Thank You MTV

Just when I thought all hope was lost, the impossible happened. This year's MTV Music Video Awards were actually... good. After years of drowning, MTV finally took some initiative, climbed out of the water of the main stream, shook off all of its mediocrity and reclaimed its proper place in the entertainment spotlight, fresh and new. Thank you MTV, I'm glad to have you back.

This year's show was exciting, emotional, invigorating, and dare I say enjoyable. It was entertaining in all the proper premeditated ways a producer hopes for and in all the unplanned, spontaneous ways a producer dreams of. It reminded me why I kept tuning in year after disappointing year. I have been waiting for the redemption of Music Television, and finally almost a decade later, it happened.

When first I heard about the show, I had my doubts. Russell Brand hosted the 2008 show and he was terrible, so I didn't expect him to be any better this year. I was already annoyed and confused by MTV's decision making. Here we go again, I thought. But as soon as the show started, I could tell that this year something was different. 

The blunt, straightforward Michael Jackson tribute speech given by Madonna, as the opening of the show, was a perfect display of heartfelt admiration and sadness. Being a child of the 80's, I have always associated Madonna and Jackson, so right away I knew that Madonna was the appropriate speaker for the occasion. As far as pop icons go, Michael is the King of Pop, Madonna is the Queen. The speech properly delivered the tribute to Michael, the person, then a performance featuring Janet Jackson saluted Michael, the artist. The highlight of the performance was a camera shot of Janet dancing in sync with her brother, creating the illusion that brother and sister were on stage dancing together.

The rest of the performances for the night were exactly how they should be--entertaining and powerful in a way that makes you appreciate the artist even if you don't appreciate their music. Finally, talent is back in style. Pink performed from a trapeze and Taylor Swift from the New York Subway, both without missing a note.  During Beyonce's performance of "Single Ladies" she somehow managed to shake her lower half like it was not attached and never even loose her breathe. But the best performance of the night was most definitely Jay-Z and Alicia Keys. The return of Jay-Z lived up to all of the hype. If the show had only featured this one performance of "Empire State of Mind", the show would have been a success (watch it below). Jay-Z and Keys single-handedly reminded us why we love music in the first place. It isn't just about the music, it is about the energy, and a truly great performance like that reaches you from another place and makes you want to throw you hands up and dance right next to your television.

And this year the entertainment wasn't just reserved for the main stage. The side shows were just as great, and Lady Gaga could have very easily been claimed the side (or freak) show star of the night. MTV made a wise decision by seating her in the aisle seat so that we could check out all of her new get ups and costumes each time the camera panned the crowd. The shots of Beyonce dancing to her hubby's performance were almost comical with Gaga's cowardly lion collar lingering in the background. Well, it was either funny or creepy. In fact, most of the time Gaga was on tv, I was a little scared. Her blood covered performance reminded me of porcelain dolls and childhood nightmares. Gaga really is something from another world, whether that world is another plant or a some future time, I don't know. So whatever you call her...creepy, freaky, progressive, she made you feel something, so as a performer, she did her job.

And of course, there was Kanye and Taylor. I'm sure that before Kanye interrupted Taylor Swift's acceptance speech for Best Female Video, their names had probably never been uttered in the same sentence. But now, it feels as though it will be a long time before we will be able to separate the two. I can only hope that the best can come out of the situation where a young girl was robbed from one of the biggest moments of her life, by Swift either writing an anti-Kanye anthem (with the help of Emeinm) or that Kanye feels so bad that he collaborates with Swift on a song. Either solution would satisfy me. The Kanye bashing seems appropriate because it is about time someone puts Kanye in his place. His tantrums are getting old. But the Swift-Kanye collaboration at next year's MTV Music Award would be the best way for MTV to continue on the wave of the unexpected success and originality of this year's show.

And as a bonus, this year I was not only satisfied with the talent of my generation, I was in awe of their class. When Beyonce was on stage accepting her award for Video of Year and called Taylor Swift up on stage, it was confirmed that this award show was different. In resistance against everything that Kanye was screaming out against, Beyonce literally stepped aside and allowed a new voice of a new generation to glow in the spotlight. Times may change, music styles may vary, but talent will prevail. Thank you MTV for allowing the stars to remind us why music is power. (Oh yeah, and Russell Brand wasn't too bad either. )

---Raubi Marie Perilli  www.raubimarie.com