by Ryan Fine Another year, another VMA. From a show that usually gives us spectacular performances like Britney Spears performing with a giant, live python in 2001 or unexpected moments like Kanye West’s infamous Taylor Swift acceptance speech hijacking in 2009, this year’s awards show seemed fairly run-of-the-mill in comparison. But as always, some nominees and performers left The Forum with a heap of Moonman awards and others left disappointed and empty-handed. The biggest winner in last night’s categories was the Compton hip-hop juggernaut Kendrick Lamar. He opened the show with a medley featuring two songs from his critically acclaimed new album DAMN., a performance in which a man was literally ignited into flames. His video for the song “HUMBLE.” went on to win a grand total of five awards including Best Hip-Hop Video, Best Visual Effects, and the coveted Video of the Year award. Interestingly, he ended up losing the Artist of the Year award to Ed Sheeran. The other winner of the night was Taylor Swift, who used the opportunity to premiere the music video for her new single “Look What You Made Me Do”. Despite not actually being at The Forum, she picked up as much attention for the video as she did for the song itself, as it features Taylor Swift as a hybrid zombie snake queen while inviting all of her past personas into the fold. She even ended up nabbing a Best Collaboration award for “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever”, her duet with Zayn Malik for the Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack. The genre categories also picked up a lot of one-time winners, such as Alessia Cara, Fifth Harmony, and Twenty One Pilots, and P!nk was awarded the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard award for her well-documented music video legacy. But when one person wins, another must lose. Katy Perry, who hosted the show, did not end up with any awards despite her nomination in five categories. Though her performance of “Swish Swish” was as dramatic as one would expect from her at this point, most of the social media attention went to Taylor Swift, with whom her infamous feud is still ongoing. Lorde sits somewhere in the middle of conquest and failure. In spite of a pestering flu, she performed “Homemade Dynamite” from her summer hit album Melodrama, powering through the song with understandable awkwardness. On a night that tended to be politically charged and angry, minor triumphs like this one ended up being highly charming, and although the raw excitement was toned down, there were a number of nice moments that shone through the fog.
Sources: Video Music Awards Image: Lokál
