Watching the VMAs

Unfiltered thoughts:

The pre-show

- Who are half these people? Am I getting old, not knowing these names? 😅 They look nice, though, pretty pretty people...

- KATSEYE I've heard of, but this is the first time I hear their music. I don't see the hype. They're hot and dance well, but the song is super basic and kinda annoying?

- Chance The Rapper was SO FUCKING HIGH AS A KITE! 😂

- I love Alex Warren's reaction, I love him already 🩷 I don't know him but he seems so genuine!

- Yungblud is so hot, omg! Reminds me of young Ville Valo

- Megan Moroney is apparently country, so not interested

- Megan Stalter had a cool outfit, but her poses looked dumb on video (good in pictures), and she wasn't the only one, some others also had dumb poses - let me see if I find names online

- lots of corsets, even some men are wearing corsets - and tbh, slay harder in them than the women - and lace and chains, sparkles...

- isn't Pauly D a Jersey Shore star, when did he become a DJ

- Ace Green has an annoying laughter, but otherwise he seems cool

- I've heard of all the kpop artists, but haven't checked out their music yet, apart from ex-BLACKPINK

- I like sombr's attitude as well. These new artists, they're so real. I love it.

- Ice Spice looks like she found the fabric in my grandma's attic, and not in a good way. She doesn't sound as annoying as I thought she would

- KATSYE's second song, Gabriella was better

- GloRilla's outfit slayed

- I also liked LL Cool J's outfit. The baggy men's trousers, the oversized jacket that reminded me of those fur jackets pimps use, the glasses... Very hiphop, and very stylish menswear at the same time. Genius stylist.

- i love Sexyy Red's outfit! So camp!

- I want to know all the queer people, they slay so hard today! 🏳️‍🌈

- Yeeeey, REI AMI and FKA twigs, I love them!

- what was that weird part with the person who didn't anyone or anything about fashion or how to operate a camera? They seem lovely, but they were clearly out of their element, someone else messed up by casting them.

POVMA: Director's Cut

- I want to see the performances, not the audience :(

Can't find a video of just the stage. This sucks. I'm not watching this shit.

I pulled up Wikipedia for a list of the performances, I'm watching them one by one.

- Doja Cat: Love the energy in the beginning. Very obvious playback in most of Jealous Type. Amazing dancing. I like the song. The rap was live. She ate.

- Ricky Martin: He's way off beat. I'd sing it better. Can he not hear the music? Is this a technical issue and he's just winging it? He dances and performs well.

- Tate McRae: From the gymnastics 'til the end - perfection. Iconic. It's like the 2000s are back. Britney's Slave 4 U, Christina Aguilera's Dirrty, etc. This has that same sex appeal as those songs.

- Rock The Bells Visionary Award Medley: Fast, weird voice, can't make out a single word from the first flow. Then it gets better. I love the beatboxing. They also sound like they can't hear the music at times? I'm not familiar with these original songs, though.

- Sabrina Carpenter: All the gays 🏳️‍🌈 I'm tearing up. The allyship... 🥹

- Post Malone & Jelly Roll: I've heard Jelly Roll's racist now and we don't like him? Post Malone's been accused of cultural appropriation for a long time but I disagree. He's not any worse than any other white pop rapper, just because he has tattoos. -- Oh, this is country? Boooriiing! Boo! I quit watching after, like, 1.5min.

- Mariah Carey: Iconic songs, good singing. But she's just standing there? Why? Sorry Mariah, Sabrina is the new Mariah. The new queer ally icon we need. -- The power ballad slays, though.

- Lady Gaga: Halloween came early 🤎🖤 One of the best performances of the night.

- Alex Warren: I don't know him. This is a first time listen. He can sing, the "thick" voice isn't my thing usually, but I think he could make it work if he belts properly. And those high notes are beautiful. Oooohh, I know Ordinary! A pretty good song. Talented singer, but no one will remember this song in like 5 years. He needs to make more hits to stay relevant. With a voice that recognizable and versatile, I trust that he can.

- Ozzy Tribute Medley: YUNGBLUD slayed. A successful rebranding from a pop rap star to rock star. In the words of Princess Nokia: "Queer people are just cooler." Steven Tyler's getting old as well, didn't "got it" anymore. It got better as YUNGBLUD joined in to support. But it needed to be someone who had actually known Ozzy for a long time, you know? Me or YUNGBLUD weren't even born for most of Ozzy's career. And it needed to be this song. I could see Steven tearing up at the end. 😢 Poor guy. 

- DJ Snake and the boys: Have heard the first song. An average reggaeton song. I'm a sucker for reggaeton and latino rhythms, though. My brain is dancing. I can't, my laptop would fall of the bed. It's at the very edge of the bed because of the wire. The 2nd song was better, I'll find it and like it on Spotify. 

- sombr: Never heard of him, I think, before tonight. Oh, it's "indie"... that kind of "alternative". Oh, I wish REI AMI would perform her own songs, lol, the audience would NOT be ready 😂 Lady Gaga is more alternative than this guy. Not to diss him, he seemed cool when he won earlier in the night. I'm just dissing the music.

- Conan Gray: Don't know him, either. But yeeeey, gayyyy!! 🏳️‍🌈 It's giving Romeo and Romeo. On an album or on the radio I wouldn't care for this, but here it works. He has star quality. And gay. He could become something interesting in the future. -- High note slayed! Didn't expect that! His singing is on point. Sounds mostly live.

Now, for the nominees and winners, I don't think I need to see that, unless there's some drama or something. I'll just list my notes here:

- I need to see Jack Osbourne introducing his father's tribute. -- I did. He did a good job. The kids were adorable.

- I haven't actually watched that many music videos this year, but Ariana has slayed in the past in that department, so...

- Kendrick or Gaga, either one could have been artist of the year. There are better options as well, but this is MTV, it's like the most mainstream thing ever. Even the alternative is just a regular song.

- Song of the year, for the VMAs, I would have said Golden or Manchild. I've heard those everywhere.

- Best New Artist, I don't know any of these people. But I liked Alex Warren when he received the award, he seemed very down to earth and like a real person. Not a media trained pop star. Sombr's music was boring, so not him, either. Maybe Chappell Roan? She's quite new, right? So is RAEGAN.

- Best Pop Artist. Not Ariana, did she even release music this year? Charli XCX, I hope she won last year, brat summer was a pop culture moment. Bieber, no. Lorde, no. Miley Curys, no, didn't Flowers come out like ages ago? Tate McRae, well the album was better than most pop albums this year. She should have won. Sabrina lost points from me for that album cover. Both slayed their VMAs shows, though

- Manchild was best pop.

- Push Performance... should I be following these? My life just has enough small little crap to do, I really don't need another small thing to follow... Both my YouTube's To Watch list and my Release Radar Backlog are overflowing, I can't really add these there, either. They need to compile these into albums or playlists... There's a huge long playlist of all of them, but I'd need small albums or playlists of the songs they want to push that year... As is, I won't bother. Fuck 'em.

- Best Album - oh yeah, Short n' Sweet was it, in mainstream music. 

- Best collab... Mossback and Istasha.

- Kendrick was Best Hiphop.

- R&B, idk & idc.

- Best Alternative is none of these mainstream ass artists. It's Grim Salvo - QUEEN LEECH, if July 2024 still counts. I guess it does, since the award is dealt in September.

- Best Rock... Definitely not Coldplay. Grandson is more punk... Maybe YUNGBLUD? I haven't heard his album yet, but based on his VMA performance, it's probably good. Lets think positively: at least mgk wasn't even nominated. Oh, hey! I was choosing the best group, scrolling the albums I've listened to this year and Knives At Sea... right? That's rock, right? 

- kpop, I haven't heard enough to give an opinion. Aespa has been on my radar, and either Jennie or Rosé had that good album this year... Lisa had the not-so-good one, according to me, right? This is why I have this blog, my memory sucks when there's too much information.

- best Latin, Bad Bunny. 

- afrobeats, country, pass.

- Video For Good = grandson - BRAINROT

- long form video, pass, haven't watched videos lately

- best group... sorry Katatonia, but I'd say... Tallah. The energy makes me gasp out loud every time I listen to them

- Song of Summer, Golden. Jealous Type slaps as well, though, but I just heard it for the first time today. Manchild would have been an ok choice as well. And Tadka by Bloodywood.

- on professional categories, I have no complaints.