Ladies night
BEYONCÉ AND RIHANNA DOMINATE THE MTV VMAs
Beyonce didn’t have to pick up the mic to make a statement at the MTV Video Music Awards.
Before bringing down the house with a jaw-dropping performance, the reigning Queen of pop arrived to Madison Square Garden Sunday night with the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Oscar Grant and Michael Brown, all of whom were killed in racially charged incidents. Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, Grant’s mother, Wanda Johnson, and Brown’s mother, Lesley McSpadden, posed on the red carpet with Beyonce. All the women, except for Johnson had appeared on the award-winning artists visual album “Lemonade.” Beyonce ruled the evening with a whopping 11 nominations and took home several trophies including the highly coveted award for video of the year for “Formation.” She beat out Kanye West, Adele, Justin Bieber and Drake. Her incredible night, included a stunning tribute to her latest album, “Lemonade,” belting out her ballads “Pray You Catch Me,” “Hold Up,” “Don’t Hurt Yourself,” and “Sorry.” Beyonce’s performance was kept a secret and was revealed hours before the show. It was clearly ladies night. Rihanna kicked off the spectacle with “Please Don’t Stop the Music” and later broke into dance heavy hits like “Only Girl (In The World), “We Found Love,” and “Where Have You Been.” The Barbados-born beauty’s rumored boyfriend, rapper Drake, later presented her with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard award, MTV’s version of a lifetime achievement accolade. “She’s someone I’ve been in love with since I was 22-years-old. She’s one of my best friends in the world. She’s a living, breathing legend in our industry,” he gushed. Drake won the award for best hip hop video for “Hotline Bling,” but he was “stuck in traffic,” according to presenter Sean “Diddy” Combs, who accepted the award on his behalf earlier in the evening. Kim Kardashian, clad in a skin-tight sheer black dress, took the stage to introduce the third of the powerhouse female vocalists of the night -- Britney Spears. The pop princess returned to the VMA stage
after a decade to perform her new song “Make Me” in a sparkly yellow neon body suit with with G-Eazy. Her outfit will be raffled off to raise funds for the flood victims in her home state of Louisiana.
Some acts, like Kanye West, fell flat.
“I am Kanye West,” the ego maniac began before presenting his bizarre new “Flashdance” inspired video for “Fade,” which features the actress Teyana Taylor.
His four-minute rant praised Beyoncé, and alluded to his infamous 2009 feud with Taylor Swift.
“‘Famous’ might lose to Beyoncé, but I can’t be mad because I’m always wishing for Beyoncé to win,” he said, before dissing Swift, who has beef with the rapper because she claims she was not made aware of lyrics to his controversial song “Famous” in which he refers to her as a b---h.
West didn’t miss an opportunity to defend himself on stage.
“That’s why I called her,” he said, taking a dig at the “Bad Blood” singer, who was not in attendance. He attempted to explain reasoning behind his lewd video “Famous.”
“The audacity to put Anna Wintour right next to Donald Trump. I mean, I put Ray J in there bro! This is fame, bro!”
Ariana Grande put a spin on her performance quite literally transforming the stage into a cycling studio as she peddled while singing her hit song “Side to Side.”
Four of the Final Five Olympic gymnasts - Madison Kocian, Aly Raisman, Laurie Hernandez and Simone Biles presented Beyonce with the award for best female video for the song “Hold Up.” Gabrielle Douglas had to miss out on the evening after she was briefly hospitalized for medical issues.
Earlier on the carpet, Beyonce walked hand-in-hand with her adorable 4-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy, on Sunday ahead of the Madison Square Garden award show.
The proud mommy paid homage to her mini-me in a baby blue, feathered neck piece that looked like angel wings draped over a sheer silver sequined gown. Her pint-sized muse shone in a gold tutu complete with a dazzling train and juxtaposed with pretty pink high-top sneakers and a mini silver tiara.