Kennedy Jones
Staff Writer
MTV kicked off its annual Video Music Awards (VMAs) on Sunday, August 28, 2016, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Hosted by record producer DJ Khaled, the night was filled with high-energy performances and typical MTV craziness.
Pop star Rihanna started the show off with an up-beat and colorful performance of her hit songs “Don’t Stop the Music,” Only Girl,” “We Found Love” and “Where Have You Been”. Rihanna was awarded the most important award of the night, the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award for her groundbreaking music videos.
The VMAs woman of the hour hit the stage four times to perform some of her biggest hits which included “Rude Boy,” “Diamonds,” “Work,” and much more. The prestigious award was presented to the singer by her rumored boo, Drake
Although it was Rihanna’s big night, Beyoncé was by far the highlight of the show. Leading the pack with a total of 11 nominations, she took home a record-breaking eight awards making her the most decorated VMA winner of all time with 26 awards.
The singer’s controversial video for her hit song “Formation” racked up six awards including Video of the Year, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Choreography, Best Editing, and Best Pop Video. She also took home Best Female Video for “Hold Up” and Breakthrough Longform Video for her visual album, “Lemonade”.
Beyoncé stole the show delivering the best performance of the night. She blazed the stage with over 50 dancers performing half of her “Lemonade” album with the songs “Pray You Catch Me” “Hold Up,” “Don’t Hurt Yourself,” “Sorry,” and “Formation”. The electrifying performance garnered the singer a one-minute standing ovation from the audience.
Another highlight of the show was Kanye West who took the stage to introduce his new video to the world. But before he did that, he had a few things to get off his chest. In typical Kanye fashion, he gave a rather bizarre and all over the place speech that addressed a host of topics such as the shootings in his hometown of Chicago, his on-going feud with Taylor Swift, and his controversial “Famous” video.
He then premiered his attention-grabbing music video, “Fade” which starred singer Teyana Taylor. The video sent social media into a frenzy, as Taylor showed off her toned body and amazing dance skills in the “Flashdance” themed video.
A slew of other artists graced the VMA stage including Ariana Grande featuring Nicki Minaj, Future, Britney Spears, Nick Jonas featuring Ty Dolla Sign, and duo The Chainsmokers.
Up-and-coming groups Fifth Harmony and DNCE won their very first VMA. Fifth Harmony took home the award for Best Collaboration while DNCE was awarded with Best New Artist. Other award winners included Calvin Harris for Best Male Video and Drake for Best Hip Hop Video.
This year the VMAs aired on multiple cable channels including VH1, Comedy Central, and Spike, which are all owned by MTV’s parent company Viacom. Unfortunately, this did not provide the VMAs with a boost in viewers. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the VMAs suffered a drop in audience numbers, bringing in only 6.5 million viewers on Sunday night, going down by more than 4 million viewers (34 percent) since the 2015 VMAs.
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