of the VMAs that makes it more interesting than other award shows is the numerous live performances by leading musicians. A program structure that relies on a single comedian to serve as master of ceremonies, deliver a series of monologues and keep the show rolling is risky. If the MC crashes and burns, so does the whole show. If you get bored at the VMAs, all you need to do is wait until an artist that you like performs a bit later.
The night’s performers brought their A-game, all delivering exhilarating performances. Eminem brought an entourage of look-alikes for his performance, a cool idea slightly thwarted by the poor quality of the wigs they wore. Frankly, they looked like they had been purchased from Party City a couple of hours before. Benson Boone’s front flip during Beautiful Things caused the audience to go wild and gave his health insurance a heart attack. Camilla Cabello smashed a laptop while displaying the highest portion of her impressive vocal range. Everyone showed what the VMAs is known for: iconic moments of pop culture that keep people talking for a long time.
Awards:
The most publicized award battle of the VMAs was easily the one for “Song of the Summer.” Many people felt that the accolade should have gone to Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter, which was practically inescapable all summer. When it didn’t even reach the final round of nominations, there was widespread outrage. So, which song took home the award? Hot to Go by Chapell Roan? 360 by Charli xcx? Birds of a Feather by Billie Eilish? Well, ladies and gentlemen, the winner was Fortnight (the Taylor Swift song, not the video game). If your first reaction was “What’s that?” you are not alone. Many people outside of Swiftie-verse haven’t heard of the song before, let alone considered it for song of the summer, making the decision one of the most controversial of the night.
Some of the other notable awards included Artist of the Year, won by Taylor Swift, Video of the Year, won by Taylor Swift, and Best Pop won by, you guessed it, Taylor Swift (call me crazy, but I’m seeing a pattern here). Chapell Roan easily scooped up the Best New Artist award, and Espresso finally got its recognition as Song of the Year.
Fashion:
If nothing else, the VMAs always deliver memorable fashion moments. Odes to past VMAs looks was a pervasive theme of the night. Here is my review of the good, the bad and the plain ugly of VMAs fashion.
Looks I Liked:
Source: Cosmopolitan
Tate McRae
I have never been shy about expressing my dislike of sheer outfits. Thus, Tate McRae’s black dress making it on the best-dressed portion of my list is quite the feat. The black lace dress was a homage to Britney Spears’s sheer 2001 VMAs dress. Many believe that this dress was a response to recent fan comments dubbing McRae the Britney Spears of Gen Z. While I highly disagree with that comparison- Spears is a one-of-a-kind phenomenon- I did enjoy the dress.
Source: Us Weekly
Sabrina Carpenter
Sabrina Carpenter wore Madonna’s 1991 Oscars dress on the red carpet and was proclaimed best dressed across the internet. She paired the beaded Bob Mackie look with a crystal necklace, channeling old Hollywood elegance. I’ve always been a sucker for evening gowns, so the second I saw this look, I fell in love. Please Please Please keep on delivering the looks Sabrina!
Looks I didn’t like:
Source: Harper’s BAZAAR
Addison Rae
When I first beheld Addison Rae’s VMAs outfit, I was speechless. That is to say never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined an outfit so horrible. Rae’s outfit attempted to mimic another one of Madonna’s iconic VMAs outfits: her 1985 Wedding Assemble. It unfortunately fell extremely short. The top of her outfit was an oddly misshapen white bra, which internet users have likened to the moment when a bra comes out of the laundry and the pads inside are all folded up. The bottom consisted of granny panties attached to a giant tutu. Perhaps the most confusing part of the disastrous outfit was the random plumes of white feathers sprouting near her shoulders. Words can barely describe this outfit, so if you really want to behold the most perplexing outfit of the VMAs, google it right now.
Source: ELLE
Paris Hilton
Paris Hilton wore a “recreation” of her famed 21st birthday dress to this year’s VMAs. The word ‘recreation’ must be taken with a grain of salt. The recreated dress bore some similarities to the original, yet it was oddly shredded. I’m not talking about some extra slits added for a bit of flair. I’m talking someone’s pitbull stole it from her closet and rolled around with it for several hours. This isn’t Hilton’s first time recreating the look either. A quick Google search yielded five other distinct times in which she wore ‘recreations’ of the dress, all with varying degrees of success. After this year’s VMAs, it’s time for Hilton to hang up the tired look for once and for all.
Source: Vogue
Taylor Swift
Welcome back, Cher Horowitz! Taylor Swift wore a black and yellow plaid dress which was reminiscent of Alicia Silverstone’s ensemble in the 1995 film Clueless. The dress wasn’t terrible on its own, but her stylist’s bizarre decision to accessorize the look with black combat gloves took the look from meh to bad. When I looked at the red carpet photos, I struggled to understand the vision for the outfit. Of course, Swifties are very excited by the dress. They claim that it is a hint about the release of Reputation (Taylor’s Version). The swifties interpret the dress as being green and black, two colors associated with the original Reputation. I interpret the swifties as having poor eyesight because nothing else can account for bright yellow being interpreted as green. This is not the Swifties’ first rodeo with delusion. Nine months ago when I covered the Golden Globes, there was a similar theory about Swift’s dress which proved to be incorrect.
Drama:
Source: The Independent
Typically, award shows have a fair share of celebrity drama. This year’s VMAs did not disappoint, giving audiences plenty to buzz about.
One of the most awkward moments of the night was when Tyla announced to the audience that she wasn’t strong enough to hold her award for Afrobeats, and handed it back to announcer Lil Nas X with both hands. What made the moment strange to many was the fact that moments before, Tyla held the statue in only one hand with seeming ease, directly contradicting her previous assertion. Netizens were quick to label Tyla as attempting to appear weak for attention.
I decided to do a little research using my investigative journalism skills to determine the weight of the award. According to the Smithsonian Website, the VMAs statute weighs around seven pounds (can I just say I thought they were two to three pounds – seven pounds is absolutely wild). Using my science research skills, I experimented. I took a seven-pound hand weight I had at home and held it in one hand while delivering a one-minute mock acceptance speech to my pet fish. I was able to hold the award without trouble for the duration of my award-winning speech (which fascinated my fish, but I could see how holding that amount of weight could be difficult for some, especially if one was recovering from a wrist injury of some sort.
The major celebrity drama of the night was related to an A-lister love triangle. So, what does this have to do with the VMAS? All three members of the alleged love triangle not only attended the VMAs but also performed various songs about each other. The first performance was by Shawn Mendes, who sang Nobody Knows. Many believe this to be about his romance with Camilla Cabello, and moments later he was followed by Sabrina Carpenter who performed her hit song Taste. The song is directed at her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend and remarks how her relationship with the ex-boyfriend will always hang over the new girlfriend’s head. Many people began speculating that the song was about Carpenter’s ex Mendes, and his on and off again relationship with Cabello. The show ended with Cabello singing Godspeed, which is about letting go of all the toxic relationships in her life, especially one with a man she used to date in the past. In simple terms, Mendes sang about Cabello, Carpenter sang about Cabello and Mendes, and Cabello sang about wanting to be left alone.
Of course, I can’t mention Carpenter’s performance of Taste without mentioning the alien (yes you read that right). At the end of her song, Carpenter walked up to a backup dancer in full alien prosthetics and kissed her. The moment confused many people, including none other than VMAs queen Britney Spears, who took to Instagram to weigh in on the matter. Spears stated, “Why is she kissing an alien on stage? I adore her. I love her to death. I didn’t understand that part. Why didn’t she kiss a girl? Like, that was weird.” Spears is no stranger to VMAs kisses, one of her most iconic moments was when she kissed Madonna at the 2003 VMAs.
This year’s VMAs reminded us just how fun award shows can be! Hopefully, the upcoming award shows can capture this energy in their upcoming programs bringing audiences the joy that award shows used to be known for.
