MTV awards on biggest EMA stage ever
SINCE my weekend in London attending the MTV Europe Music Awards, I have being trying to figure out how to start this story and what sums up my time at the awards, and I keep coming back to “wow”. That’s what sitting front row at the MTV EMA’s is, it’s a wow experience.
The awards are one of the biggest in the world and are presented by Viacom International Media Networks to honour artists and music in pop culture. It was originally conceived as an alternative to the MTV Video Music Awards, held annually in the US.
The Europe Music Awards are held every year in a different country in Europe. The annual presentation ceremony features performances by some of the world’s biggest artists.
The awards are a reflection of the international and continental music scene. They are representative of geographical origin and of achievement in diverse musical genres and disciplines, indicative of the diversity and scope of the accolade. Awards are amended, repealed and conceived to reflect the change in the music scene and its integral participation in social, cultural and economic circles. Since the 2007 ceremony, viewers have been able to vote for their favourite artists in all general categories by visiting MTV’s website. The first Europe Music Awards ceremony was held in 1994 at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany. Some hosts from the past include Heidi Klum, Christina Aguilera and Diddy. This year’s host was Rita Ora, pictured, and she did an amazing job. She was authentic and natural. Now I have been to many awards shows. However, after attending the EMAs, this show goes down as one of the best. The production of the show was out of this world. If you watched it on television, you would have seen multiple stages, ones that elevate, with light fixtures that fall into different angles over performers and pipes spitting fire. Julio Himede reprised his role as set designer. Inspired by the fact that there is still an empty Olympic swimming pool from 1934 under the arena floor (which hosted the 1948 Summer Olympics), his concept for this year’s show was an “Olympic field of play.” Creating an industry first for any awards show, the entire stage floor was elevated by nearly 5m. It is also the biggest EMA stage ever built at 60m long and 28m wide with a programmable LED floor for different LED installations throughout the show. It would take 20 hydraulic lifts to make the whole stage work. One stage dedicated for large props would take one large hydraulic lift to raise the stage as high as 8m. Camila Cabello, for example, used the entire stage for her performance. She had at least 100 dancers and a Havana style pool, on stage! One thing that is worth noting is how smoothly and effortlessly the show runs. This can only be attributed to countless hours of rehearsals with singers, dancers and production staff, something South African awards should do.