Home / Arts & Life / Pop Star Egos Are Pushed Aside at Wacky, Socially Aware MTV V.M.A.s

Pop Star Egos Are Pushed Aside at Wacky, Socially Aware MTV V.M.A.s

The show’s second half was full of sharp speeches and formidable songs with urgent subject matter. Pink, who won this year’s Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, spoke movingly about her daughter and gender fluidity. Logic, Alessia Cara and Khalid performed “1-800-273-8255” — named for the phone number of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline — surrounded by people who had survived suicide attempts or who had lost loved ones to suicide. Ms. Cara also performed “Scars to Your Beautiful,” about self-acceptance, removing layers of makeup and clothing until dressed in simple all black.

“1-800-273-8255” | 2017 VMAs | MTV Video by MTV

The Rev. Robert Wright Lee IV, a descendant of Robert E. Lee, denounced racism and white supremacy (though he didn’t directly advocate removing Confederate monuments) and introduced Susan Bro, whose daughter, Heather Heyer, was killed amid the unrest in Charlottesville, Va., earlier this month, and who announced a foundation created in her daughter’s honor.

Cardi B, when introducing a Demi Lovato performance, detoured to offer support for the embattled N.F.L. quarterback Colin Kaepernick: “As long as you kneel with us, we gonna be standing for you, baby.” (The devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey in Southeast Texas wasn’t mentioned until 38 minutes into the show, though.)

Kendrick Lamar opened the night with a resistance-themed performance of “DNA” and “HUMBLE.” He was also the ceremony’s big winner, taking home six awards, including video of the year, for “HUMBLE.” Mr. Sheeran won artist of the year, and Khalid won best new artist. The ornate, melodramatic commercials for Adidas and Taco Bell that showed during the broadcast were more invigorating than many of this year’s nominated videos.

Photo

Katy Perry poked fun at herself as the host of the MTV Video Music Awards, arriving from the rafters in a spacesuit.

Credit
Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

Ms. Perry, in her role as host, did perhaps the last innovative thing a genuine pop idol can do: use her platform to constantly undermine and poke fun at herself. Her performance was antic and scattershot, with echoes of Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett, and a series of sketches — featuring DJ Khaled, Fred Armisen, Billy Eichner and others — greatly overestimated her comedic instincts. Her opening monologue was filled with dismal political humor.

Last year, you could feel the V.M.A.s begin to reckon with the fact that music video is no longer the surest path to superstardom; the generation of stars who used MTV to get there is aging, and the next generation hasn’t sorted out what its relationship to this network, and its vestigial relationship to music, should be. This was clearest during the preshow, full of young stars — Khalid, Julia Michaels, Lil Yachty — who weren’t quite comfortable looking directly into the camera.

It was also evident in the way the performances and editing were maximized for optimal online consumption: CardiBReaction.gif, LordeImpressionisticDance.gif, LilUziVertSashay.gif, PinkFlyingOnPinkCadillac.gif, JackAntonoffMunchingBanana.gif, MileyCyrusSqueezingElderlyBackupDancersBreast.gif, and so on.

Of course, most stars who are expert at looking into cameras are too famous to play the V.M.A.s, unless they have something to promote. Taylor Swift didn’t perform, but she did use the show as a platform to debut the video for her new single, “Look What You Made Me Do,” a maximalist, overly complicated, score-settling affair full of allusions to classic music videos (Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga) and perhaps casual references to Kanye West’s car accident and Kim Kardashian’s being robbed in Paris last year.

Taylor Swift – “Look What You Made Me Do” Video by TaylorSwiftVEVO

It was, in its own way, an extension of the first half of the show’s pleasant absurdism, and in a different year, it might have been the event’s high point. It had a bookend in the show-closing performance by Ms. Perry and Nicki Minaj of “Swish Swish,” which appears to use Ms. Swift as its target. But by the end of the night, that quarrel felt stale. The V.M.A.s had taken a stand against ego, against pettiness, against self-absorption — at least for this year.

Continue reading the main story

About admin

Check Also

Hear the Best Albums and Songs of 2023

Dear listeners, In the spirit of holiday excess and end-of-the-year summation, we’re about to make …