Erin Seils| Reporter
The 36th annual Video Music Awards took place in the evening of Sunday the 27th of August in the US, hosted by Katy Perry. While there was the option of live streaming the awards show online for only the second time ever, unfortunately MTV’s live broadcast was at 1am on Monday morning in the UK. If you were happily tucked up in bed, here is a recap of everything you missed.
Performances
Several artists performed at the VMAs including Shawn Mendes, Ed Sheeran, Miley Cyrus, Lorde, Rod Stewart, Logic and Fifth Harmony. Kendrick Lamar kick-started the show with a medley of DNA and Humble. P!nk also performed a medley of some of her hits from her 17 year long career in the music industry.
Who won?
The most significant award is of course for Best Music Video. Kendrick Lamar took this home as well as 5 others after being nominated for 8 awards in total. Ed Sheeran beat him to the award for Best Artist while Kanye West’s Fade won Best Choreography, Lamar’s final nomination.
P!nk recieved one of the most highly regarded awards from MTV, the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard award for not only her success as an artist but her contribution to society as a person.
MTV’s Best Video with a Message award was first introduced in 2011; it then changed to Best Video with a Social Message in 2013. In 2017, the award has been rebranded as Best Fight Against the System. MTV decided to honour all nominees this year due to the variety of important issues publicised by these songs – issues which often remain hidden in the masses of songs about drugs, alcohol and partying.
Politics
Politics was in the limelight before this year’s awards even began with gender specific categories being completely removed – even the well-known “Moonman” trophy, used since the first VMAs in 1984, was renamed “Moon Person”.
During the introduction to the award for “Best Fight Against the System”, Susan Bro, whose daughter was killed during the Charlottesville incident 15 days before the VMAs, and a descendent of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee took the opportunity to condemn the atrocious racism which caused Heather Heyer’s life to be lost. Susan Bro also announced the launch of heatherheyerfoundation.com.
“A non-profit organisation that will provide scholarships to help more people join Heather’s fight against hatred”.
To many, the VMA show is nothing more than a celebration of the stand-out music artists of the year. However, this year, the award show praised not only musical talent but the genuine care for world issues that can be conveyed through music videos.
