The MTV Video Music Awards, an industry institution since 1984, are airing from New York on Sunday. As those of you who have watched this awards show before know, the event can either be dead boring (like the Vegas misadventure in 2007) or a hot mess (the legendary Britney/Madonna/Christina kiss). What will happen in 2009? Who knows? With nominees ranging from Kanye West and Eminem to Britney Spears, it should be a pretty interesting event, and this show is usually good for a surprise or two. One rumor is that Janet Jackson will perform as a tribute to her brother Michael. Now that will definitely be a must-see moment. Keep your eye here on Sunday, as we will be live-blogging the VMAs.
Tag: Video Music Awards
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Dearest Miss Aguilera: Hypocrisy Much?
From Blender Magazine’s December 2003 issue:
“The VMAs were so…so vanilla. So safe, so predictable, no edge. Apart from Madonna, Mary J. Blige and myself, I cannot think of another female performer who had her mic switched on. That is very disappointing to me…”
“I’d much rather just wash my hands of the whole nonsense, actually. These people aren’t artists, they’re just performers-fake and superficial, like the entire event. I’m very disappointed with MTV…”
Fast-forward five years. Ohhh how things have changed.
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New Music: Christina Aguilera’s “Keeps Gettin’ Better”
Christina Aguilera. Photo by John Yale. It’s been said a million times, but out of the whole influx of teenage girl singers that arrived on the scene, Christina Aguilera was obviously the one blessed with the talent. Her albums haven’t always been easy listens, but there have been some great spots within them. Her work with DJ Premier on 2006’s “Back to Basics” was excellent,and it seemed that those great pipes would work fantastically with hip-hop production.
Maybe I should cut her some slack because of the whole new mommy thing, but I was a little distressed by what I saw on the VMAs from her last night. Not only did her outfit look like it belonged on the set of Janet Jackson’s lame-ass “Feedback” video, but the song she performed sounded like a Britney castoff with better (OK, much better) vocals…which weren’t live, by the way. I decided to check out the studio version of the song (which will be on Xtina’s upcoming Greatest Hits album…apparently only available at Target and Target.com…way to piss retail off Christina), and…well, it’s not as bad as I thought it was the first time. It’s a bouncy, electro-influenced tune, way different from anything she’s released prior, and fits right in with what’s going on at radio these days. Maybe the not-explosive sales of “Back to Basics” (about 1.6 mil, which is not too shabby) scared Christina and her people enough that they played it safe this time around? Either way, if we’re going to get “commercial and radio friendly”, at least the girl can sing, right?
I love the chorus…”sometimes I’m a super bitch!!”…at least she gets it, right?
