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The 2020 VMAs
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This week is all about the 2020 VMAs and how the Video Music Awards influence visual culture. In 2020, what does visual culture even look like? From Lady Gaga's mask fashion, the Video for Good, and best Quarantine performance, this year's VMAs showed us visuals like no other year.
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Transcript
Weather and Seasonal Changes
00:00:31
Speaker
Hello, hello, and welcome to Art Pop Talk. I'm Bianca. And I'm Gianna. Hey. Gianna. Hey. Hey. How you doing? How you doing?
00:00:50
Speaker
I'm good, you know. It's rainy here, which is nice. And Gianna, I need to tell you that I went out yesterday and I felt it. Do you know what I felt? Oh, did it, did it, did it rain on you? Oh, interest on. No, I mean, it rained on me today. Actually, I just went for a walk and it was raining. I didn't even think about that. That was kind of nice. Or did you feel some kind of hope for the future?
00:01:18
Speaker
Well, no, I felt the cold. I felt the first hint.
00:01:23
Speaker
of the depths of winter. The depths of winter. I see. No, I didn't know where you were going with that. Very interesting. Well, as you know, my birthday is the first day of fall, which definitely marks the depths of winter. It really does. And I've been talking to some people here, because in Oklahoma, I mean, Jana, we don't really get a fall. It is technically fall, and there's a week or whatever where it's nice outside.
00:01:52
Speaker
it's like that was spring too it's like we don't get any break like fall and spring are supposed to be these nice intersections of like weathers or seasons that are supposed to give us a break from like super coldness or super hotness and yeah we just don't really get it in Oklahoma yeah so I'm kind of nervous for the fall but like I mean maybe it'll be good because maybe it'll just be actually fall and it won't be like
00:02:17
Speaker
cold cold but yesterday I walked outside I was like hmm girl like well girl I don't know you're on the East Coast now I mean we are used to like East Coast Christmas yeah like cold weather but now you have to like live it so no no scared
00:02:38
Speaker
I just like went outside and was like, whoa. Oh God. It's a little bit rainy here today too, but I've kind of been liking it.
Pumpkin Spice and Starbucks Talk
00:02:45
Speaker
Oh, also, do you know what I saw? Is that already like the pumpkin spice latte is back? Yes, because it's been coming up with my TikTok. See, I actually had this discussion with some people yesterday. I love Starbucks holiday drinks, like a peppermint mocha. Totally. I can for sure get behind, but I'm not really like a PSO lady.
00:03:08
Speaker
You know, I have to say that I do like it. I'm not like, oh my god, I need my pumpkin spice latte. Like right now I'm gonna die. You're not a PSLL? No. Pumpkin spice latte lady? I support the ladies and you know, the people of the world that need their pumpkin spice. But I just feel like it's too early. I just need Starbucks to chill, I think. Agreed. Agreed. What's your favorite holiday drink?
00:03:32
Speaker
Well, you, I liked the, um, like the ginger bread one that they had or like the ginger spice one. But, you know, this will be kind of like the first Christmas where I don't drink coffee anymore. Yeah. So, you know, I've been more of like hot cocoa.
00:03:51
Speaker
Oh yeah, I mean totally. Oh my goodness.
Tribute to Chadwick Boseman
00:03:55
Speaker
Well, so a lot, a lot has happened these past couple of weeks, both just personally and in politics and in the news and in the media and in the art world. But I first wanted to start off today by offering our condolences to the family of Chadwick Boseman. Bianca and I know all too well what it is like to lose a loved one to cancer and
00:04:19
Speaker
This was just very sad and shocking news as he kept his treatment private through his battle for I believe about three years.
00:04:29
Speaker
Yeah, three or four years. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, everyone's experience with that illness is just so personal and different. And I at the same time, I can't imagine him filming what he did and doing what he did and being such a creator during that type of treatment. I mean, it's just it takes an immense amount of bravery and strength both from him and his family to do that. And
00:04:59
Speaker
And I think also it takes a lot of strength not to talk about it with the type of figure that he was and just to focus so much of his life on other people from our perspective.
00:05:12
Speaker
It, you know, just absolutely incredible. Um, so this week has been, yeah, a lot following up on our conversation from last
Republican National Convention Impressions
00:05:23
Speaker
week. I did try to watch the RNC because I did tell all of the art pop tarts that I think it's important and I know that it's important to listen to one another.
00:05:34
Speaker
But I turned it on and there were some days where I couldn't. I had to turn it off because it was just too upsetting. But I did watch the last night. I watched Ivanka introduce her father. And I watched him give his, I don't know what to call it, was it a speech? Can we call it that? Speech?
00:05:55
Speaker
He said words that was that but Gianna and I I thought you and I had a great conversation on the phone about it Like I just wish we were there watching it together because I feel like sometimes when I look at you I can just read your mind and I know Yeah
00:06:13
Speaker
like why are there so many flags up on that stage oh my god there was like 5,000 flags and I was being so distracted because anytime anyone was up there I was like why are there so many flags there were flags overlapping flags they're like like the visuals for me I was like
00:06:37
Speaker
oh god the visuals for me were very intense and the spectacle of it all with just such an intense backdrop that just right was kind of frightening and then
00:06:52
Speaker
I was telling Deonk on the phone the other day like listening to these people try to evoke so much emotion from these really not so great speeches not yeah you're right Jana because it was weird like
00:07:09
Speaker
visually i was very like affronted with too much but listening to it like the auditory component was totally unimpressive yes no it was like two different vibes for sure that just didn't mesh well so yeah i had a pretty rough go at it watching
00:07:28
Speaker
Yeah, no, I know. So what else happened last week? Some art
Susan B. Anthony's Pardon Discussion
00:07:33
Speaker
news? Oh, yes, yes, yes. So we have some art news for today. We haven't talked about it on the pod yet. But of course, this August marked the 100 year anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, which granted white women the right to vote. But some interesting and artful and political discussion has taken place because of this anniversary.
00:07:58
Speaker
starting with Trump pardoning Susan B. Anthony, who is a historical figure known as a female activist and for her role in the women's suffrage movement starting in 1848. So the president and CEO of the Susan B. Anthony Museum and House, Deborah L. Hughes, wrote in response to Trump's pardon,
00:08:25
Speaker
objection, Mr. President. Susan B. Anthony must decline your offer of a pardon. Anthony wrote in her diary in 1873 that her trial for voting was the greatest outrage history ever witnessed. She was not allowed to speak as a witness in her own defense because she was a woman. At the conclusion of arguments, Judge Hunt dismissed the jury and pronounced her guilty.
00:08:53
Speaker
She was outraged to be denied a trial by jury. She proclaimed, I shall never pay a dollar of your unjust penalty. To pay would have been to validate the proceedings.
00:09:06
Speaker
to pardon Susan B. Anthony does the same. So the museum is saying that basically the pardon suggests and also puts emphasis on the idea that a crime or wrongdoing was committed, even if for the greater good. Whereas Anthony, if she was still alive, would argue that she wasn't even given the right to a jury or a failed trial to begin with. Therefore, there's nothing to pardon because in this situation, she didn't do anything wrong to begin with.
00:09:35
Speaker
yeah i mean what a weird move if you're gonna use your power to pardon and he already made a spectacle of it at the rnc anyway i mean can you do something productive here you know like what does this do i know i'm like you're gonna waste your time like when you have people in your country right now who are not able to vote right
00:09:58
Speaker
As we'll discuss, also, you know, Susan B. Anthony was also not a perfect person, so why not talk about how our nation's history is not pretty and talk about how we can actually use our history to solve what is happening currently? How the first wave feminist movement excluded a ton of women, I can't, you know, I mean... Don't get me started, but actually get me started because we're gonna talk about
00:10:25
Speaker
Another piece of art news!
Central Park Statue and Representation
00:10:27
Speaker
Also in Central Park, a new statue was unveiled earlier this week of women's rights champion Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Sojourner Truth, which also marks the first statue of real-life women ever erected in the park as well.
00:10:44
Speaker
Because they have statues of fictional women like, I think like the Alice in Wonderland, but they don't have any real women in there being represented. It is extraordinarily important that Sojourner Truth, a women's rights activist and black abolitionist activist, is included in the statue because, as we know, the women's suffrage movement
00:11:05
Speaker
you know, worked to exclude women of color from participating in the movement, where Black suffragists were literally pushed to the back of protest and excluded them by not advocating for the rights in general. And yet here is Sojourner,
00:11:22
Speaker
working alongside two white leaders at the forefront of the movement who made it clear that when they said women, they were only talking about white women, and who oppressed the ratification of the 15th Amendment, which granted black men the right to vote as well.
00:11:41
Speaker
So the artist behind this monumental sculpture is Meredith Bergman, whose work addresses social justice and historical redress through public art. She's done other monuments around the world, also with female figures.
00:11:57
Speaker
In this piece these three historic female figures sit and stand together in the same frame or space but truth is key in pointing out the intersections between the abolitionist movement and the major problems in the suffrage movement and the struggles and realities between them. I found a good comment on the monument by a feminist art historian Susan Ware who says
00:12:23
Speaker
black women who were a part of the women's suffrage movement didn't benefit from the 19th amendment, where says in the south where many black Americans reside the same Jim Crow restrictions that kept black men away from the polls also prevented black women from voting. It's very important as we mark this milestone in women's history to remember that it is an incomplete one.
00:12:46
Speaker
that it really has an asterisk with it and that for African American women, it was the Voting Rights Act of 1965, not the 19th Amendment that finally guaranteed their right to vote. I was listening to the Hysteria podcast and they just made some really fantastic points on discussing this anniversary
00:13:09
Speaker
While we should talk about history, we should always talk about history because it is important and I like talking about it. It feels hard to celebrate it in this moment because there's so much work that still needs to be done that guarantees people's right to vote, not just women around this country. And I think it was the political director of Crooked Media on the podcast was talking about how voter suppression is
00:13:37
Speaker
and should be thought of as a feminist issue with women having to stay home on voting day because they provide childcare or women not being able to stand in line for eight hours with their child or they're taking care of someone else and they can't leave to go vote.
00:13:55
Speaker
If you can ever volunteer or offer to help with people, register voters, encourage mail-in voting, babysitting so women and caretakers can get out and vote, definitely make that happen for someone else.
VMA Anticipation and Historical Moments
00:14:12
Speaker
But yeah, I thought it was, the discussion was so eloquent and really just stating voter suppression overall is still a feminist issue. We're not, we're not done.
00:14:21
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. But I guess with the statue too, I appreciate this artist, Meredith Bergman. These figures are problematic and we've talked about what are we doing with these problematic public works of art, but it's also a truthful depiction. Depiction of it. It's not glamorizing.
00:14:46
Speaker
Right, exactly. Yeah, that's really fascinating to think about how we are trying to think about monuments differently and not glorify certain monuments and figures and then this putting up this statue that does the opposite in a way, but
00:15:02
Speaker
Just trying to expose the reality of what happened. But it's also like, yeah, whether we like it or not, well, we don't like it, but these women were a part of this. And did they do good things? Yes, but did they also do really screwed up things? Yes. I still think I don't know if my feelings are entirely made up about it, but yeah. But hey, that's what our pub talk is for, right?
00:15:31
Speaker
That is what Art Pop Talk is all about. Speaking of Art Pop Talk, are we going to talk about something else today? Oh, yes, we are. So today's Art Pop Talk is on this weekend's VMAs. Yay. Today we are diving into the performances of the weekend, some VMA history and some most iconic VMA performances and moments.
00:16:00
Speaker
Yay. Love a good award show. Jenna, what's your favorite season? Awards. Thank you, Myra Rose. Myra Rose. If you like fruit, fine as much as I do.
00:16:16
Speaker
Okay, I was also going to ask on top of what your favorite season is. I mean, I we didn't grow up with cable. We've talked about this a little bit before. But do you feel like you consistently watch the VMAs all the way through? Or are you more just kind of a recap highlight person?
00:16:37
Speaker
Yeah, you know I was gonna talk about that or mention that later I mean honestly the VMAs is not really something that I feel like I've ever really paid attention to But like in thinking oh my god like that happened at the VMAs like that was at the VMAs we've had pretty major pop culture moments that have happened at all places of VMAs and
00:16:57
Speaker
And I think when thinking about it, it makes sense because drama, that drama isn't going to take place at the Grammys. You know what I mean? But it's happening at the VMAs and the VMAs. Because it's not important in a way. Yeah, it's like they play into it.
00:17:15
Speaker
like using their platform for these moments because even one of the kind of commercial voices was like, oh, and next up is what's good, Miley? You know what I mean? They're saying these things. So I think that they kind of live for the drama, which I live for the drama, so maybe I should be paying more attention.
00:17:33
Speaker
which is why we're doing this episode I know I was so when I was researching kind of the history of the VMAs I was looking at a timeline and I was like oh my god all of this stuff happened at the VMAs like it's crazy so I would agree normally I've been kind of like a recap highlights person but why have I not been
00:17:53
Speaker
always watching the VMAs. Actually, we'll discuss it here. So the MTV Video Music Awards are an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in the music video medium.
Pandemic Adaptations at the VMAs
00:18:08
Speaker
I also really like thinking about music videos as a medium, which I thought was interesting. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards in the video category.
00:18:20
Speaker
Which is fascinating, like how the Grammys has one category or so for something that's so visual. And then here the VMAs are doing that for an entire award show. So the Washington Post and Huffington Post.
00:18:36
Speaker
stated that the stature of the ceremony has declined in recent years. Huff Post cited reasons such as lack of interest, declining attendances, and viewership in the 2019 ratings hit an all-time low for the third straight year in a row, the lack of musical diversity, lack of celebrity, lack of credibility, and access to music online.
00:19:02
Speaker
Then the Washington Post states, the moment the VMAs ceased to matter might have happened 2014 when Drake didn't bother appearing to receive his award. Now, this is super interesting. Do you feel like in this year's show, they were able to make it relevant because of the separation? I mean, for me, it wasn't weird that people weren't there to accept their award in person, obviously.
00:19:30
Speaker
Yeah, I think they were. And I was going to mention it later. But I also think that maybe a lot of people tuned in because the first award show that I believe was supposed to happen under this pandemic quarantine time was supposed to be the Tonys. But then they got canceled completely. And so if I'm not mistaken, this is kind of the first award show that was successfully able to happen during this time. Right.
Iconic VMA Moments
00:19:59
Speaker
So the VMAs first took place in 1984, at which Madonna performed her hit like a virgin, wearing her combination bustier, wedding gown, including her trademark boy toy belt.
00:20:13
Speaker
since then the VMAs have really become known for these kind of iconic moments, celebrity drama, performances, glamour, fashion, like red carpet looks. So Gianna was going to ask, what are your kind of favorite moments from recent to VMA history that you
00:20:31
Speaker
recognize and remember even though we may not have watched them on TV. Yeah. Well, that's when I was like, Oh my God, like all this happened here. So picking out some VMA historic moments that I couldn't help but share with you all today. First in 2011, when Beyonce announced she was pregnant by flashing her baby bump after her performance, iconic, that happened at the freaking VMAs. Like what?
00:20:59
Speaker
What? Oh my god. And then also in 2010, of course, when Lady Gaga wore the infamous meat dress, and in 2009, when Kanye sparked the ongoing feud between him and Taylor Swift by taking the stage in the middle of her acceptance speech for the best female video of the year to advocate for Beyonce's single ladies music video.
00:21:25
Speaker
So we just also have a lot of shade thrown over recent years Honestly, we have like the Miley and Nikki drama where we get Miley What's Good We have some Katie and Taylor drama and then we also have like Fifth Harmony throwing some serious shade at Camila Cabello honestly
00:21:45
Speaker
Kanye going up on stage is like not cool. But Fifth Harmony throwing a mannequin of Camila Cabello off his stage. That's very violent and not okay. It's really not. It's straight up a bullion. No. What? I know. It's so strange. And it's just very, it makes me like very uncomfortable to think that all of this is happening. The MTV whole world.
00:22:12
Speaker
I know. So just really interesting place, honestly. I am so happy to be talking about the VMAs today because I have been dying to talk about the meat dress since day one of APT. As we know, Gaga is known for her outlandish outfits on the red carpet, but the meat dress stirred up some controversy when it made its debut in 2009 at the VMAs. Can I just interrupt?
00:22:42
Speaker
Like, I'm sorry, Lady Gaga was controversial. Like what? Shocking. Shocking. But there is a lot more to this meat dress than people might know as this concept was originally created by a visual and performance artist Jana Sturbach in 1987. Her meat dress is called Vanitas, flesh dress for an albino anorectic.
00:23:08
Speaker
where she forges conceptual and architectural elements that let the wearer experience bodily and out-of-body freedom. Sterbach, being interested in the ideas of human vulnerability, self-awareness, and the relationship between vanity and decomposition,
00:23:24
Speaker
uses these concepts in the flesh dress as it was designed to be worn for the performative aspect and then rest on a mannequin as it decays over time. Vanitas in the title also reflects on the symbols used within traditional paintings as a reminder of death or the inevitable.
00:23:43
Speaker
So Gaga spoke about her dress designed by France Fernandez and said, well, it is certainly no disrespect to anyone that is vegan or vegetarian. As you know, I am the most judgment free human being on earth. However, it has many interpretations. But for me this evening, if we don't stand up for what we believe in, and if we don't fight for our rights, pretty soon we're going to have as much rights as the meat on our bones. And I am not a piece of meat.
00:24:14
Speaker
So interesting in meat dress, I just think I've heard of like the controversy of it is that, oh my God, here comes like Gaga with another designer outfit and oh my God, it's made of meat.
Lady Gaga's Meat Dress Inspiration
00:24:25
Speaker
But I think, again, using our historical perspective that we have, she's not the first person to do this. And I would be very surprised if this designer didn't know about this meat dress.
00:24:39
Speaker
And it's really fascinating to think about artists who have used meat and flesh and kind of
00:24:48
Speaker
uh, living things and bodies to, to make art. Right. It's really not a new concept. Right. Exactly. So I think from my perspective, I mean, or from our perspective, this court, this dress is of course iconic, but you know, I don't, it's not really my favorite thing from her or from the V. I mean, of course it's iconic because like it's her, but I'm not, it for me, it just doesn't create that
00:25:18
Speaker
feeling of like, oh my god, you know, like, I'm, I don't know how to how to describe that. I mean, I think it just adds to specifically Gaga's fashion statement and the idea of her being so tapped into the art world and the visual, right, but it's like perplexing to me why this is so famous, because I'm not surprised by using
00:25:39
Speaker
flesh and meat as something that's very like art and visual based. Right. Yeah, right. Which is why like I think I've just been so longing to bring it up to just kind of de-stigmatize the meat dress because it really I mean, I understand why people could be upset by it, but sure.
00:26:00
Speaker
i also think i mean it's visually very affronting and especially with people not being used to people wearing meat sure absolutely but it's again it's to open up this broader conversation that this use of animals or meat and processed meat is not a new thing in the performative or the visual art world yeah so i just for me like you just said it wasn't as jarring when i saw it
00:26:27
Speaker
Right and I mean if you think about like food production or agriculture or if you go to the butcher shop I am not personally
00:26:37
Speaker
caught off guard by that type of visual statement. There are a lot of different things happening there, but it doesn't make me uncomfortable. There are, but again, out of all places, this very controversial dress was worn at the freaking VMAs. I guess this dress is also preserved as well as the original dress.
00:27:01
Speaker
I think it's like a museum. I need to double check where it is but there's or it was in like a traveling exhibition of all of like Lady Gaga's like iconic outfits. I think it was in Vegas. Wasn't it in Vegas when you could go see Enigma? Enigma. Maybe that's what it is. Dude, we gotta get to Vegas. Yeah, dude. Not right now though. No, not right now. So I was kind of thinking about some of the looks that maybe I will never forget. Not that I'll never forget the meat dress but
00:27:30
Speaker
2013, we had Miley performed We Can't Stop on stage and then dance with Robin Thicke, which caused this wild breakdown of popular culture. I will never forget. I mean, in 2013, when I was in high school,
00:27:49
Speaker
The conversations people were having about adults, like, I mean, that adults are having about Miley Cyrus as an artist and her break away from Hannah and Disney, that happened at the VMAs. You know, I feel like adults are always having weird conversations about Miley, and everyone's just like so up in arms about her performances all the
VMA Performances Highlight
00:28:12
Speaker
time.
00:28:12
Speaker
Well, I think it's time to get into the performances, the awards, and the highlights from this weekend's musical event. To kick things off, one, it was wonderful to be able to see a large-scale performance happen again, done in a very safe way. But we knew going into this award show that it would look different from past years because of the pandemic.
00:28:35
Speaker
Something I wasn't really thinking about until looking up the award categories is that the VMA has added two new categories that address the music industry.
00:28:45
Speaker
in the COVID-19 pandemic titled best music video from home and then best quarantine performance. So this makes complete sense as we have all noticed how much music has changed or evolved during the pandemic. There have been new songs addressing this new climate. There are quarantine playlists on Spotify.
00:29:07
Speaker
Performances have changed or evolved and of course tours and album, you know release dates have been postponed This has been our normal for so long now that I guess I just wasn't thinking about it too much the other day until I was prepping myself for the show right and also because like I said before the Tonys were canceled this year and
00:29:27
Speaker
And the VMAs is our first big award show since we went under quarantine. So it's kind of our first taste of what things are going to look like for a while. Yeah. So Video From Home ended up going to Stuck With You, the Justin Bieber and Ariana song. And then Beth's quarantine performance went to CNCO's Unplugged At Home.
00:29:50
Speaker
So another category that I believe was newly added or took a different shape due to recent events and the continuous struggle we're in for equality and justice was the video for good award which went to her for the I can't breathe song and video.
00:30:08
Speaker
The video is almost more of a documentary showing the Black Lives Matter protests from around the country and ultimately created in an effort to ultimately seek justice for these black lives that have been taken away by the hands of the police. So the goal of the award is to promote justice and love through the power of someone's voice. And then it was at this time where they used it as an opportunity to tell us to use our voices and make sure to vote, which is fantastic.
00:30:36
Speaker
So if you're listening, of course, make sure that you are registered to vote and that you're ready come November. But there were like some older songs that were also up for that category, or that fell older, I guess. Right. Yeah, I was confused about the dates that qualify.
00:30:55
Speaker
For VMA because you're right because maybe because like chromatica dropped in May I Mean it was supposed to drop in April, but then there were songs like the man from Taylor Swift that one Yes, like what is this timeline?
00:31:13
Speaker
No, I know. Lover was up for some other ones too, and I was thinking like, wasn't that a year ago? Like, how would that qualify? Because I remember you and I, we went shopping, and I remember listening to Cruel Summer in the car. And we played it for Mom and Theban.
00:31:32
Speaker
Anyways, yeah, I don't really know how the dates work. I trust them. Whatever works. This brings us to another big award of the night, which was the VMA's first TriCon award, which recognizes artists who have been leaders or pioneers in other fields as well.
00:31:48
Speaker
as in the music industry. And this year, it went to none other than Lady Gaga, who took home five awards, including the Tricon Award, Best Cinematography for Rain On Me, also Rain On Me won Song of the Year, Best Collaboration, and also She Got Artist of the Year. Absolutely incredible.
Gaga's Chromatica Performance and Advocacy
00:32:07
Speaker
The show was completely taken over by Chromatica, and I'm not mad about it at all. I'm not mad about it. I honestly think of the VMAs
00:32:16
Speaker
was chromatica themed all the time. I'd be here but you know what Doja Cat's performance I thought was very chromatica esque like I know like planet environment I was I just I thought is interesting I'm not mad about it I just was like no it was giving me chromatica vibes yeah
00:32:35
Speaker
So Bella Hadid presented the Tricon Award and called Gaga a triple threat because of course, singing, acting, and philanthropy. But in my head, I was thinking hair, body, face, triple threat, do it boy. But then, of course, the speech, all of Gaga's speeches were just, I thought, perfect, succinct. But at the end of her Tricon Award, she said, be kind, mask up.
00:33:04
Speaker
Be brave and... Yeah. Her masks just stole the show as well. Can we, are we gonna talk about her masks now? Yeah, we can talk about her mask now. Gianna, which mask was your favorite? I liked the one with the horns on it. Or the tusks. Yeah, the tusks. Me too, me too. But I think my favorite look overall was when the first one, so it was like the pink mask. Oh yes. And it like went around her eyes and that like rainbow kind of feathery
00:33:33
Speaker
Yes outfit. That was the look of the night. I'm physically unwell thinking about it. And can we talk about how she was the only person on stage who continued to wear a mask. So other than the performances that took place at the drive-in
00:33:54
Speaker
It's my understanding that the rest of the performances were pre-recorded, maybe not Miley's. It was kind of hard to tell. BTS's was obviously pre-recorded.
00:34:09
Speaker
I was on TikTok this morning, you know, my usual routine. And this woman was like, you know, wait for it, wait for it, wait for it. And they showed Ari with her mask and she had her strings tied. And then when they flashed to her face, like, you know, five seconds later or something, the strings like weren't tied anymore around her ear. So I figured that this was pre-recorded anyways, because that outfit change that Gaga did when she... And then she says, let me try an outfit real quick.
00:34:39
Speaker
But also, we've seen Gaga multiple times in concert. She changes outfits very, very fast. And so at the same time, it wouldn't be crazy if she did a fast outfit change. But those were two crazy outfits to change into with that time frame. And then also at the end of Rain On Me, when her and Ari go into that little spinning tunnel, and then she just magically turns around in a suit.
00:35:03
Speaker
is wearing an entirely different outfit. So that whole performance was pre-recorded, but I'm still not mad about it at all because it was fantastic. It was so good. Okay, so let's start basically from the beginning. Kiki Palmer was the host of the night. I thought she was great. I mean, I love Kiki Palmer. You know, it was kind of cheeky. I will say with Kiki Palmer, I was incredibly impressed with her ability to
00:35:28
Speaker
feed off of the kind of like implanted audience noises because obviously there's no audience but they were adding those sounds like there was an audience and I thought she was feeding off of that really well. She did a really good job under the circumstances you know in the beginning she
00:35:44
Speaker
started off with dedicating tonight's VMAs to Chadwick Boseman. And yeah, playing off of the very cringy, fake people, which I knew were gonna be
Kiki Palmer's Hosting Role
00:35:57
Speaker
there. I know it's kind of part of it. I've gotten a little used to it, not that I watch a lot of sports, but crowd of baseball stadiums, you know, they have little electronic like people, they put them in. So I knew it would be there. But all in all,
00:36:11
Speaker
We know that it's a really hard time to celebrate these kind of things But at the end of the day, you know It is her job to keep things light and keep things moving and I think she did a good job trying to strike a balance between the two No, I did too and I for some reason for me I kind of liked the graphics and the like little shadow audience people dancing I thought it just the visuals of it harkened back to that kind of like classic MTV 80s motif
00:36:39
Speaker
I could tell that they were going for a very nostalgic vibe. Yeah, nostalgic vibe and invigorating the VMAs in a way. And I also thought for me it kind of also matched the chromatic of it all, which is all I cared about. Oh, no, for sure. And I mean, I did think it was really cool if they
00:36:58
Speaker
you know we couldn't have a traditional award show so why not mix up the performances. The first performance of the night the show opened up with the weekends blinding lights and he was singing on
00:37:11
Speaker
this crazy rooftop with like a helicopter flying around. Yeah, it was like edge at the Hudson. And then there was like fireworks and stuff. And really, I mean, he's a great performer, but I thought that was a really cool performance. And then when they were able to go to the drive in and then they had actual real people sitting on their cars. So after a while, the, you know, little kind of fake green screen people didn't really bother me anymore. It was just the, you know, the first thing I was like, Oh, God. Yeah.
00:37:39
Speaker
But I thought they did a really good job being able to bring a lot of different ways to film these performances. Since this award show is celebrating visual performances and displays, I think they did a good job trying to mix it up if they could.
Music Videos and Cultural Impact
00:37:55
Speaker
Right, right.
00:37:57
Speaker
And Drew Barrymore came out at one point. She was presenting an award and she said something that I just thought really, I don't know, really struck me. She just said that music videos define a picture of the moment. And I thought that was so fascinating just in terms of what we study and what you and I were kind of looking for in particular at this award show and being kind of immersed in that visual culture, like what does it
00:38:23
Speaker
mean for a music video to define our visual culture and what we're seeing in this moment. And what a strange moment it is, right? I mean, I'm thinking about quarantine and quarantine production and
00:38:37
Speaker
social justice movements and how that's all being captured into one kind of award show. I mean, how we're watching all of this unfold in front of us, right? Yeah. So we also had Miley perform early on in the award show and
00:38:56
Speaker
I loved it I thought it was fantastic so Miley's on this kind of it's like a strange plane almost and you can't really figure out like the space that she's in but it she's on I could basically a red ball of light kind of yeah and then that light changed and it grew
00:39:16
Speaker
and it was red all around her, and then it was just a blue space all around her, and I thought it was fascinating what she was doing just with light. I freaking loved it. I just love the simplicity of it. I love the vibe, you know, and I also love the artistic direction in Midnight Sky as well. And we talked about nostalgia though, like that song is, you know, bringing all of that out. So I just loved it. And it also in itself with that kind of flat color plane almost felt like,
00:39:45
Speaker
what you were saying before, like it really fit the vibe like a classic kind of early on 90s or 80s music video.
Miley Cyrus's Artistic Evolution
00:39:53
Speaker
Well, and you didn't have to do too much like that. She didn't have any like pyrotechnics and no dancers and it was just her
00:40:00
Speaker
Yeah, oh my god, she was she was great. And I just I enjoyed watching her and I enjoyed what she was doing with I don't know I'm thinking about like the two different colors we see and how she has kind of
00:40:15
Speaker
two different sides to her and the song Midnight Sky. Yeah, because while she talked about that in an interview I listened to, we're used to hearing this kind of traditional form of how a pop song is made and at Midnight Sky she breaks that by talking about
00:40:34
Speaker
Having relationships with people of different genders. Yeah multiple people. So the more I Listen to the song like just the more that I love it it meant a lot to have the wrecking ball be a part of the first time she performed this song that is a marker of this new age of Miley and Miley music because she was spoken so much about the wrecking ball, but an also very conflicting tones so basically
00:41:02
Speaker
to explain where the ball came from. It's like the red set, then it fades to blue. Then she walks up a set of stairs and gets on. It's a disco ball, but it's the exact same as the wrecking ball once was. It's just a disco ball.
00:41:18
Speaker
But it's also like she is presented with this like grand staircase and then it's unveiled that it, you know, is this disco ball wrecking ball. But it's like the process of her walking up these stairs, you know, and embracing it and confronting her past.
00:41:34
Speaker
It's so, the performance was so simple, but it was just incredible. Powerful. So going like off of that, you know, we know that Bangers wasn't for everybody, which was where, you know, Wrecking Ball came from. More importantly, Miley has evolved as a person and an artist and in listening to recent interview,
00:41:56
Speaker
with her it's not about other people embracing past Miley but it's about Miley embracing Miley and I just absolutely love to see it you know like I said she said conflicting things about the wrecking ball like oh like had I known if it would follow me around the way that it has maybe I wouldn't have done it but you know it happened and she doesn't need to be
00:42:19
Speaker
I again I've said it before but like I liked bangers like there's nothing that she I love being embarrassed or ashamed about but I anytime you know you have a person being able to like embrace themselves in a very loving and appropriate way it's just always
00:42:34
Speaker
great to see. So I'm just really excited for what's to come. Yeah. Because I also know that people have said things about, you know, Miley, she's not the most consistent artist, but she also doesn't put herself in a box as to what kind of music she wants to make, whether it was she is coming or like dead pets, you know, a lot of people have a lot of feelings about dead pets.
00:42:57
Speaker
Younger now was embracing more of her country roots once. Yeah, I mean just a separation of her pack, right? I don't know. There's something wrong with it. It's never it's never bothered me that She's quote like she's she doesn't bring us consistent music. I'm like your life isn't changing and evolving We're not totally people that's not really a natural way of thinking in my opinion and
00:43:21
Speaker
Oh, that's so brilliant. Because do we want like we grew up with Miley's so we are also adults now like we we love it when she comes out and she's able to sing. Here's the climb or whatever. Yeah, because that's great and nostalgic. But also we want to evolve and change with her because that's the era that we grew up in. So I guess I'm just like, don't expect change from everyone else. Like we are constantly
00:43:44
Speaker
Yeah, I mean maybe not that's like very general But we're asking people to grow and change and why can't we ask or why can't Miley do that for herself? Right? Yeah. Oh, that's so good so mega celebrity crush alert Anthony Ramos was a presenter and I was unwell Okay, I love you. But like if anyone is in love with him the crush is unlike him and
00:44:14
Speaker
Jasmine from Hamilton like I just can't with their relationship and he was looking so fine and his red suit and his boat mask this man you and his oh my god his album is so good if you guys are sleeping on him like please do yourself a favor and go listen to his music it's incredible
00:44:34
Speaker
So let's get into the chromatica performance, shall we?
Lady Gaga's VMA Performance
00:44:39
Speaker
We shall. Okay. So first of all, I just need to say, Gianna, if this was the VMA performance, can you imagine what the actual concert is going to be like? Oh my God, I know. I was texting Jewel, we were texting Jewel and I said, this is just a little taste of what is to come.
00:44:58
Speaker
Truly. And I love that she opened with the 9-1-1 transition like Chromatica 2 extended into 9-1-1 because I also think that's such a symbol of quarantine and visuals because of TikTok. The 9-1-1 transition on TikTok is also such a visual trend and to play off of that and like begin her performance with that.
00:45:23
Speaker
Just so good. So we have the musical transition but then we also have the physical transition so the video started out with her in a room like space like a home space and kind of watching TV and she was like cuddled up with a blanket and then
00:45:39
Speaker
And then she kind of goes through these different floors And then it opens up like into the world of chromatica because as we talked right about before where does chromatica Exists like it exists in your mind in your own space, right? Oh so good and then so she did 911 and then she has a clothing transition transitions into the purple like bikini type outfit and then sings rain on me and
00:46:06
Speaker
Ariana Grande comes out and I need to talk about Ariana hitting that note. Oh, I know. I know. She is on another level. Whether you like her or not, you know, that's totally fine. But that girl is incredible. Insane. Insane. Oh my God. And all the time Gaga and Ariana and all of the dancers are all wearing masks. So I saw TikTok that was like,
00:46:31
Speaker
Don't tell me you can't breathe under that mask because Ari and Gaga are out here doing the most wearing and Gaga's mask was so cool. It was so cool. I read this New York Times article that talked about Gaga's masks and then this writer talked about the idea of mask-tivism.
00:46:50
Speaker
and advocating for masks and normalizing wearing masks and making like a fashion statement as well. I just I was so good. I would expect nothing less like I just would expect absolutely nothing less from her. Truly. Freaking incredible. Truly. And so then rain on me. So good. Ari ending on that note. And then Lady Gaga.
00:47:14
Speaker
transitions into this glorious jumpsuit that's like pink and sparkly and oh not to not to objectify because I would never do that. I objectify Lady Gaga all the time because she's hot as shit. She's so hot. I love her. Her ass though.
00:47:36
Speaker
her ass but then like she gets in the jumpsuit and I was just like oh my god no she got a rock and bod like she's the most beautiful woman in the world I just I know then the piano and the slowed down like melodic version of stupid love I know was just really quick to go back to the pianos if you all haven't been to a Lady Gaga performance or
00:48:02
Speaker
Mostly like on any award show, she'll have some kind of piano segment, but she always has a custom-made piano that represents, you know, is very visually representative of what kind of concert or what album she's doing. So when she did Joanne, it was just kind of a classic looking one. Wasn't it? Yeah. Wait, it was like glass.
00:48:26
Speaker
I remember on stage it was like glass and she ended with a million reasons and went underneath the piano and left her hat on the piano. And so yeah, this one was taken over by Chromatica, almost looks like some kind of brain or
Empowerment and Fashion Statements at the VMAs
00:48:43
Speaker
something. It was crazy, creepy, beautiful, amazing.
00:48:47
Speaker
so so good and then she ends the performance so she performs stupid love on the piano and then does a dance with it and she climbs back up to that kind of room space and leaves chromatica in a way and returns to this kind of earthly realm as if she's one of us watching the MTV
00:49:09
Speaker
performance, right? Because we have like Chromatica TV. I also wanted to talk about what she said when she accepted one of the awards and she said she was when she was in that big silver gown and it was very like luminescent and she had like the antlers almost. Yeah, I think that might have been for Artist of the Year. Okay, so she said something about she said a renaissance is coming.
00:49:38
Speaker
The wrath of pop culture will inspire you. The rage of art will empower you. Mask up. It's a sign of respect.
00:49:49
Speaker
Oh, yes, that was for her. That was for the Tricon Award. Yeah. So I just I loved first of all that she was in that outfit with like these kind of majestic looking antlers and then she says a renaissance is coming. Yeah. And after thinking about it in conjunction with their performance of the night and everything she's doing like all the masks and the glamour and she's still saying true to Gaga.
00:50:13
Speaker
and giving us all of these kind of like visual references, you know, the wrath of pop culture, like. Just incredible. Not as like meaningful or perhaps inspirational as that. But then when she accepted her Artist of the Year award, she said something that was just so like her and just so cute. She said, don't eat the California roll. So they know you mean business.
00:50:39
Speaker
And I just, you know, for us when we have our future businesswoman meetings, we just need to keep that locked away. We need a sign in the office. That says, don't eat the California roll. Yes. I want to get a sign made. I love it. And we can hang it in ABTHQ. Yeah. Just don't eat it then and then come back later and eat it. We should, okay, whenever we like get like a big sponsorship, can we eat a California roll?
00:51:08
Speaker
Oh, of course. Yeah. But we can't do it like in front of them so they know that we mean business. So we got to just like, you know, get a door down and do it later. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. That's how a real professional does it.
00:51:22
Speaker
So, best new artist went to Doji Cat. Again, mother's daughter, Miley won an award for best art direction. That made me happy. Yeah, I was really glad to see that. Video of the year went to the weekend for Blinding Lights. They also ended the show with a performance from The Black Eyed Peas, which I was not expecting, but alas. How do we feel about The Black Eyed Peas?
00:51:46
Speaker
i'm here for it i just i was i don't know i didn't love the performance and like the glowing pants oh my god what was that i just was like what are you guys doing it was it was the pants and like the gyrating movement where i was like are they just glowing because they're white was it not meant to happen or was that on purpose it was i didn't love the that artistic choice yeah
00:52:13
Speaker
Also, where was Fergie? Well, Fergie didn't join this like this album. You know, the Black Eyed Peas kind of like they do a tour and then they take a break. Yeah. She, for one reason or another, didn't want to do it. So do you have any other
00:52:28
Speaker
Thoughts about the VMAs
VMAs' Role in Pop Culture During Pandemic
00:52:31
Speaker
overall. I thought it was fantastic. I liked watching it I mean, of course, I thought like the performances are really good and it was basically a big Lady Gaga show Which I'm never gonna complain about and I think I really needed it I think I did too. I just needed to like see her
00:52:48
Speaker
in her prime, in amazing outfits again, you know, stealing the show. I'm never going to be mad about that. You know, I think all in all, I'm impressed with what they were able to do, hoping that they did it, you know, to the best of their ability in a very like safe way, which it seemed like all the artists felt very, you know, fortunate for the way that it was handled. So that made me happy just on social media. It seemed like it went pretty smoothly.
00:53:16
Speaker
Yeah, so that was good. Again, I know that it's a really hard time for, you know, several different reasons to kind of be in a very celebratory mood. And we really feel like I don't know, I, I, I feel weird how much I just enjoyed watching like
00:53:36
Speaker
pretty people be pretty in Lady Gaga's fashion and thinking about masks as being a fashion statement. I mean, I know she said it's a sign of respect, but also that weird fashion statement at the same time. Right. But you're right. I mean, I just, I don't know.
00:53:55
Speaker
It felt nice. And I felt like a little bit of normalcy again, which I think was needed. So, you know, all in all is the VMAs my absolutely like favorite award show ever. No, but we cannot ignore it in these pop culture times because it really, a lot of stuff has happened there. And it really provided us with something, you know, during this pandemic, which is very much appreciated.
00:54:22
Speaker
Yeah, and I mean, I think just thinking about, well, first of all, now I'm getting super excited. Now I just have more inspo for the concert. I mean, next year. Oh, yeah. So we know more of what the vibe is going to be. Totally. I'm freaking out. But yeah, I think the visuals of it and thinking about, I mean, again, you know, there's a future conversation for us to have, but that's just another one of the visuals.
00:54:45
Speaker
for thinking about post-humanism that I know you and I want to talk about with Gaga too. And we haven't really been able to do that yet because we're waiting on more music videos from Chromatica, but getting that glimpse of that connection to our world and the visuals and how that influences pop culture. I mean,
00:55:06
Speaker
I loved it. I loved it. Yeah, me too. So this is fun. I just kind of liked talking to you because normally Gianna and I, I mean we're sitting together watching these type of shows and normally I would have had some baked goods and you know a cheese board ready for everybody. So I'm glad that I got to talk to you about it. It was nice. Yeah, me too.
00:55:27
Speaker
So next Tuesday, you all should know, is the day after Labor Day. So Gianna and I are not going to have a new episode out next Tuesday. But this is going to be a great time for you to get caught up on all your APT episodes. So just a heads up. But rest assured, in a couple weeks, we'll be back with that premium content.
00:55:50
Speaker
Well, don't forget you can always follow us at art pop talk. We're on Instagram, tech talk, Facebook, Twitter. You can also listen to all of our episodes on YouTube.
00:56:01
Speaker
We're on Apple podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and lots of other places that you might listen to your podcasts. So definitely use this long weekend to get caught up. I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable, you know, maybe it's an extra day at home, but maybe it's an extra day you can use to get some stuff done. Listen to APT, watch Lady Gaga's performance at the VMAs. Definitely catch up on your APT if you need to.
00:56:27
Speaker
Totally. Well, thanks everyone and we will talk to you in two Tuesdays. Bye everyone. Bye.