The Show
The 2012 MTV Video Music Awards aired last night, Thursday September 7th, 2012. The show was broadcast live from The Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA. If you missed the pre show, you really didn’t miss much aside from: Amber Rose and Wiz Khalifa announcing that they have a baby on the way, interviews with the celebs, and not to mention Demi Lovato’s flawless performance of her hit single “Give Your Heart A Break.” This year’s show was hosted by Kevin Heart, he opened the show posing as a presidential candidate, and his opening monologue had an overall theme: “If you make a mistake, so what?”
VMA Social Media Action
I was very impressed with MTV’s integration of social media with the VMA’s last night. During the Pre Show, MTV had a Twitter tracker to follow which VMA moments are buzzing the most on the social network and capitalize on the excitement as soon as possible. MTV expected approx. 10 million interactions across all social networks, but received a whopping 19.2 million social media comments & interactions. Impressive!
VMA Performance Highlights
Although many staple VMA celebs were not in attendance this year such as: Britney Spears, Kanye West, Lady Gaga, and Beyonce to name a few…most of last night’s performers delivered!
Rihanna opened the show by performing “Cockiness” followed by a surprise from A$AP Rocky, and ended with her hit single “We Found Love” with Calvin Harris spinning above her.
P!nk is back! She opened her performance with a few verses of “Get This Party Started” followed by her latest single “Blow Me (One Last Kiss).” The singer also shared a few special moments with her fans by singing inches away from them, and even hugging one lucky guy in the crowd!
I really enjoyed 2 Chainz and Lil Wayne’s performance, Lil Wayne has a way of hyping a crowd up in such a way that not many are capable of.
Get this- Screaming girls went crazy during One Direction’s performance of “One Thing”, what a surprise!
Taylor Swift closed the show with her new monster single “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” It was a classic T-Swift performance: lots of fan interaction, great vocals, and a confetti explosion at the end!
My favorite performance of the night would most definitely be Mr. Frank Ocean! He performed “Thinkin’ Bout You” and truly stole the show with his impressive vocals, stage set up, and his truthful lyrics. Frank is full of passion, and that was clear to see during last night’s performance, 2 thumbs up!
VMA Winners
One Direction was the first to bring home a VMA Moon man winning Best Pop Video for their smash “What Makes You Beautiful.”The boy band also took home the Best New Artist award.
Chris Brown took home a VMA for Best Male Video for his single, “Turn Up the Music.”
Best Hip Hop Video went to Drake featuring Lil Wayne for “HYFR.” Drake dedicated his award to any kid who’s had to take “a long walk home by yourself.”
Nicki Minaj won Best Female Video for “Starships.”
Rihanna took home the Video of the Year award for “We Found Love” featuring Calvin Harris.
Overall Thoughts
While this year’s show included some memorable performances, and well-deserved wins, I feel that the show could have used some more surprises. The MTV Video Music Awards are notorious for keeping viewers on the edge of their seats, waiting for what will happen next. Hopefully next year we can expect just a tad more action.
If you missed the show, no worries- MTV will more than likely be re-airing the show over the next month or so, and you can also Watch the entire show on demand!
For those of you who got a chance to catch all the VMA action, what are your thoughts?