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.) MORE »
POSTS FROM "putting the pseudo in pseudo-event" CATEGORY
The nimbus of his fame
Kanye West: Back To Reality?
official statements
Kanye West: “I’M IN THE WRONG”
While Taylor Swift was in the press room talking about Kanye West running in and interrupting her acceptance speech, Kanye was updating his blog (perhaps because he’d been kicked out of the show shortly after the whole thing went down?) and he had this to say: MORE »
putting the pseudo in pseudo-event
Idolator Live-Blogs The 2009 Video Music Awards: Pop Goes The Post-Pop World
Welcome to Idolator’s third annual liveblog of MTV’s Video Music Awards, an annual tribute to the televisual representation of pop music that inspires waxing poetic about The Old Days and generalized bitching about the state of the channel’s programming alongside the occasional water-cooler-worthy music-related moment. Tonight we come to you from the basement of Radio City Music Hall, which was the venue for the inaugural occasion of Moonman-bestowing—hosted by Bette Midler and Dan Aykroyd, in case you want to think about how far we’ve come— and which will, tonight, play host to performances by the likes of Jay-Z, Lady GaGa, Beyoncé, Pink, Taylor Swift (pictured), and Green Day, as well as a show-opening tribute to the late Michael Jackson undertaken by his younger sister Janet. Will I be able to handle this task while not on a couch? Find out after the jump! MORE »
putting the pseudo in pseudo-event
A Reminder About Tonight’s Video Music Awards Liveblog: The Blog Will Be Coming From Inside The House
Just a reminder that tonight I’ll be live-blogging this year’s MTV Video Music Awards beginning at 8 p.m. ET, and in what I guess is an upgrade from my normal live-blogging stations on various couches around the country, tonight’s transmissions will be coming to you live from the awards’ “media compound” on-site in New York City. And in what is either someone playing a joke on the Internet or a last-ditch effort to drum up some buzz for the telecast, a “winners list” that’s heavy on the GaGa leaked yesterday. It’s naturally been discounted by the network’s house organ, but it’ll sure be useful as a cheat sheet for tonight! Check it out after the jump. MORE »
putting the pseudo in pseudo-event
MTV’s Booking People Will Not Let You Forget About Jennifer Lopez
In addition to letting slip that Jay-Z and Alicia Keys would grace this year’s Video Music Awards with a performance of their collaboration “Empire State of Mind,” MTV has announced more additions to its roster of presenters for Sunday night’s broadcast; among them are Canadian cutie Justin Bieber, Shakira, Pete Wentz, Gabe Saporta, Jack Black, and… Jennifer Lopez. Jennifer Lopez, really? I guess she still counts as a music-related celebrity—and who knows, maybe she’s prepping for a very belated deluxe reissue of the floptastic Brave! The night’s roster of performers and presenters after the jump. MORE »
putting the pseudo in pseudo-event
The Video Music Awards Somehow Manage To Embrace Subtlety
This ad for Sunday night’s Video Music Awards spotlights Janet Jackson’s show-opening tribute to her late brother Michael, and it does so in a lovely, subtle way that almost makes one forget about those awful West Side Story-themed promos, which continue to baffle me weeks after they were first unleashed on an unsuspecting public. MORE »
putting the pseudo in pseudo-event
Janet Jackson To Dance For Michael At The Video Music Awards
Janet Jackson is apparently working up a tribute to her brother Michael for this Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards, something that could seriously go either way. The VMAs, after all, are not really known for their subtlety—shoot, the last big memorial tribute I can recall occurring on the broadcast was when Missy Elliott dedicated her performance of “One Minute Man” to the recently departed Aaliyah in 2001. MORE »
putting the pseudo in pseudo-event
Beyoncé Flies Into The Video Music Awards’ Orbit
Beyoncé has been added to the lineup of the Sept. 13 Video Music Awards, where she’ll join her husband Jay-Z, as well as Green Day, Muse, Taylor Swift, P!nk, and Lady GaGa. Also, the VMAs are bringing back that “house band” idea where lesser lights of the music galaxy collaborate with one act as the show goes into interstitial moments—the house band is the D.C. go-go outfit the Uncalled 4 Band (a.k.a. UCB), and it’ll be led by tourmate and fellow Washingtonian Wale while collaborating with with The All-American Rejects, Pitbull, and 3OH!3 over the course of the evening. (See what I meant about “lesser lights” there?) A performance of the UCB and Wale collaborating on “Sexy Lady” after the jump. MORE »
putting the pseudo in pseudo-event
MTV’s “West Side Story” Promos Even Less Original Than We Thought
Dave Itzkoff at the New York Times notes that the Video Music Awards aren’t the first 2009 awards show to incorporate the classic musical West Side Story: “Didn’t we see a “West Side Story” parody, complete with topical satirical lyrics, performed on another award show at Radio City Music Hall (by a singer who doesn’t need any assistance from Auto-Tune) like two months ago?” he asks, referring to the Tonys. Host (and recently minted American Idol guest judge) Neil Patrick Harris did, in fact, close out the show with his own version of “Tonight,” which can only lead this observer to wonder if that parallelism is a sign that we’ll be in for a Very Special Semi-Accidental Decapitation Of Bret Michaels on Sept. 13. [ArtsBeat / Earlier] MORE »
