The 2015 Video Music Awards (VMAs) this year presented many opportunities for you to say to yourself: “What the heck did I just watch?” It doesn’t matter if you were #TeamMiley or #TeamNicki, this night was still one to remember. Taylor Swift won four of the 17 awards given, Kanye West announced his intention to run for president in 2020 and both of them shared the stage once again, not in opposition but in unity. It’s safe to say you watched history being made. While I’m not surprised that Swift won so many awards, due to her incredibly dedicated fanbase, I am surprised by the outcome of the Song of the Summer award.
Harmonizers and the 5SOSFam went at it in an intense social media battle to gain the most votes by the deadline. It was surprising because everyone knows Fifth Harmony’s single “Worth It” but probably couldn’t give you more than two verses of the song “She’s Kinda Hot” by 5 Seconds of Summer, the victors. Aside from that, the big winners of the VMAs were pretty straightforward. Technically, Beyoncè should win anything she’s nominated for, but she already has the world at her hands, so everyone let it slide. Don’t get me wrong, she won the award for Best Editing for her twerk-worthy song “7/11,” so she still slays. Swift brought home awards for Best Pop Video, Best Female Video, Best Collaboration and Video of the Year alongside Kendrick Lamar. Being awarded for Best Direction, Best Cinematography and being apart of Swift’s success gave Lamar the exposure he so well deserves. Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson won Best Male Video (obvi), and Kanye was praised for winning Best Video with Social Message and the Video Vanguard award. He was praised like the god he is. To ease the tension between fandoms after all awards were given, some amazing performances took place.
If you didn’t get goosebumps from The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye), Tori Kelly, Twenty One Pilots and A$AP Rocky’s duo, or Justin Bieber’s debut, you must have accidentally had noise-cancelling headphones on or something. Tesfaye singing “Can’t Feel My Face” wasn’t the only hot thing up there; he also danced among A LOT of fire. Bieber, performing for the first time in five years, cried from the overwhelming emotion from experiencing such a patient and welcoming crowd. A$AP helped TØP remix songs from their new album “Blurryface,” and if you didn’t think those songs could get any better, you were wrong. Last but not least, Tori Kelly ROCKED her performance by shredding her electric guitar and finishing her song “Should’ve Been Us” acapella, on her knees and breathless from her goddess-like riffs. As if that wasn’t enough, you also saw Swift and Minaj come together on stage, leaving the crowd in awe after their Twitter confrontation.
Fans were left confused when the two came to blows over a very relevant and controversial issue in our society today: racism in the media. They eventually made up two days later, with Swift apologizing saying she misunderstood and misspoke. Good thing she did, otherwise Minaj probably would have called her out like she did with Miley Cyrus. Commenting on the beef, Cyrus spoke out about Minaj saying she was mean because her words were “not too kind” and “not too polite.” Cyrus completely missing the point of Minaj’s statements and stared at Minaj in awe as she caught her off guard with the now iconic words, “And now….back to…..this bitch that had a lot to say about me in the press. Miley what’s good?”
The 2015 VMAs presented an incredible number of “WTF” moments, but it was nonetheless a good watch, like always. Miley had crazy outfits as per usual, the crowd was brilliantly responsive and good-hearted about everything and a fun time was had by all. Shows like this always beg the question, “How are they going to top THAT next year?” But believe me, they’ll find a way. Cyrus’s 2013 foam finger ain’t got nothin on Kanye’s announcement that he’s running for president in 2020. Study up, Kanye. #KANYEFORPRES2020
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