MTV VIDEO MUSIC AWARDS
Katy Perry hosts a cutting-edge show.
Descending in a sparkling spacesuit over a screaming throng at the Forum in Los Angeles on Aug. 27, Katy Perry landed with some awkward banter about being “back on Planet Earth,” played with a fidget-spinner and, riffing on her own on-trend ways, picked up a Handmaid’s Tale costume and asked, ”What are the kids into these days?” But the first-time Video Music Awards host took one giant leap for Mtv-kind when she declared, “Even in the apocalypse, we deserve a great soundtrack. Are you with me?”
Leading that playlist was Kendrick Lamar. With eight nominations, the rapper opened the show with a fiery medley of his hits “DNA” and “Humble”—which scored six Moon Person trophies including Video of the Year.
“Shape of You” singer Ed Sheeran was humble, too, accepting the inaugural Artist of the Year award from Stranger Things’ Millie Bobby Brown with, “This is only my second ever VMA and yeah, this is still mad.”
But the VMAS, even in its 33nd
year, still managed to court controversy, from the political (acknowledging activist videos with the Best Fight Against the System distinction) to the petty (cutting off Best New Artist nominee Julia Michaels before the end of her song “Issues”, to the ire of Maroon 5’s Adam Levine).
And after Pink accepted the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard award, the night ended on a galactic high when Nicki Minaj joined Perry, who later partied with Calvin Harris and Jared Leto, for a slam-dunk “Swish Swish”. As Perry said, she was “your hostess with the mostest.”