VMA performance recap
When it came to performances, what the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards lacked in quantity they more than made up for in quality. In fact, it's hard to remember a VMA where so many of the performances were so damn good. That's why when ranking this year's worst and best, the worst is really more like "the least good."
With that in mind, this is our take on the 2016 VMAs performances, from least memorable to most astonishing.
The 2016 MTV Video Music Awards took place yesterday and were fabulous as usual. Beyonce was the biggest winner of the event, taking home eight awards, most notably winning Video of the Year for ‘Formation’. Rihanna took home two awards, including the most prestigious award, ‘The Michael Jackson Vanguard Award’. Fifth Harmony also nabbed two wins, with Best Collaboration for my ultimate jam ‘Work From Home’ featuring Ty Dolla $ign. Calvin Harris also won two awards for Best Male Video, and Best Electronic Video, while newcomers DNCE won ‘Best New Artist’.
When it came to performances, there weren’t many performers, however there were some top quality performances put on by the artists. I have ranked the performances from the award show from least to most favourite and here they are:
Future
Future’s performances was certainly the least memorable for me. In fact, I had completely forgotten that he had performed and had already forgotten the song when I came to write this. While he delivered his classic “F**k Up Some Commas”, his stage presence was lacking intensely, and there was just nothing going for the performance.
The Chainsmokers and Halsey
While this song is a banger, the pair’s performance of “Closer”, wasn’t as good as I expected. Drew, one half of The Chainsmokers was noticeably a bit shaky in his vocals, as his portion of the song at the beginning was a little on and off, and understandably as it was his first big time showcasing his vocals, rather than his DJ skills. Halsey’s vocals were amazing when she came out for her verse and the rest of the song. But the performance lacked some visuals and something to spruce it up.
Britney Spears and G-Eazy
It doesn’t help that I am not a fan of the song “Make Me”, and it also doesn’t help that Spears was lip-syncing as usual. G-Eazy did deliver his rap of the verse in the song, which then transitioned in Eazy’s song “Me, Myself & I”, with Spears singing the chorus. The performance then transitioned back into the current single “Make Me”.
At least the visuals of the performance and the choreography were good. Also thank god for G-Eazy.
Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj
The pair returned to the VMAs stage two years after taking the stage together for the song “Bang Bang” featuring Jessie J. Grande and Minaj performed their new reggae infused single “Side to Side”, which is an absolute smash hit. The performance was very interesting to say the least. I mean, Ariana was belting out those vocals while riding an exercise bike along with her dancers. Iconic! After the first chorus, Grande took to lifting some weights and hiding the pommel horse to show off her ‘gymnastics’ moves. Grande hitting every note with barely any trouble. Minaj came out for her portion of the song, killing her rap verse. Like Minaj says, “I’m the queen of rap, young Ariana run pop”.
Rihanna
Ri-Ri split her VMAs performances into four parts, with each performance showing off different genre pallets of her discography. Rihanna started the party with her performance of “Don’t Stop the Music”, “Only Girl in the World”, “We Found Love”, and “Where Have You Been”. While she had a massive troupe of dancers for her performances of “Work”, “Rude Boy”, and “What’s My Name”, her final performance was one of her best vocally, performing her ballads “Stay”, “Diamonds” and “Love on the Brain”.
Nick Jonas & Ty Dolla $ign
The performance of their song “Bacon” was such a feel good performance, and definitely a smash. The performance took place outside of Madison Square Garden in an unique and inventive delivery. Jonas’ smooth vocals in the track made the performance even better, while he sang his way through a restaurant full of patrons in a NYC diner, with special guests DNCE sitting in the diner. Brother love right there. The Jonas takes us outside on to the street of 34th and 8th, where Ty rapped his verse with lowriders bouncing along. The song ends with Jonas singing the last chorus to the crowd outside. Top notch vocals.
Beyonce
I don’t have to say much. It’s pretty self-explanatory. Beyonce is a religion, she is just life. She slays every time she hits the stage and she didn’t disappoint this time. In what was a 15 minute visual statement performance, Beyonce notably performed “Hold Up”, where at the end she hits the VMAs camera with a baseball bat. Amazing! Only Queen Bey could do such a thing. The cinematography in the performance was next level. Billboard said that, “instead of sharp realism, the camera's focus was soft, gauzy and otherworldly”. Beyonce closed her performance with none other than “Formation”. Beyonce brought the house down.
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