Schticky talk-show host Jay Leno may be not so into having musicians as regular guests on his primetime-killing program, which premiered last night. But as it turned out, booking musicians for the opening installment of his new show proved lucky, as one of the people scheduled to perform was none other than Kanye West, whose outburst at Sunday night’s Video Music Awards was still burning up the Internet when he stopped by Jay’s studio yesterday. So he took some time out to apologize to the public yet again, and this time he even got a “what would your mother think?” upbraiding by the late-night king himself. More »
While Taylor Swift was in the press room talking about Kanye West running in and interrupting her acceptance speech, Kanye was updating his blog (perhaps because he’d been kicked out of the show shortly after the whole thing went down?) and he had this to say: More »
The complete list of winners at Sunday night’s Video Music Awards, held at Radio City Music Hall in New York: More »
Welcome to Idolator’s third annual liveblog of MTV’s Video Music Awards, an annual tribute to the televisual representation of pop music that inspires waxing poetic about The Old Days and generalized bitching about the state of the channel’s programming alongside the occasional water-cooler-worthy music-related moment. Tonight we come to you from the basement of Radio City Music Hall, which was the venue for the inaugural occasion of Moonman-bestowing—hosted by Bette Midler and Dan Aykroyd, in case you want to think about how far we’ve come— and which will, tonight, play host to performances by the likes of Jay-Z, Lady GaGa, Beyoncé, Pink, Taylor Swift (pictured), and Green Day, as well as a show-opening tribute to the late Michael Jackson undertaken by his younger sister Janet. Will I be able to handle this task while not on a couch? Find out after the jump! More »
Just a reminder that tonight I’ll be live-blogging this year’s MTV Video Music Awards beginning at 8 p.m. ET, and in what I guess is an upgrade from my normal live-blogging stations on various couches around the country, tonight’s transmissions will be coming to you live from the awards’ “media compound” on-site in New York City. And in what is either someone playing a joke on the Internet or a last-ditch effort to drum up some buzz for the telecast, a “winners list” that’s heavy on the GaGa leaked yesterday. It’s naturally been discounted by the network’s house organ, but it’ll sure be useful as a cheat sheet for tonight! Check it out after the jump. More »
In addition to letting slip that Jay-Z and Alicia Keys would grace this year’s Video Music Awards with a performance of their collaboration “Empire State of Mind,” MTV has announced more additions to its roster of presenters for Sunday night’s broadcast; among them are Canadian cutie Justin Bieber, Shakira, Pete Wentz, Gabe Saporta, Jack Black, and… Jennifer Lopez. Jennifer Lopez, really? I guess she still counts as a music-related celebrity—and who knows, maybe she’s prepping for a very belated deluxe reissue of the floptastic Brave! The night’s roster of performers and presenters after the jump. More »
Beyoncé has been added to the lineup of the Sept. 13 Video Music Awards, where she’ll join her husband Jay-Z, as well as Green Day, Muse, Taylor Swift, P!nk, and Lady GaGa. Also, the VMAs are bringing back that “house band” idea where lesser lights of the music galaxy collaborate with one act as the show goes into interstitial moments—the house band is the D.C. go-go outfit the Uncalled 4 Band (a.k.a. UCB), and it’ll be led by tourmate and fellow Washingtonian Wale while collaborating with with The All-American Rejects, Pitbull, and 3OH!3 over the course of the evening. (See what I meant about “lesser lights” there?) A performance of the UCB and Wale collaborating on “Sexy Lady” after the jump. More »
Dave Itzkoff at the New York Times notes that the Video Music Awards aren’t the first 2009 awards show to incorporate the classic musical West Side Story: “Didn’t we see a “West Side Story” parody, complete with topical satirical lyrics, performed on another award show at Radio City Music Hall (by a singer who doesn’t need any assistance from Auto-Tune) like two months ago?” he asks, referring to the Tonys. Host (and recently minted American Idol guest judge) Neil Patrick Harris did, in fact, close out the show with his own version of “Tonight,” which can only lead this observer to wonder if that parallelism is a sign that we’ll be in for a Very Special Semi-Accidental Decapitation Of Bret Michaels on Sept. 13. [ArtsBeat / Earlier] More »
My love for Ne-Yo propelled me all the way through the one-minute mark of the musical tribute to Leonard Bernstein and the Video Music Awards’ dubious honors, despite the musical instruments underneath him echoing in such a way that I wondered if they’d been recorded in one of the redbird trains being repurposed as reefs, then piped up to sea level using an intricately designed system of tin cans. But then Katy Perry came in at the 1:18 mark, wielding garden shears and sounding like an unfortunately winded Bjork, and suddenly hearing all about Johan Santana’s bone chips sounded like a somewhat appealing alternative! What about you? [YouTube] More »
I mean, an ad that’s framed as a duel between Cobra Starship and Ne-Yo? I know I’m a little out of your target demo, but it seems like I would at least enjoy those two artists facing off. And yet. And yet. The latest West Side Story-themed ad for the Sept. 13 Video Music Awards is a trainwreck of epic proportions—an achievement, I suppose, given that it’s only 30 seconds long, but. What are those synthesizer horns at the end? They’re not “triumphant” as much as they are “demo track on a Casio keyboard that some production assistant found molding in a corner of the basement.” Please, for the love of God. Stop it. Or at least get Matt Parker & Trey Stone to show you how to properly write an homage to the art of the musical. The clip after the jump. More »
