Music is Overshadowed by Drama at the VMAs

Interesting and cringe-worthy are two words to describe this year’s MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) that took place on August 30th. Popular artists such as Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, The Weeknd, and Tori Kelly performed their chart-topping singles “Downtown,” “Can’t feel my Face” and “Should’ve Been Us,” respectively. Even though the awards were meant to acknowledge the music, these performances seemed mundane in comparison to events that happened in between.

To kick off the show, Nicki Minaj performed her hit songs,”Trini Dem Girls” and “The Night is Still Young,” in a red tribal outfit with tassels and feathers. During “The Night is Still Young,” Taylor Swift surprisingly came out joined her in singing the chorus, transitioning into her song “Bad Blood.” Although they were a perfect duo, her appearance seemed awkward, especially since she appeared just before the song ended. Their duet was a rare sight considering the Twitter feud that happened earlier in the week. Minaj sent out the tweet, “If your video celebrates women with very slim bodies, you will be nominated for vid of the year,” which many interpreted as criticism against Swift. Later, Nicki Minaj also called out Miley Cyrus as she accepted the award for Best Hip Hop Video. “And now, back to this b**** that had a lot to say about me the other day in the press,” she said, “Miley, what’s good?” Miley Cyrus managed to keep her cool and congratulated her once more before moving on.

Cyrus, whose controversial twerking received the attention of millions during the 2013 VMAs, hosted this year’s show with some of her craziest outfits ranging from a scandalous eyeball bikini top that barely covered her chest to a rainbow board dress to celebrate the legalization of gay marriage. Compared to most of her outfits, the rest of the celebrities seemed overdressed at the show. Besides her outfit changes, her fans had something else to anticipate. She unexpectedly announced that her new album, ‘Miley and Her Dead Petz’, is currently available online for free.

However, no one was more talked about after the VMAs than Kanye West. West took the stage after Taylor Swift presented him with the Video Vanguard Award, which is ironic considering just six years ago he rudely interrupted Swift’s speech as she accepted the Best Female Video Award. The biggest surprise was not that he re-apologized to Swift and artists in general for being disrespectful, but that he announced he was planning to run for president in 2020.

After being nominated for ten awards, Taylor Swift took home four, including Video of the Year for “Bad Blood” and Best Female Video for “Blank Space.” Other winners were Fall Out Boy for Best Rock Video, rapper Fetty Wap for Artist to Watch, and 5 Seconds of Summer for Song of the Summer.

In my opinion, this year’s show was just a chaotic mess. If I didn’t watch reality television, I would’ve thought these celebrities were unhinged. They acted like they had no boundaries. Although it was ridiculously funny, insults found its way into every speech or performance. Also, the bad blood (no pun intended) between Minaj and Cyrus and West’s presidential announcements were the only things that retained the camera’s focus. Awards were downplayed and hardly any time was devoted to artists that did not add tension to the stage. The whole purpose of the VMAs is to celebrate music and how it unites people. MTV, which is ironically supposed to stand for “Music Television,” has long forgotten about the respect beautiful music and their creators deserve.