Last week’s broadcast of The 27th Annual MTV Video Music Awards was a spectacle of high energy performances, soulful tributes, record breaking baby bumps, and, as always, awkward moments.
The latter was mostly defined by the presence of Lady Gaga’s alter-ego, Jo Calderone. Jo was in attendance all night and attempted to entice Britney Spears into a kiss after Britney accepted the Michael Jackson Vanguard Award for her contributions and achievements in the industry.
The pop-princess reacted with a ‘been there done that’ attitude and quickly segued into her scripted lines. There were more antics throughout the night, but overall it seemed that fans were less than gaga about Jo Calderone.
Dynamic performances by Chris Brown, Adele and Kanye West wowed the crowd, but nothing compared to the jaw dropping end of Beyonce’s performance.
After throwing her microphone to the ground, Mrs. Jay-Z opened her purple sequined blazer and carefully posed to reveal a growing baby bump. As the crowd, and everyone at home, went wild, the cameras panned to the very proud dad-to-be in the audience, who was clearly reveling in the moment. This “announcement” broke the Twitter record with 8,868 tweets per second.
What would an awards show be without teen heartthrob Justin Bieber taking home a statue? Bieber took home the ‘Moonman’ for “Best Male Video”. As he stood up to accept his award, he gave girlfriend Selena Gomez a kiss, a subtle act that surely sent millions of tween girls into a frenzy. Other notable awards from the evening went to Tyler, The Creator for “Best New Artist”, the Foo Fighters for “Best Rock Video”, Britney Spears for “Best Pop Video” and Nicki Minaj for “Best Hip-Hop Video”.
Minaj, dressed in what can best be described as a part futuristic, part baby doll get-up, later noted that her inspiration for the outfit was Tokyo and her fondness of Harajuku style.
Late in the show Russell Brand and Tony Bennett led a soulful tribute to the late Amy Winehouse and Bruno Mars succeeded in giving us a spirited celebration of her music and talent.
The night ended with the most anticipated and prestigious award for “Video of the Year” going to Katy Perry for her “Firework” video.
Perry was the big winner receiving three Moonmans, the most honors for the evening. Her other awards were “Best Collaboration” and “Best Special Effects” for her song “E.T.” with Kanye West.
Lil Wayne wrapped up the show with an energizing performance of two of his songs, “How To Love” and “John”. Fan-favorite winners and great live acts will make the 2011 VMA’s one for the highlight reels.
Lauren Klein can be reached at
lauren.klein@spartans.ut.edu.
Great article. I missed the MTV awards but I feel like I was there after reading about the fashion and reaction.