The 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, hosted in Brooklyn, started out very strong with Lady Gaga performing her latest single, Applause. She was theatrical, as always, with many costume changes inspired by her newest video. And again, as always, you have to give her props whether you love her or not, she has an immense amount of talent. Her singing and dancing chops are top notch. The song itself is incredibly catchy and the music video has her little monsters, I'm sure, already working hard to learn the dance moves. If you haven't checked it out yet, you can check it out below!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=pco91kroVgQ
After Gaga's performance, things sort of turned into a roller coaster ride from there on. Here are what I thought were the high's and low's of the evening:
High Point:
As I stated before, Lady Gaga gave a solid performance to kickoff the show. Also, as Kevin Hart pointed out, girl has got some ass! I need to find out her workout routine.
High Point:
Vanessa Bayer does a hilarious impression of Miley Cyrus on SNL so it was fabulous to see her come out as Miley on the stage to introduce Robin Thicke and Miley Cyrus's performance.
Low Point:
Miley Cyrus completely ruined what could have been a great performance of what I believe should have been this year's summer song, Blurred Lines. It was clear to me that she made everyone, onstage and off, completely uncomfortable with her disgusting, gyrating moves. Even though Robin Thicke came onto the stage looking like Beetlejuice, I still would have liked to have seen him perform, sans Cyrus.
Low Point:
Kanye West's performance was bizarre, and not in a good way. From complete effects overload on his voice to his strange and somewhat feminine shadow dancing during his Wizard of Oz pay-no-attention-to-the-man-behind-the-curtain routine, it left much to be desired.
Low Point: The horrible production quality of the show throughout!! Especially during Kanye's and JT's performances. The sound quality was so poor and so distracting that I found myself having to turn down the volume during one of the best performances of the night (JT). Thankfully it appeared to be fixed as the show went on.
High Point:
The Nsync reunion during Justin Timberlake's mini (and completely awesome) concert. Everyone in that audience turned into a 12 year old girl, circa 1999. Even though Lance, Joey, Chris, and JC were noticeably rusty, it was definitely an exciting and historic moment during an exquisite performance by JT.
High Point:
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis and Mary Lambert gave a moving performance of Same Love after accepting the award for Best Video with a Social Message. The surprise collaboration with Jennifer Hudson onstage left me with goose bumps as I listened to she and Mary Lambert harmonize together. Just beautiful all around.
Low Point:
Ed Sheeran certainly had the best video in the category for Best Male Video. His ultra clever video for Lego House, featuring none other than Rupert Grint, surely had ginger lovers everywhere throwing their arms in the air in protest when Bruno Mars took home the Moonman for Locked out of Heaven. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore Bruno Mars and I'm happy he got his first Moonman, but Lego House is a far superior video. If you haven't seen it, you need to see it. Click the link below!
High Point:
For me, Bruno Mars had the best performance of the night. His vocals were powerful, his band was spot on, as they always are, and the pyro and laser show was cool without being too much. His song, Gorilla, was super sexy and had me fanning myself by the end of the performance.
High Point:
I was so stoked to see Joseph Gordon-Levitt present the award for Video of the Year. He put on a comical voice throughout and called himself out on it too. Always great to see JGL!
Low Point:
I'm sorry, but Justin Timberlake's Mirrors was not the Video of the Year. I am a JT fan and I do think it's nice that the video was made for his grandparents, but if we are going strictly based off of videos with feeling, they might as well have given the award to Macklemore and Ryan Lewis for Same Love. Blurred Lines was once again shafted even though it is a much more iconic video than Mirrors. I stand by what I say; the video for Blurred Lines will be talked about for years, Mirrors will not.
Low Point:
Katy Perry's performance of Roar was...how can I say this...BORING! It was lazily choreographed and rather anticlimactic for being the finale of the show. They called it "the moment we all were waiting for" yet it was underwhelming. Katy's vocals sounded good when you could hear them over the prerecorded track. Maybe if they allowed her to be more audible and had her throwing less punches in the air, the performance would have been more memorable.
Other notable moments for me: Drake's performance--his voice sounded clear and lovely in the beginning and then he rocked it going into Started from the Bottom. He was energetic and definitely got the crowd into the show he put on. Jimmy Fallon--loved his introduction for JT's performance, as well as his presentation of the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award to JT. He was exciting and quirky and even JT made the comment that he wanted to take Jimmy along with him everywhere he goes. Group Love and Vampire Weekend--Two of my favorite newer bands at least got small parts during the show. Group Love's song Ways to Go was played during an outro to a commercial break and Vampire Weekend presented the award for Best Summer Song to One Direction for Best Song Ever (Blurred Lines first snub). Kendrick Lamar--Kendrick had the best performance during the mashup of Blurred Lines and We Can't Stop. Jared Leto--Besides looking devilishly handsome with his stylish Ombre hair, he gave a funny intro for Kanye, remarking on all the critical acclaim that Kanye gives himself. Even though he wore something that looked like it came out of a WWE wrestler's closet, he was still looking good! The commercials--Andy Samberg's new show looks hilarious, Insidious 2 looks terrifying, Johnny Knoxville's Bad Grandpa had me rolling, and Paul Rodriguez's Mountain Dew commercial was epic.
Overall, the show was a little lackluster for me. The biggest problems were production quality and appearance of disorganization. I'm not sure if any of it was meant to be done on purpose, but it certainly didn't seem that way and it certainly didn't do the show any favors. There was a handful of great performances, but it was really too bad that some of them were a little spoiled by poor sound quality. Hopefully next year's show goes a little more smoothly.
I loved when Vanessa Bayer came out to do her Miley impression too! I also thought Blurred Lines got many snubs and once I saw Pharell was there, I was even more mad that he didn't perform with Robin Thicke!
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