VMA RECAP

What better time to write than after the airing of the VMAs.

There’s a plethora (one of my favorite words) of material just pouring at you. Even the worst case of writer’s block can be cured.

Where do we start?  I’m going to keep it simple and just hit the best and worst moments of the night. 

Before I even warm-up.  Let me start by saying, it was pretty underwhelming.  There was commercial after commercial about the ceremony being hosted in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.   Hearing The Beastie Boy’s “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” had me hype.  What a set up.  Home of Jay-Z, Lil Kim, Foxy Brown, Mos Def, Fabolous, MC Lyte, Joell Ortiz, the RZA.  I could go on and on.  This stellar line-up was handed on a platter just based on location.  Yet, we opened with Lady Gaga???? WTF.  I like Gaga.  Don’t get me wrong.  But when you’re in the house of Jay-Z – who by the way helped build the Barclays Center – you’ve got to oblige.

And so I begin….

Worst Moment of the VMA

Lady Gaga – No amount of wardrobe changes on stage made up for her winded, boring act. I’ve seen her put on way more intriguing shows.  This as an opening act just didn’t cut it.  It was rigid and safe.  Although comedian Kevin Hart complimented her – mostly for her “yams” – antics like wearing a thong all night long is simply a gimmick for attention.

Miley Cyrus – I think I had grown to accept that Miley wanted to be this ratchet, fancy-free artist now.  Yet, that’s not what we saw.  Instead we all witnessed something worse  – a girl in plastic underwear parading around with horns on her head as adults dressed as teddy bears flanked her.  The picture of Will Smith’s family says it all.  No only did I find the fuzzy fetish disturbing, but I just found her visually revolting as she gyrated around.  Can I speak plainly….If you’re going to flaunt it, PLEASE have something to flaunt.  I’ll leave it at that. 

Taylor Swift – I think all young women know what it’s like to love and lose.  Yet, there comes a time when enough is enough.  It’s time to move on.  I think we all got the memo when Taylor and Harry Styles from One Direction broke up.  He broke her heart. Blah, blah, blah.  She even wrote a song about it – one that was successful.  That success should have been her revenge.  Move on.  Yet, she chose to give a couple more jabs last night.  It wasn’t enough that she thanked him for her win of best female video for “I Knew You Were Trouble.”  But then the camera caught her leaning over to BFF Selena Gomez and mouthing the words, “SHUT. THE. F**K. UP,” when One Direction accepted their win.  SMH… No bueno girl.  No one likes a bitter woman and that’s what she is.  Her days of being Kanye West’s victim are over.  Glad the world caught her out there.

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis – So the group appropriately decided to perform “Same Love” featuring Mary Lambert which supports marriage equality.  Ironically they were introduced by Jason Collins and A$ap Rocky who was undeniably uncomfortably next to the openly gay ball player.  Then to top off this performance, Jennifer Hudson came out and stole all the thunder from poor Mary.  SMH.  Not cool. 

Best Moments

Justin Timberlake –  Well, well, well.  This man put his R&B peers to shame last night.  What doesn’t he do well?  He sings live, dances flawlessly, plays the piano.  He even brought NSync back.  I think it’s so cool that no matter if you like pop, rock, hip-hop, the kids of that generation get hype about boy bands. 

Rihanna – I think her facial expressions got more pub than the actual ceremony.  Prior to the ceremony there was quite a bit of traffic from her Navy egging her to attend.  Perhaps that was the reason for her less than amused look.  She was forced to watch all the lackluster performances.

Drake – I saw quite a few comments that slammed his performance but I liked it.  He sung live – and well.  I also appreciated seeing him on stage alone.  No hype-man drowning out the sound.   Sometimes simple is more. 

Kanye West – Yeezy performed “Blood on the Leaves” in dark, shadowy lighting.  What I loved about this performance is that with no visuals, you could still feel his passion.  I question his behavior but never his talent. 

While I’ll always be an MTV girl, this ceremony was a mess.  Let’s do better next year!