Brooklyn was the place to be on August 25, due to the fact that the 30th annual MTV Video Music Awards were hosted there at the Barclays Center. The night had some truly crazy moments that over 10 million people joined in to watch.
Lady Gaga finally returned to the stage after having to take time off due to an injury. She performed her latest single “Applause,” off her soon to be released album “ARTPOP.” The performance was defiantly not a disappointment. She revisited her past throughout the song, from her “Pokerface,” days, to the epic “Telephone,” and her final change was for “ARTPOP,” where she totally rocked a shell bra and thong (which she wore throughout the rest of the night, with no shame).
After her opening performance, One Direction took the stage, not to perform, but to present the award for Best Pop Video. Selena Gomez won the award for “Come and Get It” and she received the first revamped moon man.
The next performance has been the most talked. Miley Cyrus performed her newest single “We Can’t Stop.” Her dancers were dressed up as bears, while other girls held gigantic bears on their backs. While the start was definatly not the best, no one was prepared for the former Disney child star to rip off part of her costume to then proceed to dance all over 36 year old Robin Thicke while he performed the constrovail song “Blurred Lines.” After that catastrophe, 2 Chainz and Kendrick Lamar joined the stage to for “Give it 2 U.” The addition of the two rappers made it a little less painful to watch, but the damage was already done after Cyrus began the number.
The award for Best Hip Hop Video was presented by Lil’ Kim and Iggy Azalea. Macklemore and Ryan Lewis for “Can’t Hold Us,” won the award. They also won for “Same Love” later in the night for best song with a message. The duo along with Mary Lambert and Jennifer Hudson also performed “Same Love” later that night.
Kanye West was the next to take the stage. He performed “Blood on Leaves” in front of an image of a lynching tree so all the audience could see was his shadow. The performance was tamer than usual for West but still very intense.
Pharell Williams along with Daft Punk presented the award for Best Female Video. Taylor Swift won the moon man for “I Knew You Were Trouble.” She also took a dig during her speech at One Direction member, Harry Styles, who the song is allegedly about.
Justin Timberlake had the next performance of the night and was truly the best of the show. He started with his newest work and progressed backwards through his solo albums. He revisited “Sexy back,” “My Love,” “Cry Me a River,” to name a few. But what everyone was waiting for was to see if the return ‘N Sync would actually happen and that they did. It may have lasted less than a minute, but a reunion nonetheless and everyone was fangirling including Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga. To end the nearly 20 minute performance, he was awarded the Video Vanguard moon man. He was also awarded video of the year for “Mirrors.”
The best song of the summer was “The Best Song Ever” by One Direction. When the five members went on stage, they were booed by the crowd for an unknown reason. Lady Gaga took notice and was not happy and gave them a pep talk backstage.
Artist to Watch was won by pop singer, Austin Mahone, who seems to resemble Justin Beiber to some extent.
Drake was another artist to perform. He started out with the more mellow “Hold on, We’re Going Home” and then progressed into “Started from the Bottom.”
Taylor Swift presented the award for best male video to Bruno Mars for “Locked out of Heaven.” He was also the next person to take the stage with his new song “Gorilla.” The performance was different from what Mars usually does with his band and their choreographed dances but was still good overall.
Katy Perry was the last performance with her new song “Roar.” The performance itself was lackluster and didn’t seem powerful enough, especially to end the show.
This year’s Video Music Awards was a much more interesting show then it has been in the last few years even through the few disturbing moments.