Those associated with the audio-video medium are well aware of the prestigious MTV Video Music Award commonly known as MTV VMA to acknowledge the talents who have performed extraordinarily well in the platform and have contributed largely to pop culture. First started thirty-five years ago this event attracts millions of talents every year and presents them with an award that resembles an astronaut on the moon. The statue is one of the earliest presentations of MTV and is popularly coined as Moon Person that is made by New York firm, Society Awards. Over the years, the event has been occurring before the end of summer and the first VMA was held in 1984 at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall. But with time the stature and the grandeur of the trophy ceremony have rapidly declined due to several reasons. Lack of interest, lack of viewership, lack of diversity, lack of interest shown by the celebrities, and low count of attendances are some of the vital causes that have ceased the limelight of VMA.
However, this stage has never failed to amuse its fans and has offered them some of the most iconic and stunning moments so far. Some of the notable moments are listed below.
Last 10 years MTV Video Music Awards:
In 2010: Once again, Taylor Swift performed on her single ‘Innocent’ while West performed on ‘Runaway’ along with Pusha T.
Eminem was another to perform that night and was handed no awards that night. Lady Gaga bagged eight awards that year and she also won the Best Collaboration for ‘Telephone’ with Beyonce.
Justin Bieber won the Best New Artist which made him the second-youngest Canada-born artist to ever win in the MTV VMA.
Also, this year’s show caught a huge audience base of 11.4 million viewers which is the largest audience for MTV VMA since 2002 and also until 2011’s new record.
In 2011: The 2011 MTV VMA placed itself in California this year and this was the third time that the show ran without any host. A tribute was made to Britney Spears as several young talents danced to her hit songs. Post this Lady Gaga went to present the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award to Britney.
Followed to this Kanye West and Jay Z had their surprise performance and Katy Perry, and also Kanye West received the Award for the Best Video for a Collaborative single.
The biggest disclosure was made by Beyonce prior to her performance that she and her husband Jay Z were expecting a child. And due to such a huge revelation made by her on the stage, this year’s VMA received the most-watched broadcast in the history of MTV VMA with over 12.4 million viewers.
Katy Perry gathered three awards this year including the Video of the Year for ‘Firework’ and Lady Gaga won two awards.
In 2012: This year’s show went live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles with One Direction being the big winner who won the award for Best New Artist, Best Pop Video, and also bagged the most share-worthy video that night.
Rihanna won the award for the Video of the Year for ‘We Found Love’.
In 2013: This year marked the 30th anniversary when MTV decided to redesign its Moonman statue as the show was being held in Brooklyn for the very first time. The 2013 VMA was the fourth year in the award show’s history that no host had been appointed for the annual event.
Lady Gaga opened the ceremony by performing ‘Applause’ followed by Miley Cyrus performing her song ‘We Can’t Stop’.
This year Justin Timberlake’s song ‘Mirror’ received the Video of the Year making him the first solo male artist to win the award in this category since Eminem and Timberlake also became the second artist to receive the Video Vanguard Award.
In 2014: The 2014 ceremony was held in California again with Miley Cyrus winning the Video of the Year for ‘Wrecking Ball’. This year it was Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj, and Jessie J who opened the show. However, it was Beyonce who closed the show and she was handed the Video Vanguard Award by her husband and daughter at the end of her performance.
In 2015: Finally, this year’s show was hosted by Miley Cyrus and for the second time in a row this year’s moonman statue was redesigned. Taylor Swift went home with four awards and she presented the Video Vanguard Award to Kanye West during the show.
Nicki Minaj sealed the night after she received the Best Hip-Hop Video Award.
In 2016: The 2016 ceremony was held at Madison Square in Manhattan and Rihanna performed four times that including the opening and the end of the ceremony. After the completion of her final performance, she was handed the Video Vanguard Award by Drake. This year Britney Spears returned to perform after she was hugely criticized beforehand at the 2007 show.
Beyonce stormed the show with her sixteen-minute long performance and won eight awards that made her the most awarded artist in the history of VMA with receiving 24 moonmen that surpassing Madonna’s earlier held record of 20. The telecast however saw a steady drop in audience for the third consecutive year.
In 2017: Katy Perry hosted the show for the 2017 VMA. Six awards were presented to Kendrick Lamar and also he was the first artist to receive an award for a video that has been co-directed by him, titled ‘Humble’. Pink was also awarded the Video Vanguard Award.
Logic who performed on his song ‘1-800-273-8255’ that outlined the survivors of suicide attempts along with Alessia Cara and Khalid had reportedly increased the National Suicide Prevention Helpline call list by 50% at the end of the performance.
In 2018: Following a brief speech, Cardi B opened the show for the 2018 VMA. This year Camila Cabello won the Video of the Year for ‘Havana’ and the Vanguard Award was presented to Jennifer Lopez. During the show, Madonna paid a tribute to the late Aretha Franklin where her speech was mainly focused on her origins and only tangentially related to Franklin’s.
2018 show’s viewership reduced by nine percent and fifteen percent in the important group range of 18-49-year-olds. However, the total viewership count was 4.8 million.
In 2019: Sebastian Maniscalco hosted the show and Taylor Swift was handed three awards that including the award for the Video of the Year for ‘You Need to Calm Down’. By winning this award she became the second artist to have won the award for a video that she has co-directed and also the fourth artist to win in this category overall. Missy Elliot won the Vanguard Award this year.
The night’s biggest highlight was Taylor Swift’s opening act and another focus was Miley Cyrus’s performance of her latest hit ‘Slide Away’ for the first time on stage. Moreover, the Jonas Brothers made their first appearance on the show after nearly a decade.
The presenters for this night included names like Billy Ray Cyrus, John Travolta, Jonathan Van Ness, Ice-T, and Rick Ross, amongst many others.
The MTV VMA’s date & location for this year has been revealed. 2020 is the year that has been under the constant surveillance of COVID-19 but MTV has decided to go ahead with the 2020 Video Music Awards. According to the latest reports, this year’s VMA is scheduled to be held at New York City’s Barclays Center on the 30th of August. The show has been reportedly lined up with several exciting and epic performances to be held across the five destinations namely Brooklyn, The Bronx, Staten Island, Queens, and Manhattan.
While attending a press conference on June 29, Andrew Cuomo, the New York Governor announced that the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards is all set to officially return and this year’s show shall bring together all the music fans together as they shall all pay homage to the strength, spirit, and all other incredible resilience shown by NYC and its beloved residents.
According to the press release, amidst the terror of the global pandemic and keeping in mind the CDC guidelines, the health and safety of the fans, artists, staff, partners, and the whole industry is of utmost importance. Furthermore, the show producers along with Barclays Center Management have been working closely with the local and state officials to implement the best practices for everyone who is involved in the event.
It is said that the exclusive measures that would be taken include social distancing procedures, capacity limitations, and the virtualization of the 2020 MTV VMAs where there shall be limited or no audience.
CEO of Barclays Center and the Brooklyn Nets, Oliver Weisberg stated that they all are very much elated to once again host this legendary night of music and are also excited about the kind of impact it will have on the Brooklyn Community through the creation of local jobs. He also said that all of them are very grateful for the support and the advice given by the medical experts who have been working relentlessly to ensure the best health and safety of everyone involved in the process and that they shall continue to follow strict guidelines throughout every step of the planning process with their partners at ViacomCBS.
As it seems that the 2020 show is ready to bring back the powerhouse all-female duets at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, Lady Gaga, and also Ariana Grande which would give the viewers a glimpse of Chromatica with a live forecast.
Several groups like K-pop stans are now sharing clips on YouTube for increasing their anticipation within the audience.