Six-ish hours later, and I’m still unsure if the Kanye West/Taylor Swift brouhaha at tonight’s Video Music Awards was a work or a shoot. That is, whether it was the result of a genuine outpouring of emotion on Kanye West’s part, or just a way for the VMAs to sneak up behind the rest of the cable lineup and command the television-watching nation’s attention—no small feat on the night of competing entertainments like regular-season football, the True Blood finale, the US Open women’s final, etc., etc. (Apologies for my continued breaking into wrestling terminology for this, but it really fits: You have one performer who has a history of raising hell and another who has what’s likely the sweetest, most innocent persona in all of Radio City Music Hall; Performer A interrupts a triumphant moment for Performer B, causing strife; audience reactions that inevitably result in “buzz” for your various media properties ensue.)
I had similar suspicions after the Britney show-opening disaster in Vegas a couple of years ago, and although they might have been sorta proven wrong then, there’s something weird about West’s outburst and the way it falls in line with his previous ones—particularly his previous ones at MTV-sponsored events. Recall in 2007 that MTV was trying to set up the rematch between West and Justice, which he lost originally, resulting in him freaking out at the network’s European bash. Know that the VMAs pretty much exist to promote MTV’s ever-more-tenuous connection to music, and that this year’s awards were very lacking in buzz because of a just-off-the-mark performer lineup and a competing self-promotional push involving four blokes who first hit it big almost 50 years ago. Not to mention, doesn’t Beyonce come out smelling like a rose after all this, ceding her acceptance speech for the night’s big award to the wronged teenager? It just all feels so… calculated.
I’m going to sleep on figuring out just what about this whole thing was “real,” and what became “real” after Kanye’s initial outburst unfurled across the Radio City stage-slash-the Internet, and what was merely a way to distract from a lineup that was lacking many of the biggest pop acts in America right now, dispensing with them in favor of the likes of Adam Brody and That Hills Chick. (Because, you know, who cares about pop music.) But if you haven’t read it, Kelly Clarkson’s open letter to Kanye is pretty amazing, both because she articulates the rage that Kanye’s ego inspires in people—”I like everyone. I even like my asshole ex that cheated on me over you…which is pretty odd since I don’t even personally know you,” she writes—and because I suspect that her irritation with Kanye West is of a piece with so many Internet readers’ willingness/desire to believe that “Kanye Campaigns For Title Of King Of Pop” ridiculousness a few months back. (Which, btw? Is still going strong.) Celebrity! Even celebrities can get into the game.
Kanye West [random thoughts by me]
Or maybe he was just drunk? Oh I don’t know, I have to sleep.
Wiki vandalism! (via ear candy)
It did seem rather calculated, from her Westside Story ad, to the syrupy train performance which preceeded her syrupy ass Rhapsody commercial to Beyonce’s side steppage. Her team should be kissing Kanyes balls for all this, because the rich will keep getting richer.
As Ye said on his blog, he and Taylors Mom “talked”, I just wonder what about.
By the way I’m sure Kanye doing a country album will come as no suprise now.
Just imagine if Kanye replaced Paula Abdul on American Idol.
@neonvampyre: YES.
MTV’s somewhat panicked reaction after it all happened – Taylor’s mic cut out as they tried to switch to a pretaped Tracy Morgan skit (the intro of which they played twice) – makes it impossible for me to believe this was planned. It’s way different from the Eminem “storm-out” at the Movie Awards, which to anyone with a brain was fully staged and obvious. This was way, way too chaotic.
Also, West wants to be loved too much to do something that would inspire that much all-night-long hatred and booing. (And wouldn’t Diddy have been briefed if it was staged?) Sorry, I just don’t buy that this was planned.
Two things to consider:
Kanye’s ALL-CAPS off-the-cuff spontaneous-outburst personality makes his stage-rush rather believable, and MTV was smart for recognizing this–if it was planned.
Kanye’s ALL-CAPS off-the-cuff spontaneous-outburst personality makes him unlikely to keep a secret like this for long, and MTV was STUPID for recognizing this–if it was planned.
…which is to say that ummm it probably wasn’t planned. But if it was, man, MTV are even more cynical than I initially took credit for.
When he goes out of his way to make you understand his hunger and his rage, Kanye’s ego is a wonderful thing. Otherwise…
I, too, felt there was something a little too… buzzy? about Kanye’s outburst. Really, it just happened to be at the begining of the telecast? On a year when they’re really pushing the whole interactive social media blahblah? Maybe they didn’t outright choreograph the moment, but perhaps didn’t stop it/ tried to encourage it? Maybe I’ve been watching too many reruns of Lost with Ben manipulating people, but I don’t think it would take a lot of work for a drunken Kanye to get it into his head this is a) his idea and b) a good one at that. For what it’s worth, if it was MTV’s plan, it worked — after Mad Men, I logged onto facebook and read everyone’s comments so turned on the VMAs.
@Maura: Or maybe he’s just a big giant douchenozzle.
@mmmcoffee: I was thinking about how interesting it was that it happened so early in the broadcast, because “Single Ladies” was up for Video of the Year too, and Kanye wasn’t content to wait for the results of that, either because he knew she would win and that wouldn’t give him stage time, or that maybe, secretly he thought the “Single Ladies” video wasn’t as good as he claimed it was and didn’t think it would win Video of the Year and complaining about that one would just make him look even stupider.
I keep forgetting to mention this — which actually strengthens my belief that this wasn’t planned…
Anyone remember the 1994 stage bum-rush on behalf of the Beasties’ “Sabotage”? I believe it was Yauch, in his “Nathaniel Hornblower” drag, interrupting Michael Stipe to protest the shutout of “Sabotage” from not only the big category but, I think, everything that year. (It lost to the overrated, hasn’t-aged-all-that-well Aerosmith clip for “Cryin’.” R.E.M. had won Director or Breakthrough or something for “Everybody Hurts,” hence the Stipe interruption.)
Story here: http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/awards/14199/the-only-vmas-category-that-matters/
In both that case and last night’s episode, the bum-rusher was a bit rude but totally, totally correct on artistic grounds.
(Actually, Yauch’s complaint was even more justified; “Sabotage,” one of the all-time three or four best examples of the music-video medium, period, winning no Moonmen was truly insane. Last night, Kanye was just being impatient; it was only Best Female Video, after all, and B took the big prize.)
@Chris Molanphy: WAIT. “Sabotage” DID win last night!
See? SEE?
Meanwhile, this photo makes me want to blow up the world.
@Maura: There are moments when I regret getting older and slowly, inevitably, losing touch with pop music.
And then I see something like that and it makes me feel better.
As kids will be kids - Kanye is clearly just being Kanye. I’m just stoked that P!NK and Kelly came out and gave him a good online lashing. Keep it up girls.
Maura, I want more wrestling lingo thrown into these posts - perhaps something about the internet being a bunch of marks for believing this if it turns out to be a work.
Kanye was not just a little drunk, but was actually carring a damn bottle around the red carpet (not to mention sharing it with Joe Jackson):
http://pics.livejournal.com/ecctv/pic/00rf0qd5
I expect people to get hammered at industry ‘dos most of the time, but this is just ridiculous. And it’s really, really odd Kanye made a total embarrassment of himself in this way too and yet this fact is omitted from most accounts of the events of last night. Being drunk is by no means an excuse for boorish behaviour, but think about it this way: had it been a woman doing the same thing, every headline this morning would have trumpeted what a “trainwreck” she was.