VMAs | The Verge

MTV gave Beyoncé 15 minutes to perform at the VMAs because she’s Beyoncé

2016-08-28T23:18:56-04:00

Most award show performances hover around the three-minute mark. Sometimes special exceptions are made, for major lifetime achievement awards like the Video Vanguard MTV is giving to Rihanna tonight (she will have multiple performances throughout the show). Kanye West even got four minutes to have a chat with the world during tonight's VMAs. But no one randomly gets 15 minutes in the middle of the show. No one. Unless your name is Beyoncé.

In true Beyoncé fashion, she performed five tracks from her latest album Lemonade, including "Pray You Catch Me," "Sorry," and "Formation" which nearly turned the award show into a full-fledged Beyoncé to …

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Michael Phelps made this face during the Olympics because of Future

2016-08-28T22:00:20-04:00

We've finally learned the truth behind the infamous angry face Michael Phelps made during the Olympics two weeks ago that became an instant meme. "Remember in Rio when I made that face that ended up all over the Internet? I was in the zone with Future's track 'Stick Talk' blaring in my headphones." Phelps said while announcing the rapper's performance during the MTV VMAs.

Michael Phelps says he was listening to Future when he made this face. pic.twitter.com/t8HW7eblSw
- Only Hip Hop Facts (@OnlyHipHopFacts) August 29, 2016

The initial assumption was Phelps was frustrated at his rival Chad Le Clos, a South African swimmer, but following the …

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Power, pot, and the presidency: breaking down Kanye’s VMA speech

2015-09-01T10:58:51-04:00

Jamieson Cox: Kanye West was in rare form at Sunday night's MTV Video Music Awards. After being handed the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard award by benevolent monarch Taylor Swift - a neat flip of their interaction on the same stage six years ago, when West stormed up to defend Beyoncé's work at Swift's expense - West spoke at length about celebrity, media hypocrisy, artistry, fatherhood, and the future. He capped off the speech by acknowledging he'd smoked a little something "to take the edge off," announcing he's going to run for president in 2020, and dropping the mic. And despite host Miley Cyrus' best efforts - a parade of dancing drag q …

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Miley Cyrus just torpedoed her own career, and MTV helped

2015-09-01T09:16:00-04:00

I spent a lot of time late Sunday night entertaining a sleep-deprived theory that Miley's VMA hosting gig was a setup. I mean, everything's a setup in some way; gathering hundreds of the most followed people on Twitter under the hallowed roof of something called the Microsoft Theater is a setup within a setup, a canvas upon which countless profitable setups can be executed. On first glance, Viacom giving Miley Cyrus carte blanche on live TV for three hours seems like a gift, a cynical holiday bonus from a company whose dwindling relevance was temporarily decelerated in 2013 by her headline-grabbing twerk-like gestures and tongue gymnastics.

…

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If Justin Bieber wants to grow up, he has to stop apologizing

2015-08-31T13:36:04-04:00

Do you remember the exact moment at which you found yourself overwhelmed by the character of Justin Bieber, Prodigal Son at last night's MTV Video Music Awards? Was it the second where Bieber disappeared into a dark crowd, letting a canned voice-over about his "journey" wash over the audience like some redemptive wave? Did it happen when he reappeared and was hoisted into the air to finish singing his new single "What Do You Mean?" like a finely coiffed little angel? What about the lingering shot of Bieber sobbing post-performance, trying to find his composure while host / glittery hellion Miley Cyrus yammered on about defiling his person? I …

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VMA 2015: Taylor Swift wins Video of the Year for Bad Blood

2015-08-31T00:03:49-04:00

"You already know…" Ice Cube said before announcing that Taylor Swift had won Video of the Year for "Bad Blood," and of course, we already did. The inevitable march to victory couldn't be stopped. With nearly 500 million views, insane production values, and 18 ultra-famous co-stars, "Bad Blood" became a cultural phenomenon. Although, anecdotally, one that it didn't actually seem like anyone liked.

Most of Swift's video cast mates (often cringingly referred to as her "squad") joined her on stage to accept the award, including Cara Delevingne, Karlie Kloss, Hailee Steinfeld, Serayah McNeill, Gigi Hadid, Mariska Hargitay, and Selena Gomez, and …

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VMA 2015: Kanye West says he’s running for president in 2020

2015-08-30T22:56:09-04:00

Kanye West received the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at tonight's MTV Video Music Awards, and he closed his acceptance speech by announcing he's running for president in 2020. Yes, really!

The segment started with a bang when West was handed his Moonman by an unexpected contemporary: reigning pop queen / one-time Kanye "victim" Taylor Swift. After a narrated montage containing clips from every part of West's career, Swift came up on stage and talked about her West fandom and his influence on her career. She wrapped her speech by quoting West's infamous 2009 VMA interruption - you know, the one where he rushed the stage and grabbed t …

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VMA 2015: Nicki Minaj called out Miley Cyrus live on the VMA stage

2015-08-30T22:01:45-04:00

While accepting the award for Best Hip-Hop Video at tonight's MTV Video Music Awards, Nicki Minaj held host Miley Cyrus accountable for comments she made in an interview with The New York Times on Thursday. Cyrus was asked about Minaj's Twitter spat with Taylor Swift in July over this year's crop of nominees. "What I read sounded very Nicki Minaj, which, if you know Nicki Minaj is not too kind," said Cyrus. "It's not very polite. I think there's a way you speak to people with openness and love. You don't have to start this pop star against pop star war… I know you can make it seem like, Oh I just don't understand because I'm a white pop star. …

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Taylor Swift hangs out with a giraffe in the video for Wildest Dreams

2015-08-30T21:38:19-04:00

The music video for Taylor Swift's fifth single from 1989, "Wildest Dreams," premiered in the pre-show for MTV's Video Music Awards. Swift and her love interest appear to be the leads in a 1940's movie set in an African savannah. As for the song itself, the Lana Del Rey comparisons have been streaming in since 1989's release, but as a video "Wildest Dreams" is a literal translation of what would happen if Lana cast Taylor in an Ernest Hemingway short story - complete with lions, elephants, and tumblers of whiskey, as well as flowing silk, cat eye liner, and lush landscapes.

Swift looks right at home in Lana's signature aesthetic, staring wi …

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Who needs a big moment at the 2015 VMAs?

2015-08-29T10:00:00-04:00

It's safe to say that no one watches the MTV Music Video Awards to find out which celebrity is going to haul the most Moonmen home. If there was ever a show defined by its performances, it's this one: Britney, Christina, and Madonna kissing! Britney lurching her way through "Gimme More" like an exhausted husk just a few years later! Beyoncé rubbing her growing belly while her loyal subjects applaud the future princess! Even at an advanced age - this is the 32nd annual show - the VMAs are expertly engineered at least one memorable moment a year.

For the show's performers, the VMA stage can serve as a sort of test, and that's true no matter t …

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