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 »
Posts Tagged ‘Video Music Awards’
putting the pseudo in pseudo-event
Beyoncé Flies Into The Video Music Awards’ Orbit
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 »
putting the pseudo in pseudo-event
Dear MTV: If I Promise To Live-Blog The Video Music Awards, Will You Maybe Quit It With The Increasingly Horrible “West Side Story” Promos?
I mean, an ad that’s framed as a duel between Cobra Starship and Ne-Yo? I know I’m a little out of your target demo, but it seems like I would at least enjoy those two artists facing off. And yet. And yet. The latest West Side Story-themed ad for the Sept. 13 Video Music Awards is a trainwreck of epic proportions—an achievement, I suppose, given that it’s only 30 seconds long, but. What are those synthesizer horns at the end? They’re not “triumphant” as much as they are “demo track on a Casio keyboard that some production assistant found molding in a corner of the basement.” Please, for the love of God. Stop it. Or at least get Matt Parker & Trey Stone to show you how to properly write an homage to the art of the musical. The clip after the jump. MORE »
putting the pseudo in pseudo-event
There’s A Place For Taylor Swift, But It’s Probably Not In Musical Theater
I really do enjoy Taylor Swift. “You Belong With Me” is a lovely little pop song; the lyrics on “Fifteen” crystallize adolescent heartbreak in a potent yet understated way. But oh, her voice is so not made for the rigors of The Big Number In The Musical, as evidenced by this latest West Side Story-themed ad for the rapidly approaching Video Music Awards. Her voice… it’s just… well, let’s just say that she probably should stick with the more delicate songs out there; going for the big brassy ones results in everything coming apart, like a particularly weak store-brand aluminum foil. Clip after the jump. MORE »
putting the pseudo in pseudo-event
Looks Like The Video Music Awards Are Really Serious About That “West Side Story” Theme
The just-released ad for the Video Music Awards placed after the jump, featuring Cobra Starship and Gossip Girl starlet Leighton Meester, will apparently be the “first of many West Side Story-inspired VMA promos,” according to the clip’s caption. Is it super-condescending to ask how many members of the MTV target demo have even heard of the Laurents/Bernstein/Sondheim musical about inter-gang and racial tensions? Probably. But that doesn’t make the decision to theme this year’s Video Music Awards after a 52-year-old musical any less strange. Perhaps there will be a Very Special Episode of Parental Control in order to bridge the generational gap. MORE »
this thing looks like that thing
Which Pop Star Will Lady GaGa Rip Off At This Year’s Video Music Awards?
An article from the still-vaguely-interested-in-music channel MTV’s news arm runs down a few potential sources of “inspiration” for the Video Music Awards performance of kleptomaniacal pop star Lady GaGa, who along with Jay-Z was just announced as a performer on the Sept. 13 broadcast. MORE »
putting the pseudo in pseudo-event
MTV Panders To The “Remember When MTV Showed Music Videos” Crowd With Throwback Video Music Awards Category
Perhaps realizing that a good chunk of the people who still care about its brand wouldn’t know a 3OH!3 from a GaGa, MTV has added a new, retro-tastic category to this year’s Video Music Awards: Best Video That Should Have Won A Moonman, in which an overlooked clip from years gone by gets its space-statue due. (I do wonder if the presentation of said award will be shown on VH1, if only because it can then be blown out into an hour-long special about Loving The Videos That Lost At The Video Music Awards or somesuch.) There are 10 clips up for this honor, and they hail from eras as long-ago as MTV’s earliest days and as recent as the YouTube Age. My biases in this category are probably given away by the above screen grab, but you might think* differently! MORE »
everybody's a winner
2009 Video Music Awards Nominations
Nominees for the 2009 Video Music Awards, which will be presented on Sunday, Sept. 13 in New York City:
MORE »
videodrone
Oh My God, You Guys, The VMAs Might Be Fixed!!!!!!!
No, really! Kanye West, who you may remember as the guy who got all upset in 2006 about Justice beating him out for one of MTV Europe’s video-related awards and then freaked out in 2007 when he didn’t win anything at the Vegas edition of the VMAs, only to come back this year to both ceremonies with new singles in tow, apparently went off on a tirade about the integrity of MTV’s various trophy-doling extravaganzas during a UK preview of 808s and Heartbreak earlier this week. The words that will shake your faith in fake awards ceremonies that are set up mainly for the purpose of propping up a lie that music is still important to a culture that thinks Heidi Montag is worth airtime after the jump. MORE »
