The biggest night in music happened
Sunday in Miami as the annual Video Music Awards were held at the American Airlines Arena. What was advertised to be the best awards show coming out of MTV yet came complete with VIP guests and changes to the show MTV has never attempted before. For starters, this year’s show was filmed and held in the Sunshine
State. Previously, the event had been held in either New York or Los Angeles. This made the red carpet entrances of celebrities a little more exciting than usual because beneath the red carpet in New York is concrete but under
the red carpet in Miami was a floating dock. The dock made it possible for the elite of the industry to arrive by yacht or private boat. P. Diddy, known for his extravagance
and showmanship, had the largest vessel of the night and the most interesting guests. He met Kurt Loder, the veteran VJ, at the dock with Naomi Campbell and Bruce Willis. Later in the evening, Diddy was caught coaching Bruce Willis
on the proper technique of “lean back” as Fat Joe performed his hit by the same name which is currently number one on the Billboard charts. An interesting note here is that last year P. Diddy arrived with Ashton Kutcher. This leaves the looming question of who really wants Demi? Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey, Jennifer Lopez, Ludacris, Lil’Jon and Usher also chose the water as their means of transportation
to the show. As another interesting note, J.Lo and her new husband Marc Anthony arrived together but Anthony walked the red carpet steps ahead of Lopez. As the entertainers flowed from the floating red carpet to their arena seats, the show began.J.Lo welcomed the audience as Usher took the stage for the opening
number. Complete with water falling over his rippled body, he began his medley with his newest hit “Burn.” In traditional Usher flare, he gave us an eyeful of his best dance moves. He also included
his number one hit “Yeah.” Compared to last year’s opening
number which fans will remember
began with a threesome liplock, the show was back to the real roots of music including dance, visuals and plenty of hot music. Hosting was another thing the MTV think tanks played around with. Instead of the Wayans brothers or Chris Rock acting as an official host, MTV threw away the job and title altogether. What was left of the job went to celebrity
presenters. Of course the whole idea of the night was who would walk away with the coveted Moonman. This year Usher, Jay Z and Outkast were the big winners. Usher walked away with two Moonmen for best male video and best dance video. Both were for the video “Yeah.”Jay Z collected four Moonmen for best rap video, best direction in a video , best editing in a video and best cinematography in a video.
All of these were for the video “99 problems.” A special salute was also given
to Jay Z by funnyman Dave Chapelle because Jay Z officially retired as a rapper at this year’s VMAs. Outkast racked up the trophies. Their double album Speakerboxx/The Love Below was the hottest record of the year. They won a few Grammys and can even boast of multi-platinum sales. The Atlanta duo walked away with the highest honor of the night, video of the year for “Hey Ya,” best hip-hop video, best special
effects in a video and best art direction. Even though the sun went down over the arena the stars shined brightly inside. The performances were top-notch, highlighting such stars like Christina Aguilera, whose duo with Nelly went over very well with the crowd and critics. Outkast was the last performance
of the night. The two hip-hop powerhouses performed their singles “I like the way you move” and “Hey Ya.” Andre 3000 announced
his song with a sarcastic tone saying “Alright ya’ll, here’s ‘Hey Ya’ one more time g*******.” The arena setting was also new for the fans and the stars. This year MTV made it possible for the fans to get a closer look at the presenters and performances. This made the broadcast seem chaotic and you could see the tension and broken concentration in the presenters
trying to read teleprompters
while the crowd kept roaring.MTV, trying to avoid another Janet Jackson Superbowl incident and female liplocks, incorporated for the first time ever, a five second
delay and “surprises” were kept to a minimum. All in all the performances and the night went over very well. MTV can sit back and say “job well done” because this year went off with very few glitches as Miami
proved itself to be a worthy location for the biggest night in entertainment.

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