By MARK LINDSLEY
Staff Writer
MTV’s 34th annual Video Music Awards aired Sunday, Aug. 27th, and even though a headline-making moment may not have happened, there were still plenty of things that did occur that are worthy of remembering.
1. The host of the show was Katy Perry, who was criticized harshly for her lackluster performance. Even though a majority of awards show hosts are criticized for something, the criticism of Perry appeared to be justified. The night was full of awkward comments from Perry and concluded with her dabbing at the end of her performance of her new song, “Swish Swish.”
2. Kendrick Lamar was the night’s big winner, opening the show with what was considered the performance of the night. Lamar also won six of the eight awards he was nominated for, including Video of the Year for his song “HUMBLE.” and five other awards for the same video.
3. Another big winner was Taylor Swift, who was
only nominated for one award and wasn’t even there. Swift won the award for Best Collaboration with Zayn Malik for the song “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever.” She also debuted the video for her new song “Look What You Made Me Do,” which was arguably the biggest moment of the night.
4. The iconic Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award was given to Pink, who used her acceptance speech to share a very emotional story. Her daughter, Willow, had come to her saying that she thinks she looks like a boy with long hair and is ugly. Pink assured not just her daughter, but every little boy and girl watching, that they are beautiful no matter what.
5. An even more powerful and emotional moment came when Logic, Alessia Cara, Khalid and people suffering from mental illness came together on stage to perform the song “1-800-273-8255,” which brought many of the audience members to tears.
6. Fifth Harmony threw some shade at their former groupmate Camila Cabello by opening their performance in the shadows with a symbolic fifth person, who was then knocked into outer space before they started singing. The group also took home the award for Best Pop Video for the song “Down” and showed everybody that they aren’t going to have any trouble moving on.
7. The night had a very political feel to it, as MTV removed all gender-based categories and changed their Moonman award to a Moon Person award. The award for Best Pop Video was presented by Michael Jackson’s daughter, Paris, who talked about white supremacy and encouraged the audience to “resist” against hatred. Susan Bro also came on stage to talk about a new foundation named in honor of her daughter, Heather Heyer, who was killed in the rallies at Charlottesville.
8. Some other awards were Artist of the Year, Artist to Watch and Best Song of the Summer. These were awarded to Ed Sheeran, Khalid, and “XO TOUR Llif3” by Lil Uzi Vert, respectively.
