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The MTV VMA Awards 2016 get mixed reviews

By Instep Desk
Tue, 08, 16

Few awards shows live up to their hype, but the MTV Video Music Awards have almost always been an exception to that rule. Ever since the first show in 1984, the VMAs have been good for some jaw dropping performances, prime celebrity watching in the audience, and if they’re lucky, the kinds of moments that keep people dissecting their layers for years to come.

 Mothers of the Movement: Four women, all of whom have lost children to gun violence or police killings in USA, were among Beyoncé’s entourage. Lezley McSpadden, Gwen Carr, Wanda Johnson, and Sybrina Fulton — the mothers of the late Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Oscar Grant, and Trayvon Martin, respectively — were decked out in their red-carpet best, making a statement with their mere physical presence.

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Few awards shows live up to their hype, but the MTV Video Music Awards have almost always been an exception to that rule. Ever since the first show in 1984, the VMAs have been good for some jaw dropping performances, prime celebrity watching in the audience, and if they’re lucky, the kinds of moments that keep people dissecting their layers for years to come.

The 2016 awards were a decidedly mixed bag, though. Taking place in New York City’s Madison Square Garden for the first time — for decades, the VMAs have switched between slightly smaller venues in New York and LA — the production moved in fits and starts, with obvious sound and organizational issues cramping most of the performances.

Here’s our pick of highs and lows from the evening…

HIGH: Beyonce

Beyoncé wasn’t on the original performance schedule that MTV released before the awards, but about halfway through the show she was already one of the most anticipated acts of the night. And given the year Beyoncé’s had — between her stunning album Lemonade, her ‘Formation’ tour, and her Super Bowl halftime show featuring guest house band, Coldplay — it was no surprise that she crushed it.

Beyoncé took the VMA stage with fire in her eyes — both figuratively and literally, thanks to the reflection of projected flames onto her face — and made it hers. She performed a full medley from Lemonade that had the entire arena on its feet within seconds. Beyoncé could’ve owned the VMAs with that performance alone, but she’s Beyoncé, and so she ended it with two VMA wins, for Best Female Video (‘Hold Up’), and Video of the Year (‘Formation’), the show’s highest achievement.

These wins bring Beyoncé total VMAs tally to 21 wins, officially breaking Madonna’s previous record of 20 to make Beyoncé the most decorated VMA winner of all time.

LOW: Britney Spears

Britney Spears may have given the VMAs some of their most iconic moments, but this time – her first performance in ten years - she just looked like a banana trying to get the groove on. It just didn’t work. To be fair the lineup did her no favours; Spears followed a 16-minute set by Beyonce Knowles that brought the house down and anyone would have struggled to match up. A full nine years after the disastrous 2007 ‘Gimme More’ performance that made Britney fans and skeptics alike sigh in resignation, Britney celebrated the August 26 release of her ninth album Glory by coming back to the VMAs but should she have listened and stayed away when critics had written her off or did she do the right thing by making this comeback? Truthfully, it’s not a performance we enjoyed.

HIGH: Rihanna

The VMAs honoured Rihanna by giving her the Video Vanguard prize (the VMAs’ version of a lifetime achievement award). But it was her performances that allowed her to rule the night.

She kicked off the show with a medley including past hits like ‘Don’t Stop the Music’ and ‘Only Girl (In the World)’. Later, with her second performance, she kicked things up a notch by dancing her face off in neon to another medley including ‘Rude Boy,’ ‘Work,’ and ‘What’s My Name.’ The next time we saw her, she turned down the lights and ramped up the attitude for the one-two-three punch of confident, sexy-as-hell anthems, ‘Needed Me,’ ‘Pour It Up,’ and ‘Bitch Better Have My Money.’ Finally, she closed out her appearance with a gorgeous rendition of three slower ballads — ‘Stay,’ ‘Diamonds,’ and ‘Love on the Brain’ — that showcased her voice in a way the other, choppier medleys couldn’t.

Rihanna showed a full range of vocals, which is why she was getting this award honoring her career arc, even though she’s only 28 years old. For the last decade, she’s had hit after hit after hit — and as she proved at the VMAs, her performing abilities and charisma have only gotten stronger with every passing year.

She also proved that she’s got the music industry wrapped around her finger — including one guy in particular. And this was a rather uncomfortable moment.

LOW: Drake

While introducing Rihanna’s Vanguard award, Drake took the moment to announce that he’s “been in love with her since [he] was 22 years old.” This declaration kind of put him at the brunt of a lot of jokes but there’s no denying that Drake had a rough night from the get-go. Though he won the evening’s first award — Best Hip-Hop Video, for “Hotline Bling” — Drake missed the chance to accept it for arguably the most boring reason anyone’s late to anything: He got stuck in traffic.

Then, at the very end of the show, he finally strolled onto the stage in a tuxedo to present Rih’s award. He earnestly gushed over “the iconic being that is Rihanna,” looking for all the world like he was about to drop down on one knee and make his adolescent dreams come true, or at least reenact the final 10 seconds of any rom-com worth swooning over. Instead, he gave her the award and went in for a kiss — and he was denied. #Awkward

—With information from Vox and Inquirer.