The 2019 MTV Video Music Awards are officially in the bag and you’d be forgiven for being completely unaware of this fact, considering the low ratings that came in on Tuesday morning, for this year’s telecast. Suffice to say, apparently not a lot of people cared. And this naturally led me to wonder if the VMA’s are even still relevant?
I know I’m not the first to ask this question, as the award show’s relevancy has been regularly called into the question in the last five years or so. And in the interest of fairness, one could argue that this year’s ceremony likely suffered from a serious lack of star power. Let’s face it, the only name that brought true star power to this year’s show, was Taylor Swift. And also many were thrilled, including myself, to see Missy Elliot finally get her LONG OVERDUE Video Vanguard Award.
However, other than these two exceptions, there were simply no artists with the kind of star power that the VMA’s traditionally would attract – no Beyonce, Rihanna, hell Drake, etc. And yes, I am aware Camilla Cabello and Shawn Mendes performed and my opinion still stands. As a result, the whole affair felt very lackluster and underwhelming. There was no heavy anticipation of what would come next, what wild performance we were about to witness, which superstar would take home the big award (seriously, was anyone surprised Taylor Swift won Video of the Year), etc.
I don’t think anyone would argue that at one point the VMA’s was one of the biggest award shows, music or otherwise. Understandable, as MTV was the network that helped propel the music video industry. And some of the greatest musical legends of the last thirty or so years, have left an indelible imprint on the show throughout the years. The VMA stage has seen career defining musical moments. But in recent years, little by little, that magic has slowly withered away.
In the interest of fairness, it may not even be the music or the artists themselves but that MTV as a network is simply no longer relevant. I mean let’s think about this – it’s a little difficult for an award to remain relevant when said award is so intertwined with what a network represents, when said network no longer represents that.
MTV at one point was the place where music videos came to life, where they thrived. It was the place where some artists made a name for themselves, just because of an amazing video that the network aired. But somewhere around the mid-2000’s specifically, MTV stopped being that place and instead became the network that brought us The Hills and unfortunately, unleashed Spiedi onto the world. It was no longer about the premiere of an amazing video with crazy visuals and dance routines but rather being 15 and Pregnant.
And once it lost that spirit of what the network once was, it’s become increasingly difficult to consider the VMA Awards as still relevant. And then the network compounded things by making the mistake of turning the show into a fan vote. Listen, I get it – i.e. if you give the fans the power, they might care a bit more and by that token, actually watch. Except it also succeeded in tragedies like Camilla Cabello’s pedestrian Havana music video winning Video of the Year over Childish Gambino’s career defining This is America. Thus making the award seem even more irrelevant in today’s cultural landscape.
So here we are. Another year, another VMA show gone and with the lowest ratings in years. Maybe I’m wrong and this year really only suffered because of a lack of star power. However, I sincerely doubt it. At this point, the VMA Awards have officially tipped into the nostalgic sphere. Something that’s talked about, celebrated and treated as somewhat still relevant because of what it once was and what it once represented.
PoPnOgR@PhY 