Old Favorites, New Highlights: Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, and More

Lady Gaga won Artist of the Year and took home an additional four new trophies. She also brought her own brand of activism to the show, sporting a total of nine masks throughout the show. During her performance, she told the audience, “I might sound like a broken record, but wear a mask. It’s a sign of respect.”

Gaga performed a medley that included “Rain on Me” with Ariana Grande, which won Best Collaboration. She also left the audience with a message about art’s ability to inspire people and spark change. “This has not been an easy year for a lot of people, but what I see in the world is a massive triumph of courage,” she said. “Just because we’re separated right now and culture may feel less alive in some ways, I know a renaissance is coming, and the wrath of pop culture will inspire you and the rage of art will empower you as it responds to hardship with its generosity and love.”

Miley Cyrus also went for a throwback, speeding in on a glittering wrecking ball to perform her song “Midnight Sky.”

Taylor Swift became the first solo female artist to win best directing for her video “The Man.”

BTS—who won for pop video, group, K-pop, and choreography—put a classic spin on their dance number “Dynamite,” turning out in fresh-looking suits.

Black Lives Matter Takes Center Stage

While many of the artists remained political in a similarly vague way, some chose to recognize the current political climate more overtly. “It’s hard to celebrate, so I’m just going to say justice for Jacob Blake and justice for Breonna Taylor,” the Weeknd said upon receiving the award for video of the year.

Da Baby also made a political statement with his performance. He performed his song “Blind” while handcuffed to the back of a police car, an overt anti-police brutality statement.

Keke Palmer also acknowledged Black Lives Matter in her opening statement. “We can never tolerate police brutality,” she said. “It’s our time to be the change we want to see. We need to come together, and music has that power.”

“We must continue the fight to end systemic racism,” she continued. “The leaders of that movement are you, us, the people watching tonight. It’s our time to be the change we want to see. We need to come together, and music, music has that power. Music can help us heal. It’s all love and that’s what tonight is about. We are making the impossible possible, pushing the boundaries of music performances, because that’s what we do on the VMAs!”

Grief, Sickness, and Music

Though the VMAs was technically a celebration, the shadows of current events and recent tragedies loomed large. A tribute video honored Naya Rivera, Pop Smoke, Juice WRLD, and other stars, many of whom died far too young. Some fans were angered that the montage left out Kobe Bryant, sparking a backlash.

Some people were charmed by the awards show’s valiant attempts at creating a coherent event that included social distancing, but others weren’t so pleased. Many felt that the entire show felt like a simulation, a compilation of fake New York scenes pulled together from across the world.

“Mostly, though, the VMAs gave the impression that they were happening in a collective imaginary place, a computer-generated nothingsville,” writes Kathryn VanArendonk for Vulture. “Sometimes it looked like The Matrix, sometimes like a Star Trek holodeck, and sometimes like the inside of Janet’s mind in The Good Place.” Many felt that because the performances were all filmed in different locations, the show felt disorienting and alien.

Still, in the time of COVID-19, sometimes we have to take what we can get. “There was something about the cloud of nothingness that also convinced me — we’re all nowhere, but we’re all nowhere together,” VanAredonk finishes.

The VMAs alone will never heal our cultural and political wounds, and they were inevitably strange and a bit tone-deaf. But as Chadwick Boseman’s legacy shows, art and performers truly can change lives—and we shouldn’t take them for granted.