The Video Music Award’s 2011 – What Went Down

The Video Music Awards 2011 came to our screens this Sunday and I was one of the many Brits who tuned in at 1am to witness the worldwide music event of the year. This year the celebrities in attendance did not fail to entertain, making me glad I stayed up to watch the event.

This year’s show gave MTV their highest ever viewing figures with 12.5 people million tuning in to the event which was hosted at the Nokia theatre in Los Angeles.

Our girl Jessie J shone on the night and although I think she deserves better, she got industry heads turning with her role of entertaining the crowd during the breaks. The Essex born singer delivered songs from her own album and sung covers of songs such as TLC ‘No Scrubs’ and a version of Katy Perry’s ‘Firework’ – which sounded better than the lady herself in my humble opinion.

Speaking of Ms Perry-Brand, she had a great night after receiving the joint honour of taking the most Moonmen home. Katy won the Video of the Year award for ‘Firework’, Best Collaboration for her song with Kanye, ‘E.T’ which also picked up the award for Best Visual Effects.

Katy shared the glory with our home girl Adele who also picked up three Moonmen, making us all feel so proud. Our lovely lady won Best Art Direction for ‘Rolling in the Deep’ along with Best Editing and Best Cinematography for the video. Adele performed ‘Someone Like you’ which consisted of her standing motionless and belting it out. Adele is absolutely exquisite, but changing her stage performances once and a while wouldn’t hurt. Yawn.

Kanye and Jay – Z took to the stage to perform ‘Otis’ which was incredible, you can see the two of them have amazing stage and recording chemistry. Jay – Z was unfortunately a victim to another stage crasher this year, who was swiftly taken away by bodyguards. In case you’re wondering, it was a random guy this time, not Lil Mama; I think she’s been banned from the event after last year.

I was surprised that Katy and Adele were the biggest winners of the night, as Lady Gaga was hyped up to be the biggest winner once again. Not only were people excited to see what she would win on the night, but everyone was dying to know what she would be wearing. The world was left wondering how she could possibly do anything wackier than dressing in meat. This question was answered when Gaga did not arrive to the VMAs… her alter ego Jo Calderone did. One of the night’s highlights was seeing the look on the audience faces when Gaga (I mean Jo) graced the stage totally in Jo’s character. Celebrities such as Adele and Justin Bieber looked totally confused by the whole affair. I thought it was fantastic to see that Gaga CAN in fact top herself in terms of the weird factor.  Despite the controversy and confusion, the lady didn’t do too badly, winning Best Female Video for ‘Born This Way’ which also won Best Video With A Message.

As Lady Gaga wasn’t quite herself on the night, it was nice to see that Nicki Minaj attended seemingly in homage to the star, dressed in a wacky origami dress with a matching mouthpiece. The Young Money sensation won Best Hip Hop Video for ‘Superbass’ and was seen partying the night away in celebration.

Amy Winehouse was rightfully remembered at the ceremony and we were shown an exclusive clip of her duet with Tony Bennett, which was amazing. Russell Brand also gave a speech in honour of his friend which was frank and insightful. Bruno Mars then took to the stage for his tribute to the Camden born star, singing ‘Valerie’. His performance was beautiful and I am not ashamed to admit it brought several tears to my eyes. Well done, Bruno.

The legendary Foo Fighters won the Best Rock Video award for their single ‘Walk’ which was much deserved.

Justin Bieber (quite unsurprisingly) received the award for Best Male Video for his song ‘U Smile’. I actually laughed out loud when he came on stage in red trousers and a pair of reading glasses. Sheesh, kids need to find their own style these days as opposed to poorly imitating Michael Jackson and Gok Wan. Arriving on stage, the pop prince thanked God and Jesus, but gave no thanks to his current girlfriend Selena Gomez, causing whispers to start about the state of their relationship.

Tyler The Creator won the Award for Best New Artist, which I was so happy about, it was rightfully deserved and we can expect big things from Tyler and the rest of the Odd Future Gang. Fellow nominee Kreayshawn didn’t look best pleased although she later tweeted that she “respects the funk outta Tyler”.

Chris Brown took to the stage in a white suit performing ‘Beautiful People’ and gave an awesome dance performance before he shot off into the air. Show off.

Britney Spears was honoured with the ultimate Moonman, the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. I had a momentary lapse of sanity when I found myself questioning why Britney deserved such a prestigious award. I was quickly reminded when dancers took to the stage in honour of the pop princess, dancing to hits like ‘Crazy’ ‘One More Time’ ‘Slave 4 u’ ‘Toxic’ ‘Oops I Did It Again’ and many more. I actually had goose bumps and it was a great reminder that Britney Spears IS pop culture. Jo Calderone presented the award to Ms Spears and as she introduced the lady of pop she charmingly said “when I was younger, I used to touch myself looking at my Britney poster.” Britney looked like she wanted to die but laughed it off like the trooper she is. When she joined Jo on stage they had almost had a ‘Madonna – Britney – Kiss’ moment until Britney said “I’ve done that already!” Tease. Britney also won the Best Pop Video Award for ‘Till The World Ends.’

Britney then managed to take the spotlight off her by declaring her love for Beyonce, which led to the ‘Run The World’ singer taking to the stage to perform her song ‘Love On Top’. After her performance she threw the microphone on the stage and pulled her jacket open, revealing a baby bump! Man, that girl really knows how to work the press. That moment will no doubt be re-played many a time throughout the rest of pop culture history. The camera flew to the audience to show Jay – Z looking thrilled as he received a hug from his album partner Kanye. It was actually the cutest moment in music and although I don’t know the couple, I can’t help but feel elated for them. Queen B didn’t go home empty handed as she won the Best Choreography Award for ‘Run The World (Girls)’.

The gorgeous Drake introduced the final act of the night, Lil Wayne. I would have liked to have seen a duet but you can’t have it all, I guess. Weezy performed ‘How To Love’ in a sweet boy style before taking his shirt off and going nuts to ‘John (If I Die Today)’. He also smashed a decent looking guitar before he went off stage, leaving a raw energy behind him as he left.