Pop culture has been known to push the boundaries of acceptable societal behavior, but the trend has become convoluted and distasteful as showcased by this year’s MTV Video Music Awards.
Year after year, it is all about upping the ante, drawing in higher ratings and taking advantage of publicity in its truest form. Artists performed at the VMAs benefited from a significant increase in music sales following the broadcast.
It’s no revelation that as soon as MTV stopped showing music videos, the channel went downhill. However, I don’t believe the degree of that decline has been fully digested until now. MTV has officially managed to take a somewhat legitimate award show and transform it into a comedy act.
The media eats it up, the celebrities’ publicists eat it up and the viewers eat it up, but at the end of the day, can we realize how ridiculous it all is? Despite the 21.4 million tweets, it appears we are beginning to.
The award show raked in 9.8 million viewers across all ten Viacom networks, a decrease from last year’s 10.3 million and a far cry from the 12.4 million in 2011. The following snippets from the night are only a few examples of the publicity stunts from the evening.
The rebranding of bad boy Justin Bieber has been in motion since his “sincere” apology after his Comedy Central roast. His performance of summer hit “Where R Ü Now” and latest release “What Do You Mean?” were accompanied by his rad dance moves, but the real show was his tearful moment at the end. I’ve seen better fake crying on soap operas.
To encapsulate the finality of the disastrous night, Miley Cyrus can officially be considered the worst host of all time with her forced rebel-like skits and punchlines, highlighting the media’s portrayal of her profane language, outlandish behavior and illegal habits.
Her outfits were not amusing, her new song and album announcement were a complete flop and don’t even get me started on the beef between her and Nicki Minaj.
Taylor Swift and Kanye West continue to be equally annoying components. I try to find some likable characteristics possessed by the dynamic duo (more like oddball pairing) as award shows come and go. However, every time I manage to alter my opinion they just as easily revert it back.
This cringe-worthy show was the icing on the cake. T-Swift has to stop the feigned expression of shock every time she wins. The impromptu duet with Minaj to symbolize the reconciliation of their social media feud and the awkward holding of Kim Kardashian during Kanye’s rambling all occurred too seamlessly to not be staged.
Kanye’s obsession with himself left him soaking up the cheers for several minutes before he began his even longer acceptance speech. For the record, if either Trump or Kanye manages to make it to the Oval Office, I can assure you it will be the end of mankind, as we know it.
Last, but not least, Demi Lovato’s scandalous performance left me feeling very uncomfortable and confused. Being the last remaining sane Disney star, Lovato’s attempt at a sexy, new image is the equivalent of McDonald’s trying to go healthy. Stick to what you’re known for and stop trying so hard!
The VMAs had noble origins with the show’s intent on honoring musicians, and they were even referred to as an alternative to the Grammy’s. For the first broadcast in 1984, Madonna performed “Like A Virgin” in a very simplistic manner and it was not provocative by today’s standards.
Since then, there have been progressively more and more jaw-dropping moments as the VMAs slowly, but surely, transformed into a circus. It became less about the awards and the showcasing of authentic musical talent and more about media-driven hype of possible controversies and performances solely focused on creating a visual awe factor.
The VMAs have always been crazy, but 2015 brought it to a whole new level the public may never be able to recover from.
