{"id":1045652,"date":"2022-08-29T15:31:41","date_gmt":"2022-08-29T12:31:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1045652"},"modified":"2022-08-29T15:31:41","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T12:31:41","slug":"the-best-and-worst-of-the-2022-mtv-vmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1045652","title":{"rendered":"The Best and Worst of the 2022 MTV VMAs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Best and Worst of the 2022 MTV VMAs<\/h1>\n
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From Taylor Swift\u2019s big surprise to Flea\u2019s gloriously oddball speech to whatever the hell Johnny Depp was supposed to be doing there<\/div>\n
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By <\/span>Eric Torres<\/span>, Quinn Moreland<\/span>, and Dylan Green<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

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Taylor Swift, Lizzo, and Bad Bunny provided some of best moments at this year\u2019s VMAs. (Image by Callum Abbott, photos via Getty)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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At this point, it seems like even the celebrities are bored with the VMAs. Returning to Newark, New Jersey\u2019s Prudential Center, last night\u2019s event was somehow more phoned-in than usual. Performances were built around a nightmarish amount of augmented-reality visuals; emcee duties were split unevenly between the bizarre rap trio of LL Cool J, Jack Harlow, and Video Vanguard winner Nicki Minaj; and a disembodied Johnny Depp occasionally appeared out of the ether, CGI\u2019d into a spacesuit hovering above the stage between commercial breaks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Everything about this felt very off, but nevertheless, some stars still managed to shine: Flea gave one of the most chaotically good acceptance speeches in recent memory when Red Hot Chili Peppers took home the Global Icon Award, Bad Bunny put everyone else to shame with a triumphant performance from his show at Yankee Stadium, and Taylor Swift used her Video of the Year win to announce a brand new album. Here are the best and worst of music\u2019s weirdest night. \u2013Eric Torres<\/p>\n

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The Best<\/h2>\n
They really should have just aired Bad Bunny\u2019s full Yankee Stadium show instead<\/div>\n

Late in the broadcast, Bad Bunny beamed in from his set at Yankee Stadium, where the Puerto Rican superstar was performing a two-night run as part of his World\u2019s Hottest Tour. The energy shift was real: The Prudential Center looked like a funeral home compared to the gleefully rowdy crowd in the Bronx, which sang back every word of Un Verano Sin Ti<\/em>\u2019s party-starting track \u201cTit\u00ed Me Pregunt\u00f3.\u201d Ever the showman, Bad Bunny sauntered across the palm tree-decked stage in a sharp silk suit, and made out with both a guy and a girl in front of a spray of pyrotechnics. Then he made further history by becoming the first Latin artist to ever take home the Artist of the Year award. MTV, please just air the entire Bad Bunny concert next time; no one would complain. \u2013ET<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Taylor Swift delivers the drama<\/em><\/div>\n

Taylor Swift was up to something, that much was certain. After skipping the Grammys back in April, the singer unexpectedly appeared at the VMAs in a diamond-drenched dress that evoked her Reputation<\/em> era, hinting that she might announce Reputation (Taylor\u2019s Version)<\/em>. (The VMAs are, after all, essential Swiftian lore.) Then, at the very end of the evening, when Swift accepted the Video of the Year award for her epic \u201cAll Too Well\u201d visual, the queen of chaos announced that she would be dropping a new album on October 21. After the show, she revealed more details for Midnights<\/em>, describing the record as \u201cthe stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life.\u201d Wake up, babe, new insomniac era just dropped. \u2013Quinn Moreland<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Red Hot Chili Peppers keep it real<\/div>\n

The Red Hot Chili Peppers\u2019 performances of \u201cBlack Summer,\u201d off this year\u2019s Unlimited Love<\/em>, along with their 2002 hit \u201cCan\u2019t Stop,\u201d were totally fine\u2014but it was their acceptance speeches for the Global Icon Award that stole the show. An eternally boyish Anthony Kiedis thanked the \u201csassy mistress known as MTV for supporting us for 1,000 years or more.\u201d Drummer Chad Smith dedicated the award to the late Taylor Hawkins, who received the same honor last year with Foo Fighters. (During their performance, Smith also played a drum kit decorated with an eagle surrounding the word \u201cTaylor.\u201d) Flea, bless his heart, took the moment to passionately<\/em> express his appreciation for \u201ccockroaches and dirt and trees,\u201d crying out at the speech\u2019s end: \u201cEverything that isn\u2019t love is cowardice.\u201d For an evening heavy on holographic butts, it was a rare moment of eloquence. \u2013QM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Lizzo claps back with a wink<\/div>\n

Lizzo\u2019s medley of feel-good hits landed with an extra kick last night, but her acceptance speech for the Video for Good Award, for \u201cAbout Damn Time,\u201d really didn\u2019t beat around the bush. Alluding to recent fatphobic and\/or racist comments made by irrelevant celebrities, and referencing Nicki Minaj at the 2015 VMAs, Lizzo said, \u201cAnd now, to the bitches that got something to say about me in the press\u2026\u201d before adding, in a reasonable tone, \u201cThey be like, \u2018Lizzo, why don\u2019t you clap back?\u2019 Because I\u2019m winning, hoe.\u201d Then she let loose with a cathartic scream, doubling down: \u201cBig bitch is winning, hoe!<\/em>\u201d \u2013Dylan Green<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Saucy Santana deserved a spot on the main stage<\/div>\n

Why on earth did the VMAs relegate Saucy Santana to the barely watched pre-show? Rising from City Girls sidekick to dexterous hitmaker, the undeniably charismatic rapper has made a name for himself over the last few years without sacrificing any of his loveable catchphrases or his queer roots. He commandeered the pre-show\u2019s small outdoor stage for the first performance of the night, bedecked in a leather catsuit spangled in gold chains to play a medley of recent singles \u201cBooty\u201d and \u201cToo Much,\u201d backed by dancers voguing in leather gimp suits. It was perfectly suited for a night honoring Nicki Minaj, whose winking excess has clearly inspired Santana. If only more viewers were let into his queer fantasia to begin with. \u2013ET<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Worst<\/h2>\n
This just in\u2014gender nonconforming moon person revealed to be straight white man<\/div>\n

Back in 2017, in an effort to rehab its image (and its ratings), MTV vaguely embraced progressive politics and replaced the VMAs\u2019 Moonman statue with that of a Moon Person. As MTV President Chris McCarthy explained at the time, \u201cIt could be a man, it could be a woman, it could be transgender, it could be nonconformist.\u201d Or it could be\u2026 Johnny Depp.<\/p>\n

Throughout the evening, a video of Depp\u2019s face was projected onto a massive Moon Person that creepily floated above the audience. \u201cI needed the work,\u201d his terrifying visage joked, presumably in reference to his recent defamation trial, the verdict of which could potentially discourage victims of domestic violence from coming forward in the future. However ridiculous, it was infuriating that Depp would be given this comeback opportunity at all. But like everything else involving the actor, it probably came down to a twisted desire for attention. \u2013QM<\/p>\n

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Eminem and Snoop Dogg\u2019s meta-tastic voyage<\/div>\n

Eminem and Snoop Dogg are about as relevant to young people in 2022 as Herbert Hoover. But that didn\u2019t stop MTV from asking the duo to perform their weed-friendly recent single \u201cFrom the D 2 the LBC\u201d from the confines of a hellish metaverse. Em and Snoop\u2019s avatars wouldn\u2019t pass a playtest of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas<\/em> back in 2004, but their Bored Ape avatars were even worse as they spouted bland raps about Hanes shirts and Walgreens. By the time they woke up from a fake weed-induced nap to shamble their way through the last 45 seconds of their performance IRL, I was ready to fire up Travis Scott\u2019s virtual Fortnite<\/em> concert again. \u2013DG<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Source URL: https:\/\/pitchfork.com\/thepitch\/the-best-and-worst-of-the-2022-mtv-vmas\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Columns The Best and Worst of the 2022 MTV VMAs From Taylor Swift\u2019s big surprise to Flea\u2019s gloriously oddball speech to whatever the hell Johnny Depp was supposed to be doing there By Eric Torres, Quinn Moreland, and Dylan Green August 29, 2022 Taylor Swift, Lizzo, and Bad Bunny provided some of best moments at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[54],"class_list":["post-1045652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-pitchfork-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1045652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1045652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1045652\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1045652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1045652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1045652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}