I feel like at least half of the performances at the VMAs involved opening the gates and unleashing a flood of teenagers. I suppose it does make it feel more exciting. As promised, here are some additional comments about the VMAs.
Paramore gave a good performance (link). Paramore is legit. I know ‘legit’ is seemingly a trendy teen word that does not actually mean anything, but in this case, I think it applies. Paramore gives a good show without actually doing any dancing. The girl just jumps around and acts excited while she sings. While I wouldn’t expect this style to make for a great show, it does. Maybe the music helps. MTV calls Paramore ‘powerpop’, which seems a bit odd to me. I call it Fall Out Boy goes female with a touch more pop and rock instead of alternative. “Misery Business” is an excellent song.
Someone named Christina Aguilera did a bit of poorly adjusted “Genie in a Bottle”, meant to be ‘modern’ but really just seemed cliché, followed by a surprisingly good mainstream club-style song (link). I was shocked. For those of you who gave up on Christina Aguilera years ago (or, like me, decided to pretend she did not exist), she went on this whole thing where she changed her image constantly in an effort to appear mature. She dabbled in a lot of different styles of music. Finally, she has caved and hopped in the current flow of pop.
Finally, I would like to thank Jordin Sparks for defending abstinence. Russell Brand, who co-hosted with Britney Spears, repeatedly brought up the Jonas Brothers and their purity rings and constantly made fun of them for it. I found Brand to be generally obnoxious, though occasionally funny.
