2010 MTV Video Music Awards (VMA) Big Winners: Lady Gaga and Eminem

Chelsea Handler was the host of the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards (VMA) tonight. Bring on the hardcore jokes, and possible uncomfortable moments. She's funny, but usually too mean for my taste. I watched her show until she made run of people like Lindsay Lohan. I don't believe in kicking people when they are down. It's just not funny to be cruel.

Regardless I knew she could handle it. She made a decent host, she had so much dialogue at times I couldn't make out what she was saying. Not great, but not as mean as she could have been. Which is a step forward I figure. (Part of me was wishing she would kick Kanye West's butt.)

Performances on the MTV stage:

Eminem opened up the VMA singing his latest single, Not Afraid. This is one of the main reasons I even tuned in to the awards tonight. It was a good performance. As a fan I would really like to hear him sing an entire song, without shortening it so that he can remix and sing only part of another song. His music is powerful and I really wanted to hear and feel it that way.

Then Rhianna entered the stage singing the I Love The Way You Lie duet with Eminem. The song is so strong, terrifying, and real - when you see the video. Some people can't handle that, but it honestly depicts what many people go through in bad relationships. And the song should show many people why they shouldn't put up with abuse.

Justin Bieber performed Baby and his little female admirers went nuts for him. I don't understand their Bieber fever, but I guess it's a teen thing. He sang, danced, was lifted in the air by his male dancers, and then played the drums. I was thinking WTF, settle on one talent and do it better (than this). It has to be hard to focus on the song with his 50 plus posse. Just sayin'.

Usher sang a medley of hits next on the MTV stage. Am I the only one who doesn't want to hear a sample of each song from an artist? One entire song would have been wonderful. The performance was interesting with his dance posse swarming the stage. At least Usher can dance his butt off. I prefer singing to dancing, from any artist though. Dance if you can still do it and sing really well. Usher did a good job.

Florence & The Machine made her/their VMA debut singing Dog Days Are Over. She certainly knows how to make a performance quirky. But it wasn't my idea of rock, which was the category they were nominated for. However, she wasn't trying to do the cute girl performance, so props to her for that.

Taylor Swift performed a song from her upcoming album Speak Now. It's the first time she has performed a song from the new album. The performance was exactly what her fans have come to expect from her. Real life lyrics and an intimate setting tell me that she understands her fans rather well. She had a moodier tone and look tonight, and it shows her growth from bubbly teen to young lady. The fans went crazy for her as she walked barefoot off the stage. I personally did not think she was singing about Kanye, although many are speculating that both of their songs were about the incident last year.

Drake, Mary J. Blige, and Swizz Beatz performed a little diddy next. The dude has a lot of energy and charisma on the stage, even if this song wasn't one of my favorites.

B.O.B, Bruno Mars, and Paramore took to the stage next. They performed their hit Airplanes and they were as good live as on the radio. That's when the talent it real, not strictly created with devices.

I was excited when they announced Linkin Park would be performing The Catalyst. I love Linkin Parkand they have a ton of excellent songs, so I figured this would be the most rocking performance of the night. Never had I heard this song before, but the light show was cool. I love their high energy performances. They put so much passion into their songs. Although this song was a new sound from them I still liked it.

Kanye West performed in a bright red suit. Again, not his best song, in my opinion. He sang about assholes and douche bags, and I couldn't help but wonder if he was singing about himself. After what he did last year to Taylor Swift I don't have any respect for the man. But sometimes his music blows me away. But not tonight. In his defense, at least he didn't bring out a 50 person dance posse. And he does have some impressive music. The audience stood up calling out "Kanye, Kanye" and he was gone, just like that. Maybe he did learn something from last year's Swift incident. Not according to his song that toasts all the assholes. What is wrong with that dude? No, really.

2010 MTV VMA WINNERS:

Best Female Video: Lady Gaga won for Bad Romance. Beating out the likes of big name artists like Taylor Swift, Beyonce, and Ke$ha. She had to thank the little monsters, the gays for remaking her video, and the soldiers coming home. Best of all her costume was fairly normal, rather than bizarre, and it's nice to see that she doesn't always have to dress out there.

Best Rock Video: 30 Seconds To Mars won with Kings and Queens. They were up against MGMT, Florence & The Machine, Muse, and Paramore. Jared Leto is the front-man of the band and accepted it on behalf of the fans.

Best Male Video: Eminem won his first VMA of the night with Not Afraid. Had a good feeling he would beat out Usher, Drake, B.O.B, and Jason Derulo. Eminem had already left for his New York flight due to a performance he had scheduled. Would have been great to see what he had to say, but it was great that he made time to perform.

Best Pop Video: Lady Gaga brought home her second award of the night with Bad Romance. She beat out Katy Perry, Keisha, Beyonce (featuring Lady Gaga), and B.O.B. This time she talked about her heavy outfit that she admitted she could barely walk in. Girl, wear something you can walk in, my gosh. I love Gaga's music, but if you can't walk in the outfit...wear something else.

Best Hip Hop Video: Eminem won his second VMA of the night for Not Afraid. He was up against B.O.B, Drake, MGMT, and Jay-Z.

Best New Artist: Justin Bieber won, and I was shocked. It was funny that he couldn't find his way to the stage. But congratulations to him, so young to win such a big award.

Best Breakthrough Video: The Black Keys won for Tighten Up.

Best Special Effects: Muse won for the song Uprising.

Best Cinematography: Jay-Z and Alicia Keys scored a VMA win for the catchy, hit song "Empire State Of Mind".

Video Of The Year: Lady Gaga scored another VMA for Bad Romance. Lady Gaga announced her new album would be titled Born This Way. She belted out some of the song and cried tears. She told the audience she was afraid that she wouldn't win this award and didn't want to let her fans down. For the first time she seemed a bit staged. I mean just because an artist loses doesn't make you a failure, and if you think it does...well not a nice thought for all the people you beat tonight Gaga. Even the best of the best lose, sometimes. Still I am glad she won. I love her Fame Monster album, and she deserved the win.

Lady Gaga scored 8 VMA wins in total (3 listed above) + Best Collaboration for Telephone, Best Dance Music Video, Best Choreography, Best Direction, and Best Editing.

Eminem picked up 2 VMA wins.

Sources:
MTV
My Perspective