By Patrick Lucas
Staff Writer
There’s no doubt that Miley Cyrus is great at shocking her audience, and as host of this year’s 32nd annual MTV Video Music Awards she accomplished her mission. The show, full of provocative costumes, outlandish performances, and some jaw dropping moments left viewers stunned –and talking about it for days after. MTV got exactly what they were hoping for – another year of memorable moments that will live on forever, becoming part of our pop culture.
In order to help create a little controversy, MTV stirred the pot all night. The show kicked off with a performance by Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj which was meant to show the world that they were back to being BFF’s after their publicized feud on Twitter. However, Minaj didn’t show any love for the host when she confronted her about some comments in the press.
As a host, Miley did a competent job. Her constant costume changes and crazy antics kept the audience entertained and intrigued about what was going to come next. Throughout the night she teetered between inappropriate and funny and she managed to hit her marks and professionally and kept the show moving.
While fulfilling her hosting duties, her performance at the end of the night was just plain weird. The song itself did not showcase any musical talent. It was a bizarre chant about smoking pot which didn’t even have any sort of musical beat. In addition, she had a parade of random people on stage that didn’t really seem to have any connection to her or the song. There was also a video with a close up of Miley’s face with glitter glue and sprinkles pouring out of her mouth which was disturbing and confusing.
The highlight of the event was when Kanye West accepted MTV’s Vanguard Award, an honor given to an artist who has made a huge impact in MTV Culture. Taylor Swift presented West with this award, which a meaningful way for them show the world that the have both moved on since Kanye famously insulted her at the VMA’s years earlier.
In his 11 minute acceptance speech, Kanye created another big moment in time. He rambled about fatherhood, half-heartedly apologized to Swift, admitted that he was high and insulted MTV and all award shows. He saved the best for last, his announcement that he was running for president in 2020.
All things considered, the show had seamless performances, but the actual quality of the music wasn’t impressive. The songs lacked substance and originality. However, MTV succeeded in it’s primary goal for the night, creating buzz.
While the broadcast may not have gotten the ratings they had hoped for, it was the second most tweeted event behind the Super Bowl. People were talking that night, and they’re still talking. As far as MTV is concerned, they created headline-grabbing moments that change culture. That, is what they call, success.
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