SHE'S 36 TODAY.
SEE MORE PHOTOS BELOW:
Wednesday 31 August 2016
PHOTOS: JOSELYN DUMAS IS 36 TODAY
SHE'S 36 TODAY.
SEE MORE PHOTOS BELOW:
Blac Chyna Goes Completely Nude for ‘Paper’ Magazine [Photos]
See more beautiful photos below:
Willow and Jaden Smith SLAY in Interview Magazine [Photos]
Jaden and Willow Smith bring their brother-sister slay to the pages of Interview magazine.
For their cover story, the siblings were interviewed by Pharrell Williams.
Check out a few excerpts:
PHARRELL WILLIAMS: So, what’s up, guys? What’s on your mind, Willow?
WILLOW SMITH: This morning actually
was pretty intense because I was thinking about the world and my place
in the world, things that I have made or want to make. I was thinking
about all the things that I could do that I don’t do. But, you know, I
was just thinking about the world and everything.
PHARRELL: Well, you guys are the
future. There’s an older generation that feels like they know what the
future should be. And then there’s your generation that may have an idea
of what the future should be, but that could evolve. How old are you
now?
WILLOW: I’m 15.
JADEN SMITH: I actually just turned 18 last Friday.
PHARRELL: Happy belated!
JADEN: Thank you.
PHARRELL: Do you guys ever feel any generational divide when you have a conversation with older folks?
WILLOW: Oh, definitely. It seems like
they don’t understand our thought process. Or, like, things have
happened in the past that they’re still mad about. We want to accept
them and move forward. I mean, I can definitely see things that have
happened in the past that they’re holding on to and things that are
happening right now that bog them down, but this generation wants to
transcend them.
PHARRELL: It would be cool if they
would remember when they were teenagers what the generational divide was
then. Except that the generational divide is much more blunt at this
time. You guys grew up online. Part of your life is on social media. And
when they look at it as just something to do, they don’t realize that
they also essentially live online. They don’t realize that their phone
has replaced their wallet.
WILLOW: Yep. I know so many kids who
literally are, like, Instagram-famous. They have done nothing but post
pictures on Instagram. And they have followings. People love to see them
in person, but it’s only because they post on their Instagram. It’s
literally crazy. Kids will paint a picture of themselves that is so far
beyond who they actually are. It’s like they’re wearing someone else’s
skin.
PHARRELL: I love that there are pros
and cons to all of it. I feel like your generation understands that.
Some of them abuse it. And some just purely use it.
WILLOW: And then there’s people, like
me and Jaden, who want to utilize social media to elevate the
consciousness of those people who feel like all they want from social
media is to be famous. [laughs] Like, you can actually be a voice. You
can actually say something that’s inspiring and not just make people
feel like you need to buy things and be a certain way.
JADEN: It’s good to be happy and tell
us how cool your life is and how awesome you are on social media.
That’s great because it inspires other people to be happy, too. But a
lot of times, people are trying to be happy in the wrong ways—with money
or with different things that are not true happiness. It’s leading
people down a rabbit hole that actually doesn’t exist. So people think
like, “Yo, once I get this money and these cars and stuff, I’ma be so
happy.” But that’s not true. And I feel like that’s why it’s very
important to educate people on different things while you are actually
on social media.
PHARRELL: I love it. The positive
path and the trajectory that you guys are on, where does that come from?
Who are your biggest inspirations?
WILLOW: My parents. Growing up, all I
saw was my parents trying to be the best people they could be, and
people coming to them for wisdom, coming to them for guidance, and them
not putting themselves on a pedestal, but literally being face-to-face
with these people and saying, “I’m no better than you, but the fact that
you’re coming to me to reach some sort of enlightenment or to shine a
light on something, that makes me feel love and gratitude for you.” They
always give back what people give to them. And sometimes they keep
giving and giving and giving. And some people don’t feel like they need
to give anything back because it’s like, “Oh, if you’re famous, you can
just keep giving, and it doesn’t matter.” It’s not just about money.
It’s not just about giving people gifts or whatever. What my parents
have given to me is not anything that has to do with money or success or
anything that society says people should be focusing on—it’s something
spiritual that only certain people can grasp and accept. And that’s how I
act and move in the world today.
JADEN: I 100 percent agree with
Willow on that one. My parents are definitely my biggest role models.
And that’s where me and Willow both pull all of our inspiration from to
change the world. It all comes from a concept of affecting the world in a
positive way and leaving it better than it was than when we came. I
feel like that enters into all types of different areas because there
are so many different outlets that life has to offer for us. That goes
into technology, into music. That goes into science, into spirituality,
into education. Where me and Willow come from, a lot of it is trying to
make society more efficient, so that kids don’t cry, like, “Why do I
have to go to school?” Instead, kids are like, “Yeah! I’m so glad to go
to school! I’m a better person than I was yesterday, and I can help
people.”
WILLOW: Exactly!
JADEN: That’s we’re trying to get to.
Where every kid goes to school, and like 50 percent of children don’t
drop out. Where they feel like their teachers are actually on their
side. Or they feel like law enforcement is actually on their side. We
want to create a society that is working for us and with us—and we’re
working for society, not against it.
PHARRELL: It’s beautiful that you
guys are in such lockstep. Willow, you once said that you felt like the
two of you were almost like identical twins, like you could finish each
other’s thoughts. Were you guys always that close?
WILLOW: Yeah. It’s crazy, the sibling
dynamic. I could’ve spent my entire childhood like, “I have to love
this person.” And it becomes a chore. But our parents were never like,
“You have to love them.” It was more like, “You have your life. He has
his life. And when you guys want to come together, when you guys want to
commune, that’s up to you.” And throughout us realizing ourselves and
realizing each other, we just opened our eyes and were like, “Damn, you
are the yin to my yang.” Not a lot of siblings have that opportunity,
because they’re always being pushed together so much. They need their
time apart in order to realize themselves and realize who they are.
PHARRELL: Has there ever been, like, some love-based competition?
JADEN: We never really felt competitive because Willow’s always been better than me at everything. There’s been no competition.
WILLOW: [laughs] Pharrell, that is so not true.
JADEN: Willow started making music
first. I was like, “My younger sister is, like, 4, and she’s making all
these fire songs. What’s happening?” Willow was doing all these things,
about to have record label deals at like the age of 6, and I was like,
“I feel like I’m underachieving.” That was around the time that I was
doing Karate Kid, and I could do flips, and I thought I was special
because I could do flips. But Willow could do the flips, too! Willow
naturally had it. Like, I was trying to do no-handed cartwheels. Willow
had it. I was trying to get to the studio. Willow was in the studio. You
know what I’m saying? Willow just didn’t have as big as a passion for
acting as me. But if she did, she could do what I did. So there’s always
been competition, but we’ve always worked as hard as possible to do the
things that we want to do. We never got upset because we could always
do the same thing. It happened so that me and Willow were able to go
through every level or different section of life that we wanted to. If
we wanted to act, we could act. If we wanted to dance, we were dancing.
And we could do it on the level that we wanted to do it. So there was
no, like, “I’m mad at you.” Well, we would get mad at each other when we
were young, but that stopped when we were, like, 9.
PHARRELL: It seems that you’ve always
been—I hate using this word—famous. You’ve always been easily
recognized for what it is that you do. So do you guys separate your
public and private selves?
JADEN: I think we definitely do. How
people look at us in public is not how we actually are in private. It’s
just that we choose not to tell everyone everything. Like, okay, I’m in
New York right now. I’m not posting an emoji of a plane on Instagram,
like, “New York.” I don’t want anyone to know that I’m here in New York.
And by the time this comes out, I won’t be. We don’t like people to
really know what’s happening with us or what we’re into. The only thing
that we want to keep people updated with is that we want to keep the
kids that are following us, the kids that are looking up to us updated
on what we’re learning and what we’re thinking about life. So that’s why
we have our brand MSFTSrep, but that’s a different story. That’s where
we try to fuel the youth. Like, I have a homie right now, his name is
Ian. He’s from D.C. He’s a super young dude. He’s been a MSFTS fan for,
like, ever. He’s been to our shows. He’s just starting to make music.
And he’s out here with me right now because I got him a hotel room at
the spot that I’m staying at, for him and his homies to just to, like,
witness a lifestyle, see that anything’s possible. I put him here in New
York City, his first time ever in New York City in his life, to be
like, “Yo, this is what it’s like. Anything’s possible. Keep going.”
We’re trying to inspire kids, like, “Join me and Willow. Join with the
squad. And let’s really, like, change the world.”
PHARRELL: So you do have to censor yourself on social media? Do you also regulate your usage?
WILLOW: Definitely! Even for people
like us who have an awareness that’s slightly more awakened, it still
takes over your mind. And you find yourself randomly going on your phone
for no reason, randomly doing things. It becomes compulsive, and you
have to start asking yourself, “Whoa, what is the real reason for me
checking my Instagram every five minutes? What is the real reason for me
posting this photo right now?” I never want to do things impulsively
that have no meaning or intent, especially on social media.
PHARRELL: Do you feel like it enhances or hinders your creative process?
WILLOW: It does both at times. It
hinders me when I get lost in things that other people are doing.
[laughs] It helps when I can be inspired by things that other people are
doing instead of just being like, “Oh, that’s cool this person is doing
this.” It’s literally a robotic function, scrolling through your feed
and looking at mindless junk that people post every day. There’s no
thought that goes into it. There’s no productivity in that. I’m all
about looking at things and analyzing things and finding the beauty in
it, even if you don’t have to really analyze it. When I can see someone
that’s posting the way that they’re thinking about what’s happening in
the world right now or even art that they’ve created, it inspires me to
do the same. It makes me turn off my phone and go paint a painting or go
hike a mountain or go record a song. Those are the kind of things that
social media helps me do. But it also can make me sit in my room and not
do anything.
PHARRELL: I think that’s true for
everyone, at least those who are aware. You can only point it out if
you’re aware, if your eyes are open. We must stay woke. Do either of you
have a dream role or a dream artist collaboration or a dream director
that you’d want to work with?
JADEN: I would love to work with
Christopher Nolan, 100 percent. It would be a dream for me to hang out
with you in the studio. Not even to make music but just hang out.
PHARRELL: Well, you guys know the power of speaking things into existence. You’re more than welcome.
WILLOW: One of my dream
collaborations is to work with a band called Hiatus Kaiyote, because
their music is so beautiful, the changing of the time signatures. Nai
Palm, the vocalist, I have such an affinity for her voice. And
everything that she talks about in her music and everything that she
stands for is just so beautiful. And, like Jaden said, not even making
music all the time, but just seeing how they live their lives and
observing them as a spirit and as a human, it’s so beautiful.
PHARRELL: So how did your interest in
fashion begin? I know it’s a really lame question. But I’m sure people
want to know at what point you recognized that you wanted to do it.
WILLOW: Me and Jaden, when we were
younger … [laughs] Ooh! We would wear the craziest things. Jaden would
only wear his Spider-Man costume. I would freaking mismatch every single
shirt and pants in my closet. We would just be so rambunctious with our
clothing choices. And when we were old enough to start dressing
ourselves, my mom was like, “Are you sure you want to go out like that?”
And me and Jaden would be like, “You know what? Yes.” And she’d totally
accept it. I feel like that’s where most of our confidence comes from.
Because we weren’t told, “Oh, you don’t look good in that. You look
crazy. People are gonna think this about you.” Like, obviously, that was
going to be happening regardless, but it wasn’t like that ruled what we
did or the choices that we made.
JADEN: Nobody knows that Willow and I
were much, much cooler before. Like, before people were looking at the
things that we were doing, we were so much more, like, method with
fashion. We really went all the way. We went the extra mile on
everything because there was no one looking at us. We’ve been through
the roof, with ludicrous fashion ideas since we were extremely young.
PHARRELL: Well, it led to being a Chanel ambassador and the face of Vuitton, no?
WILLOW: Yeah, it really did. [laughs]
JADEN: We’re so blessed! And we’re so, so proud. And thankful.
WILLOW: If we didn’t have the kind of
exposure to the world that we do now, people wouldn’t hear the positive
thoughts that we have. It’s amazing to be able to work with iconic
people and to have my name on something that’s so beautiful, but at the
same time, the only reason why I do it is so that I can have more of a
reach to different kinds of people and spread my message. The only thing
that really matters is spreading love and light and acceptance and
unity throughout the entire world in any way that you possibly can.
PHARRELL: So who are your favorite philosophers?
WILLOW: I love Osho. I don’t know if
you would call him a philosopher; I would just call him a really cool
dude. Osho really changed my life. Because the way that he spoke about
emotion and the male and female energies in the world and how people
react to the world around them, it’s so simple, yet it has such a depth.
JADEN: I feel like that’s accurate,
the entire collective is very strong. And it made us realize that being
aware in the moment of right now is just the most important thing. All
of our issues come from us not being aware enough or not seeing through
our problems to the depths of the issues.
PHARRELL: Do you guys have any philosophical questions that you’d like to present to the world that’s going to read this?
JADEN: A question I would like to
present to the world is: Where is the love? And what are we doing? Who’s
making the decisions that are putting us in the predicaments that we
are in, with all of these people losing their lives around the world in
so many different ways? I feel like a serious revolution needs to take
place in order for human beings to evolve in a way where we can truly
exist as a society. Because, right now, we do not act as a true society.
We act as a world under terror, just scrambling to survive.
WILLOW: That’s definitely one of my
biggest questions. Another is: How are humans going to start taking
responsibility for the actions that they take? When are we going to stop
pointing the finger at someone else for something we do unconsciously?
How are we going to start being aware of those things and changing those
things?
In addition to their interview, Jaden & Willow posed for an incredibly photo spread shot by Steven Klein.
NOLLYWOOD STAR FUNKE AKINDELE "JENNIFER" IS MARRIED
The groom, Abdulrasheed, aka Skillz is a multi-talented musician, music producer and a leading member of the JJC and 419 Squad based in London.
Until his decision to marry Funke, he was blessed with three children who are grown up and living happily in the United Kingdom.
The couple, in a statement signed by Funke Akindele’s publicist, Biodun Kupoluyi, chose a quiet wedding in London because neither of them wanted to be on show or at the center of attention having been on that lane before.
“The decision to do it quietly was right for us and we pray for the understanding of our close friends and fans at this offer of a lifetime moment. At a good time, we shall look back and in appreciation of divine grace and your support, we shall celebrate milestones and where we are in life."The working couple has since hit the ground running, shooting scenes for the new episode, Jenifa In London for the running sit-com, Jenifa’s Diary. Jenifa In London, Funke Akindele hinted would be premiered at a high-octane event in London and Lagos.
The couple would return to Nigeria soon.
Signed:
Management
See more photos below:
Mzbel is my crazy, controversial, hardworking daughter - Mahama
The president posted a photo of the singer and captioned it; “my crazy, controversial, troublesome, hardworking, fun but shy daughter @mzbelmusic thanks for your support”.
Mzbel recently was bashed by some section of Ghanaians for publicly declaring her support for the ruling party and its flag bearer, John Mahama.
She went as far as doing a photo shot wearing the party colours and holding their green book which consists of all they have achieved since they took over.
According to them, the book should form the basis on which the Ghanaian populace should give them another chance.
As if that was not enough, the Legelege singer went ahead to compose a song called JM Toaso, where she urged the people pf Ghana not to give up on Prez Mahama.
See the photo below:
Monday 29 August 2016
VMAs2016 WINNERS LIST
Video of the Year:
Adele – “Hello”
Beyoncé – “Formation” -- WINNER
Drake – “Hotline Bling”
Justin Bieber – “Sorry”
Kanye West – “Famous”
Best Female Video:
Adele – “Hello”
Beyoncé – “Hold Up” -- WINNER
Sia – “Cheap Thrills”
Ariana Grande – “Into You”
Rihanna ft. Drake – “Work” (short version)
Best Male Video:
Drake – “Hotline Bling”
Bryson Tiller – “Don’t”
Calvin Harris ft. Rihanna – “This Is What You Came For” -- WINNER
Kanye West – “Famous”
The Weeknd – “Can’t Feel My Face”
Best Collaboration:
Beyoncé ft. Kendrick Lamar – “Freedom”
Fifth Harmony ft. Ty Dolla $ign – “Work From Home” -- WINNER
Ariana Grande ft. Lil Wayne – “Let Me Love You”
Calvin Harris ft. Rihanna – “This Is What You Came For”
Rihanna ft. Drake – “Work” (short version)
Best Hip Hop Video:
Drake – “Hotline Bling” -- WINNER
Desiigner – “Panda”
Bryson Tiller – “Don’t”
Chance The Rapper – “Angels”
2 Chainz – “Watch Out”
Best Pop Video:
Adele – “Hello”
Beyoncé – “Formation” -- WINNER
Justin Bieber – “Sorry”
Alessia Cara – “Wild Things”
Ariana Grande – “Into You”
Best Rock Video:
All Time Low – “Missing You”
Coldplay – “Adventure Of A Lifetime”
Fall Out Boy ft. Demi Lovato – “Irresistible”
twenty one pilots – “Heathens” -- WINNER
Panic! At The Disco – “Victorious”
Best Electronic Video:
Calvin Harris & Disciples – “How Deep Is Your Love” -- WINNER
99 Souls ft. Destiny’s Child & Brandy – “The Girl Is Mine”
Mike Posner – “I Took A Pill In Ibiza”
Afrojack – “SummerThing!”
The Chainsmokers ft. Daya – “Don’t Let Me Down”
Breakthrough Long Form Video:
Florence + The Machine – The Odyssey
Beyoncé – Lemonade -- WINNER
Justin Bieber – PURPOSE: The Movement
Chris Brown – Royalty
Troye Sivan – Blue Neighbourhood Trilogy
Best New Artist:
Bryson Tiller
Desiigner
Zara Larsson
Lukas Graham
DNCE -- WINNER
Song of Summer Presented by Verizon:
Calvin Harris featuring Rihanna – “This Is What You Came For”
The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey – “Closer”
Drake featuring Kyla & Wizkid – “One Dance”
Fifth Harmony featuring Fetty Wap – “All In My Head (Flex)” -- WINNER
Justin Timberlake – “Can’t Stop The Feeling”
Kent Jones – “Don’t Mind”
Major Lazer featuring Justin Bieber MØ– “Cold Water”
Nick Jonas featuring Ty Dolla $ign – “Bacon”
Selena Gomez – “Kill ‘Em With Kindness”
Sia – “Cheap Thrills”
PROFESSIONAL CATEGORIES
Best Art Direction:
Beyoncé – “Hold Up”
Fergie – “M.I.L.F. $”
Drake – “Hotline Bling”
David Bowie – “Blackstar” -- WINNER
Adele – “Hello”
Best Choreography:
Beyoncé – “Formation” -- WINNER
Missy Elliott ft. Pharrell – “WTF (Where They From)”
Beyoncé – “Sorry”
FKA Twigs – “M3LL155X”
Florence + The Machine – “Delilah”
Best Direction:
Beyoncé – “Formation” -- WINNER
Coldplay – “Up&Up”
Adele – “Hello”
David Bowie – “Lazarus”
Tame Impala – “The Less I Know The Better”
Best Cinematography:
Beyoncé – “Formation” -- WINNER
Adele – “Hello”
David Bowie – “Lazarus”
Alesso – “I Wanna Know”
Ariana Grande – “Into You”
Best Editing:
Beyoncé – “Formation” -- WINNER
Adele – “Hello”
Fergie – “M.I.L.F. $”
David Bowie – “Lazarus”
Ariana Grande – “Into You”
Best Visual Effects:
Coldplay – “Up&Up” -- WINNER
FKA Twigs – “M3LL155X”
Adele – “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)”
The Weeknd – “Can’t Feel My Face”
Zayn – “PILLOWTALK”
VMA 2016: 4 winners and 3 losers from the awards show
Few awards shows live up to their hype, but the MTV Video
Music Awards have almost always been an exception to that rule. Ever
since the first show in 1984, the VMAs have have been good for some
jawdropping performances, prime celebrity watching in the audience, and
if they’re lucky, the kinds of moments that keep people dissecting their
layers for years to come.
The 2016 awards were a decidedly mixed bag, though.
Taking place in New York City’s Madison Square Garden for the first time
— for decades, the VMAs have switched between slightly smaller venues
in New York and LA — the production moved in fits and starts, with
obvious sound and organizational issues cramping most of the
performances.
But there were still a few stellar — or at least
noteworthy — performances, at least one of which will take its rightful
place among the best the VMAs have ever had.
Here are four winners and three losers from the 2016 VMAs.
Winner: Beyoncé
And given the year Beyoncé’s had — between her stunning album Lemonade, her Formation tour, and her Super Bowl halftime show featuring guest house band, Coldplay — it was no surprise that she crushed it.
Beyoncé took the VMA stage with fire in her eyes — both
figuratively and literally, thanks to the reflection of projected flames
onto her face — and made it hers. She performed a full medley from Lemonade that had the entire arena on its feet within seconds. She even made sure to include some of Warsan Shire’s gorgeous spoken word poetry from Lemonade’s heartbroken interstitials, reminding everyone that the album is as deeply emotional as it is catchy.
Beyoncé could’ve owned the VMAs with that performance
alone, but she’s Beyoncé, and so she ended it with two VMA wins, for
Best Female Video ("Hold Up"), and Video of the Year ("Formation"), the
show’s highest achievement.
Oh, and also? These wins bring Beyoncé total VMAs tally to 21 wins, officially breaking Madonna’s previous record of 20 to make Beyoncé the most decorated VMA winner of all time.
It all served as a reminder that this is Beyoncé’s world, and we’re just stanning in itWinner Britney Spears
And lo: As it was prophesied in the book of Celebrity Comebacks, Britney Spears returned to the VMA stage.
A full nine years after the disastrous 2007 "Gimme
More" performance that made Britney fans and skeptics alike sigh in
resignation, Britney celebrated the August 26 release of her ninth album
Glory by coming back to the VMAs to prove that writing her off back then was a mistake.
And she succeeded! For the most part, anyway.
Glory contains 17 songs, at least 10 of which
are the kind of high-energy pop bangers that would’ve been awesome on a
huge stage like Madison Square Garden. (Wherefore art thou, "Do You
Wanna Come Over"?!)
But Brit only performed her single "Make Me," featuring slower EDM beats and a lost extra from Grease 2 rapper G-Eazy. Britney writhed around the stage, G-Eazy, and her New Wave-ish backup dancers. It was, all around, fine.
Also: Brit had the bad luck of performing almost
immediately after Beyoncé’s set practically tore down Madison Square
Garden and set it ablaze. There was just no following that, unless the follow-up was also Beyoncé.
But as far as Britney’s redemption story goes, it’ll do.
Winner Rihanna
Sure, it says something that I didn’t mention Rihanna on
the list of winners until now, on a night that was supposed to be
primarily honoring her for winning the Video Vanguard prize (the VMAs’
version of a lifetime achievement award). But even as Beyoncé, Britney,
Kanye, and assorted DJs fought for attention, Rih made the most of her
moments.
In fact, Rihanna had not one, not two, not even three, but four performances throughout the night. She kicked off the show with a medley including past hits like "Don’t Stop the Music" and "Only Girl (In the World)."
Later, with her second performance, she kicked things up a
notch by dancing her face off in neon to another medley including "Rude
Boy," "Work," and "What’s My Name."
The next time we saw her, she turned down the lights and
ramped up the attitude for the one-two-three punch of confident,
sexy-as-hell anthems, "Needed Me," "Pour It Up," and "Bitch Better Have
My Money."
Finally, she closed out her appearance with a gorgeous rendition
of three slower ballads — "Stay," "Diamonds," and "Love on the Brain" —
that showcased her voice in a way the other, choppier medleys couldn’t.
But even if some of the medleys were definitely stronger
than the others, Rih still proved why she was getting this award
honoring her career arc, even though she’s only 28 years old. For the
last decade, she's had hit after hit after hit — and as she proved at
the VMAs, her performing abilities and charisma have only gotten
stronger with every passing year.
She also proved that she’s got the music industry wrapped around her finger — including one guy in particular.
Which brings us to:
Loser Drake
To be clear: I’m not calling Drake a loser because he
admitted to the world while introducing Rihanna’s Vanguard award that
he’s "been in love with her since [he] was 22 years old." Drake is a
human being. Of course Drake’s in love with Rihanna. I would never dare take that away from him, since any sane person should be in the same boat.
But there’s no denying that Drake had a rough night from
the get-go. Though he won the evening’s first award — Best Hip-Hop
Video, for "Hotline Bling" — Drake missed the chance to accept it for
arguably the most boring reason anyone’s late to anything:
He got stuck in traffic.
Then, at the very end of the show, he finally strolled
onto the stage in a tuxedo to present Rih’s award. He earnestly gushed
over "the iconic being that is Rihanna," looking for all the world like
he was about to drop down on one knee and make his adolescent dreams
come true, or at least reenact the final 10 seconds of any rom-com worth
swooning over.
Instead, he gave her the award and went in for a kiss — and he was denied.
Winner Kanye
MTV reportedly gave Kanye four minutes of airtime to do whatever he wanted, and Kanye took full advantage of it — but probably not in the way the network had hoped.
Though Kanye is known for delivering nakedly candid
moments that keep people coming back to him for more, he used his time
on the Madison Square Garden stage to basically ramble about whatever
came to mind.
TL;DR: Kanye still loves Taylor Swift, thinks his wife
Kim Kardashian is "a G," ranks himself amongst the likes of "Truman,
Ford, Jobs." But we know all this already, so at some point, Kanye’s
speech became less about speaking than running out the clock, just for
the sake of doing it.
So why is he a winner, you ask? Think about it this way: For every second Kanye spent not flipping out on live television, an MTV producer quietly died just a little bit more inside.
Kanye’s a winner not because he was particularly
interesting. Kanye’s a winner because the VMA’s wanted him to dance for
them, but instead, he did exactly whatever the fuck he wanted to do.
Still: It’s a shame Kanye didn’t deliver something more
interesting, if only because the rest of this year’s VMA production was
so awkward that a shot of true strangeness would’ve been an incredibly
welcome distraction.
Loser The Kindda-Sorta Comedy Bitz
All the random attempts to be funny and entertaining
outside the performances instead felt stilted and confused, with bits
from talented comedians like Nicole Byer and Jay Pharoah awkwardly
sandwiched in between announcements of which performers would be coming
next, as the comedians vamped the best they could in the venue’s
concrete hallways.
The worst of the VMAs’ comedy offenses was Jimmy Fallon’s Ryan Lochte impression, which began with the disgraced swimmer’s
Dentyne Ice blue hair and ended with Fallon making non-sequitur pop
culture jokes that were purposefully bad — the better to mock Lochte’s
less than stellar speaking skills — but had zero wit to them outside of
that premise.
Not even Michael Phelps’s ecstatic reactions
to Fallon’s full-on mockery made this bit worth it — which is saying
something, because the level to which Phelps doesn’t give a shit about
pretending to like Lochte anymore is a truly beautiful thing.
Even enlisting the hilarious Keegan Michael Key and
Jordan Peele to commentate on the sidelines as parodies of MTV VJs felt
like it boiled down to exactly one joke — "social media, am I right?" —
that just got hammered over and over again.
Instead of being the embodiment of youth like it so
obviously wanted, the VMAs ended up more in the territory of a try-hard
dad faking his way through chaperoning prom.
Loser: MTV producers
There’s no two ways about it: the production of the 2016 VMA’s was weird.
This year marked the first time the VMAs were held in
Madison Square Garden, and it showed. The entire production was jerky
and stilted, the cameras unsure of how to capture the scope of the venue
without shortchanging the performances.
For example, when Britney’s performance let the beat drop
from the slower verse into the EDM chorus, the dancing kicked into high
gear. But at that crucial point, the camera immediately cut back to a
wide shot of her with two backup dancers; it was so far away that you
could barely make them out at all.
That choice is emblematic of the entire event, in which
the people producing it couldn’t seem to make up their minds between
wanting to entertain the in-house audience or the one watching from
home. Worse than that, the cameras had no idea where to focus, settling
instead on a compromise of "EVERYWHERE ALL THE TIME ALWAYS," with the
lens only sometimes in focus.
So even as the show made other attempts to liven up the performances — from Ariana Grande’s SoulCycling
to Nick Jonas hopping through a diner set — it took a force of talent
like Beyoncé to make the show as slick and powerful as it should’ve been
all along.
Rihanna Graces the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards Stage with FOUR Performances for the Night
She kicked off the show with a medley — and she returned throughout the night for more.
Beyoncé Steals the Show and Brings ‘Lemonade’ to Life at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards
Watch the clip below:
Drake Professes His Love for Rihanna As He Presents Her with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the VMAs
Drake’s only appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards was to present his girl Rihanna with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.
He gave an adorable speech about how they first met and even mentioned when he rirst fell in love with her.
“She’s someone I’ve been in love with since I was 22 years old,” Drake said, which we’re sure made everyone ‘aww’ at home.
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