The MTV Video Music Awards turn 40 this year and they’re feeling nostalgic. Lots of old rappers, for one thing, at a show that was opened by Eminem and closed by LL Cool J, celebrating the 40th anniversary of Def Jam. But that’s not the only reason this year’s awards appeared a touch more mature, with a Lenny Kravitz/Quavo team-up straight out of the Grammys playbook, a special appearance by TRL’s Carson Daly (who said he returned to the VMAs mostly because the event was held at his and his kids’ favorite hockey team’s arena), and flashback footage (Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley!) aimed squarely at the target audience’s parents.
Truthfully, the entire three-plus-hour show felt calmer than usual: Less hectic editing, fewer crowd shots, hardly any Taylor Swift reactions. (Last year, we watched her react to practically the whole thing.) Naturally, Swift still went home with the night’s first and last awards, winning Best Collaboration and Video of the Year (and several more) for the self-directed “Fortnight” video, with Post Malone, barely 24 hours after making headlines for her endorsement of Kamala Harris.
Everyone here is media-trained, but this year’s VMAs came across as especially safe for work. That’s owed partly to first-time host Megan Thee Stallion, who surely has a long television career ahead, as well as an extra-long new Pepsi commercial remaking Beyoncé, Britney, and P!nk’s gladiatorial classic. Even for a show that regularly features advertiser logos onstage, the marketing tie-ins were inescapable (quoth Big Sean: “We love Doritos”). Scan to order the VMA Whopper Meal and read on for our best and worst performances of music’s most bewildering night.
–Anna Gaca
The Best
She’s working late because she’s a singer! As she descended from the rafters, on a diamond-shaped swing (how many carats is that?), Sabrina Carpenter was delightfully, unmistakably singing live, even showing off a little, garnering a rapturous reception with a mashup of “Please Please Please,” “Taste,” and that me espresso. She also kissed a sexy blue alien for some reason, though, at the VMAs, the inside of a neon-sign store packed full of breakdancing astronauts is perfectly in line with the tenor of the occasion. If only our Short n’ Sweet queen’s set hadn’t been… so short.
–Anna Gaca
Chappell Roan, publicly, has been on the defensive lately, and even had a moment with an apparently obnoxious photographer on the VMAs red carpet, but you still don’t expect to see her wielding a crossbow. Clad in chain mail, she kicked off a performance of runaway hit “Good Luck, Babe!” by shooting a flaming arrow into an elaborate medieval castle set, a high-drama evocation of the song’s frustrated and doomed love affair. When she returned to the stage later, to accept the audience-voted award for Best New Artist, she read a prepared speech directly from the pages of a Moleskine-style notebook. True theater kid stuff.
–Anna Gaca
Without its typical spontaneity or edge, the VMAs often had the feeling of a sober corporate banquet. That was until Glorilla loosened everyone up a bit with her Memphis anthem “TGIF,” reminding everyone that this is supposed to feel like a celebration, not a three-hour commercial.
–Alphonse Pierre
It’s rare the VMAs gives a rapper the space to cook like they did Megan Thee Stallion, who got to do one of those multi-set, choreography-heavy performances usually reserved for pop stars who were famous in 2009. My theory is that was the deal she made in order for her to sign on to be the show’s host for the night, a job where she didn’t have to do much beyond snake-handling. Her set was more memorable, tackling several of the highlights from her June album, Megan, including the club-drill “B.A.S.” (no Kyle Richh, despite being in New York) and “Mamushi,” featuring a smooth-talking Yuki Chiba (wearing a cool, massive fur hat). There was a lot of dancing, and she handled it well and with her usual glow. It’s easy to see why she’s crossing over into these spaces so seamlessly, yet it was still best when she just got to rap. No extravagant staging or awards ceremony choreography hits as hard as a nicely delivered string of bars.
–Alphonse Pierre
This may or not be true, but it sure feels like Anitta has performed at every VMAs of the last decade. (Fact-check: She’s done the VMAs each year since 2021.) This one was different, though, because she had Fat Joe. Crack, along with DJ Khaled, both dressed like they’re headed to a baby shower in the Bronx, did a fun enough new song with Anitta called “Paradise.” After a while, Khaled started shouting about Terror Squad, as Anitta bounced around. The only thing that was missing was a Terror Squad chain for the Brazilian superstar to sport. They could have at least blessed Anitta with one of Joe’s fitteds from the “Lean Back” video! That would have made a mildly cool link-up really cool.
–Alphonse Pierre
The Worst
In a less fucked-up world, Katy Perry’s feel-good, plastic-cupcake-topper version of pop Americana would be just the ticket the night after a presidential debate. Not in this one! Her career-spanning Video Vanguard Award medley performance felt both over-the-top (aerial suspension, “I Kissed a Girl,” inflatable butterfly wings) and yet not nearly as off-the-wall as Perry’s most memorable stage gags. The lasting image in my mind might just be Perry pedaling vacantly while suspended mid-air, presumably wondering if it was all worth it to reunite with Teenage Dream collaborator Dr. Luke on her forthcoming album, 143, and its flop lead single “Woman’s World,” which she didn’t sing.
Then I nearly forgot about her while Doechii was on stage to debut their new collaboration “I’m His, He’s Mine,” which culminated in not quite kissing a girl. And, of course, it’s Teenage Dream that necessarily looms large in a Perry medley: This one included “California Gurls,” “Teenage Dream,” “Firework,” and the alien-themed “E.T.,” probably no one’s favorite Katy Perry song. What followed was a real smooch with partner and guest presenter Orlando Bloom and a very earnest acceptance speech urging Perry’s fellow artists to “do whatever it takes to stay true to yourself,” but also “touch grass.” Thanks, Katy, I think I will.
–Anna Gaca
If the Condé Nast bigwigs would only provide me with the right resources, I could conduct a very important journalistic investigation: Were the members of the studio audience rapping along to 2024 Eminem songs plants? They have to be, right? I know Em’s new album is supposedly very popular, but I still refuse to believe it. The only evidence that the VMAs crowd wasn’t sprinkled with paid actors was a shot of LL Cool J mouthing a few lyrics. Or maybe LL is in on the fix, too? Shit, this conspiracy might just go all the way to the top.
Anyway. These days quite a few rappers over 50 are using the freedom of middle age to try new things out—Eminem isn’t one of them. Predictably, he rehashed his creative 2000s VMAs production, the one where he leads an army of bleach-blond, baggy tee–wearing white boy clones. This time around, they’re a multi-racial group of replicas who are all wearing wigs that kind of look like the toupee Dave Chappelle wore in the “Reparations Draft” skit. It’s a pretty lifeless few minutes; first he does “Houdini,” which sounds like an early 2000s Eminem song but bad and unfunny, and then, with Jelly Roll, “Somebody Save Me,” basically an update of his cheesy Skylar Grey duets. At the end, as the music fades out, he takes a seat and has a wistful expression on his face; for a moment, it seems as if he might erupt into tears. He doesn’t, though; MTV would have had to pay extra for that.
–Alphonse Pierre
Blink twice if you’ve ever felt held hostage by a Lenny Kravitz awards show extravaganza. It’s happened again, and I’m never sure who it is really for. He tried to ease up on the torture by bringing out Quavo so they could do their headscratching duet “Fly” (Quavo, you made No Label II, you don’t have to do this), and it only made things worse.
–Alphonse Pierre
Benson Boone, who exists, sang his very popular song “Beautiful Things,” a bombastic ballad best heard while boarding and deplaning. Thank you for flying United.
–Matthew Strauss
