{"id":1639,"date":"2016-08-30T13:28:06","date_gmt":"2016-08-30T13:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/essentialhome.eu\/inspirations\/?p=1639"},"modified":"2016-08-30T13:28:06","modified_gmt":"2016-08-30T13:28:06","slug":"mtv-vmas-2016-best-worst-moments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.essentialhome.eu\/inspirations\/lifestyle\/mtv-vmas-2016-best-worst-moments\/","title":{"rendered":"MTV VMA 2016: 20 Best and Worst Moments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

You\u2019re never too old. I remember watching the Moon man festival waaay before I got cable and free wi fi but as we progressed the show did not progress with us.\u00a0Here\u2019s the high and the low\u2019s of the<\/span> MTV VMA 2016.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

It was intended to be the Rihanna show \u2013 since the 28-year-old entertainer was receiving the Video Vanguard Award and was programmed to perform four career-spanning medleys throughout the evening. But it turned into a Beyonc\u00e9 mini-concert when she and her crew performed an epic medley of songs from Lemonade that left everyone with dropped jaws. Here\u2019s the highs and lows from a night of no-show celebs, anticlimactic reinventions and divas in the spotlight.<\/p>\n

\"MTV<\/p>\n

Best of the Night: Beyonc\u00e9
\nThe 2016 VMAs were Rihanna\u2019s to own, but Beyonc\u00e9 had other ideas. For 15 glorious minutes,she staged a Lemonade medley that doubled as a feminist pop spectacle for the ages. She began in full art-diva mode, standing stock still in a white cape and funereal hat. As \u201cPray You Catch Me\u201d began, 16 dancers flanked her in a Guggenheim-worthy tableau; then, in a clear nod to Black Lives Matter, they gradually fell to the stage in bursts of red light. The mood lightened but Bey\u2019s fierceness only intensified during the reggae-tinged \u201cHold Up,\u201d as she and her crew began a long trek through an awed crowd.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO:\u00a0THE BEST REACTIONS TO MICHAEL PHELPS WINNING GOLD<\/a><\/p>\n

\"MTV
\nBest: Rihanna, Take One
\nThe Video Music Awards have reveled in MTV\u2019s ability to wrangle A-list stars for surprises. Sunday night\u2019s show started off with a fairly big one: Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award recipient Rihanna would be celebrating her lifetime-achievement Moonman with not one, not two, but four performances culled from her formidable catalog. Illuminated by pink lights that made the stage, and her outfit, seem inspired by spun sugar, the 28-year-old opened the 32nd running of the VMAs with the urgent \u201cDon\u2019t Stop The Music\u201d \u2014 which, perhaps not coincidentally, samples the \u201cSoul Makossa\u201d-inspired breakdown from Jackson\u2019s 1983 \u201cWanna Be Startin\u2019 Somethin'\u201d single.<\/p>\n

\"MTV<\/p>\n

Best: Rihanna, Take Two
\nRihanna\u2019s second medley of the night was a party ( at the mtv vma 2016)\u2014 quite literally, as revelers who were ready to move along with whatever songs she served up surrounded her onstage. Opening with a flip of the taunting \u201cRude Boy\u201d that incorporated the beat from Chaka Demus and Pliers\u2019 spiny dancehall crossover hit \u201cMurder She Wrote\u201d (itself lifted from the Maytals\u2019 \u201cBam Bam\u201d), RiRi led her guests in a sweaty run through \u201cRude Boy,\u201d followed by the playful \u201cWhat\u2019s My Name?\u201d and the sinewy \u201cWork.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MTV<\/p>\n

Worst: Rihanna, Take Three
\nIt might have been the collective audience of the mtv vma 2016 hangover after Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s Lemonade spectacle, or it may just have been that the songs picked for Rihanna\u2019s third medley \u2014 the acidic \u201cNeeded Me,\u201d the banger-brooder \u201cPour It Up,\u201d the vengeful \u201cBitch Better Have My Money\u201d \u2014 didn\u2019t have as many moments that translate into big TV. Rihanna\u2019s flaunting of a death-metal-styled logo \u2014 which was worn by her phalanx of dancers, WWE merch-flogging style \u2014 was probably the most important development resulting from this particular performance. How the shirts, which have RIHANNA splayed across them in a garish puke green, haven\u2019t yet shown up at her official store yet is a mystery.<\/p>\n

\"MTV<\/p>\n

Best: Rihanna, Take Four
\nSometimes songs come along that completely reframe artists\u2019 careers, allowing them to show sides of themselves that were always present, but never at the forefront. That\u2019s certainly the case with Rihanna\u2019s torchy Anti track \u201cLove on the Brain,\u201d which is a tour de force that lets her show just how much emotional energy she can wring out of a track \u2014 its passing resemblance to Queen\u2019s similarly tortured \u201cSomebody to Love\u201d is only enhanced by the ferocity of her vocal, which is wracked with heartache and ambivalent hope. Rihanna\u2019s final medley of the night bookended her current single with the aching \u201cStay\u201d and the glittery \u201cDiamonds,\u201d but it was the rip-roaring run through \u201cBrain\u201d that cast her pop megastardom in a new light.<\/p>\n

\"MTV
\nWorst: The Anticlimactic Return of Britney Spears
\nWe all wished it would be a triumph. We all feared it might be a disaster. Instead, Britney\u2019s much-discussed return to the VMAs was just depressingly competent. The visual design was intriguing enough, starting with a silhouetted Britney performing recognizably Britney-ish moves during her new single \u201cMake Me,\u201d and the star shined in a skimpy, spangled yellow unitard and boots once she appeared in the flesh. But Ms. Spears not only had to share the stage with the lanky, leather-clad G-Eazy \u2014 a capable but mostly charmless rapper \u2014 but she had to sing the hook on his hit, \u201cMe Myself and I.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MTV<\/p>\n

Best: We Like the New Kanye
\nKanye West inhabits a very specific Venn diagram where \u201cboundless creativity\u201d meets \u201coppressive fame.\u201d Because of this he not only can treat one of the biggest awards shows as anopen mic to just \u201criff,\u201d but the audience will eat it up like he\u2019s Louis C.K. or Jerry Seinfeld. He had jokes but also had serious words about murders in Chicago; he alluded to tabloid fodder and defended his controversial video\u2019s use of tabloid fodder; he had a zen narcissism (\u201cI am Kanye West \u2026 and that feels really great to say\u201d) but also made room to call Chance the Rapper \u201cthe future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Best:<\/p>\n

Best: Beyonc\u00e9 Wins Video of the Year
\nAfter racking up 11 nominations \u2014 more than any other artist, ever \u2014 and delivering a gripping, 15-minute Lemonade medley, it was no surprise that Beyonc\u00e9 scored the ultimate VMA. \u201cI dedicate this award to the people of New Orleans,\u201d said Bey who set her groundbreaking video in the city. From the city\u2019s roots in the slave trade, to the economic and environmental devastation it faced post-Hurricane Katrina, to an ongoing epidemic of police violence, \u201cFormation\u201d is a tribute to the endurance of its people, most notably those who are black and poor. Yet Beyonc\u00e9 and director Melina Matsoukas take it a step further, making the case not just for black survival, but for black empowerment in a series of striking images: her middle fingers up in funeral garb; black women linking their arms in dance; a newspaper headlined \u201cMore Than a Dreamer\u201d with MLK\u2019s face on the cover; a standoff between a child in a hoodie and row of riot cops; the words \u201cSTOP SHOOTING US\u201d scrawled on a wall; Beyonc\u00e9 herself lain across a New Orleans cop car, sinking in the midst of a flood. To Beyonc\u00e9, New Orleans is not just the city she loves; New Orleans is the mirror through which the United States must see itself, warts and all. Whereas 2013\u2019s \u201c***Flawless\u201d once called for the world to bow down, 2016\u2019s \u201cFormation\u201d is the call to rise up.<\/p>\n

\"MTV
\nWorst: No Mention of Music Video Pioneers David Bowie and Prince
\nIt\u2019s pretty hard to imagine what modern pop music would be like if David Bowie and Prince had never existed, but it\u2019s impossible to imagine MTV without their visual flair setting dazzling examples in its earliest years. And yet, the VMAs chose not to mourn either recently deceased genius. The night lacked even a respectful mention of either legend by a presenter \u2014 though Bowie did appear briefly onscreen when the video for \u201cBlackstar\u201d won an award for art direction. Still, you\u2019d think Bowie, the winner of the very first Video Vanguard Award and a man who was making videos for a full decade before MTV was born, would merit some acknowledgement. The Video Vanguard is an award, it should be noted, the Prince never received \u2013 though maybe MTV thought he\u2019d be insulted by the honor once they re-named it for Michael Jackson.<\/p>\n

\"MTV<\/p>\n

Worst: The Parade of No-Shows<\/p>\n

A steady stream of couldn\u2019t-be-there-tonights made an already low-energy show feel even more tepid. Puff Daddy informed us early on that Drake \u2013 who would turn up later \u2013 was \u201cstuck in traffic\u201d after the Canadian star failed to take the stage to accept his Best Hip-Hop Video award. Unlikely Best Male Video winner Calvin Harris skipped the show for a show in the U.K., accepting via satellite, while the Final Five became the Final Four due to Gabby Douglas being hospitalized for a mouth infection.<\/p>\n

\"MTV<\/p>\n

Best: Alicia Keys Takes a Stand<\/p>\n

Forget canned jokes and robotic recitations of what a category means: Alicia Keys turned her presentation of Best Male Video into an opportunity. After noting that it was the 53rd anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s \u201cI Have a Dream\u201d speech, Keys launched into a poem about the ways in which sex and war are treated by culture that eventually turned into a full-throated hymn about the callousness of the world. \u201cMaybe we could love somebody\/maybe we could care a little more\/maybe we could love somebody\/instead of polishing the bombs of holy war,\u201d she sang, sans accompaniment. She then resumed speaking: \u201cI still believe in that dream that one day, our nation is going to rise up and be finally, finally completely about the true meaning of this creed: That all women and men are created equal.\u201d The combination of poetry and politics provided a neat flashback to earlier VMA political moments: R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe\u2019s rotation of message-festooned T-shirts, Beastie Boy Adam \u201cAd-Rock\u201d Horovitz\u2019s impassioned speech about women\u2019s equality, Beyonc\u00e9 standing in front of a larger-than-life \u201cFEMINIST.\u201d That Best Male Video wound up going to Calvin Harris for \u201cThis Is What You Came For,\u201d a song that has Rihanna at its sparkling center, only made Keys\u2019 call seem more potent.<\/p>\n

\"MTV<\/p>\n

Worst: Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj Sweat to the Oldies<\/p>\n

Was it just us, or did it feel a bit chilly in there? Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj are no strangers \u2013 they first slayed together alongside Jessie J on the 2014 hit \u201cBang Bang,\u201d and Grande would resurface later that year on\u00a0The Pinkprint\u00a0<\/em>cut \u201cGet On Your Knees.\u201d But neither the spandex nor Buns of Steel could heat up the ladies\u2019 frosty on-stage chemistry\u00a0during their performance of \u201cSide to Side,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0off Grande\u2019s latest album,\u00a0Dangerous Woman<\/em>. It was almost cruel to make a virtuosa such as Grande huff out her lines while peddling on a stationary cycle, curtailing her usual live vocal prowess. Not to mention the hunks gingerly diving down to face the divas at crotch level, resulting in one of the most lukewarm allusions to cunnilingus on television.<\/p>\n

\"MTV<\/p>\n

Worst: Michael Phelps Flails<\/p>\n

Fresh from his multiple victories at the 2016 Rio Olympics, swim champion Michael Phelps made a rare appearance last night \u2013 as in, on dry-land, fully-clothed and standing upright \u2013 to introduce Future\u2019s debut VMAs performance. \u201cRemember in Rio when I made that face that ended up all over the Internet?\u201d asked Phelps, awkwardly, in reference to his own viral meme. \u201cI was in the zone with Future\u2019s track, \u2018Stick Talk\u2019 blaring in my headphones,\u201d he confessed, giving a somewhat plausible reason for his grimace at South African competitor Chad Le Clos. \u201cI might have a lot of golds,\u201d he added, \u201cbut this guy\u2019s got all the platinum.\u201d Leave it to the most decorated Olympian of all time to nab a platform on national television to be \u2026 a total fanboy.<\/p>\n

\"mtv,<\/p>\n

Worst: The Chainsmokers and Halsey Get \u201cCloser\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with gritty pop rebel Halsey, New York City DJ duo the Chainsmokers currently have the Number One single on the\u00a0Billboard<\/em>\u00a0Hot 100 with their carefree summer jam, \u201cCloser.\u201d But for a crew of hitmakers, they put on one sleeper of a performance. Comprised of a mountain for a backdrop and some light fog, the sparse visuals hardly warranted broadcast \u2013 much less the lackluster, albeit cuddly vocal performance between Halsey and the Chainsmokers\u2019 Drew Taggart. Producer Alex Pall looked lonely behind his drum machine while it all went down, ensconced by white mist.<\/p>\n

\"MTV<\/p>\n

Best: Drake Toasts to Rihanna<\/p>\n

The most dominant pop star of 2016 did his best at MTV VMA 2016\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m not worthy\u201d while presenting his old pal Rihanna with her Video Vanguard award, and restored some dignity to the Barbadian singer after Beyonc\u00e9 had all but stolen the show out from under her. He strolled up in a tux anddescribed his first encounter\u00a0with \u201csomeone I\u2019ve been in love with since I was 22 years old,\u201d whom he met while he was a lowly restaurant singer. He cracked a couple corny jokes \u2013 showing a photo of himself with a Rihanna-esque do \u2013 and through his humility seemed to re-convince the audience that they were looking at a fellow megastar.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO:\u00a0THE BEST REACTIONS TO MICHAEL PHELPS WINNING GOLD<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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