The Complete VMA Recap!

On August 28th, at 7 PM, one of the most iconic VMA performances ever was about to start. The first act took place outside of Madison Square Garden, performed by Alessia Cara. Alessia completely killed her first song, “Wild Things.” which was a great way to start out the VMA’s. Her next song to perform was not her own song, but a song by Troye Sivan titled “Wild.” I was shocked to see Troye come out to sing with her because I thought that it was just Alessia performing. The two of them killed the stage to finish off the first performance of the long night to come.Later on in the show, on the white carpet, the first award was given out to 5th Harmony for “Song of the Summer” for their song “Work From Home.” I honestly found this song highly annoying by how overplayed it was on the radio and how excessive it was on the app “Musical.ly.” After that award, the show went on to broadcast Rihanna entering Madison Square Garden and kicking things off in an all-pink outfit, singing “Don’t Stop the Music," “Only Girl,” “We Found Love,” and “Where Have You Been." Rihanna’s dancing combined with her singing completely blew everyone away and had everyone’s attention for the rest of the night. The second award was given to Drake’s “Hotline Bling” for the Best Hiphop Video, but Drake missed the award due to New York traffic. The next performance was done by Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj performing Ariana’s new song “Side to Side.” Both girls nailed their parts of the song, which was expected from the two.  Alicia Keys sang aloud a poem about peace and equality. Alicia only singing a poem still gave us the vocals that we all know and love her for. The award was given to Calvin Harris for his music video “This is what you came for” for best collaborative track with Rihanna. Next, the VMA’s went from good to better, as Future came out to perform “F*ck up some commas,” which had everyone dancing along. Rihanna came back for her 2nd of her 4 performances, singing “Rude Boy,” “What’s my name,” and “Work.” Something I loved about Rihanna's performances, besides her vocals and dancing, was how she brought back her classic hits. Nick Jonas performed his new song “Bacon,” which I honestly thought was very boring and made me go on my phone for the first time throughout the whole VMA performance. However, I quickly got off my phone when I heard the beginning of Beyonce’s “Pray you catch me,” and my attention was instantly hooked back onto the TV. Beyonce’s whole persona during her performances were what made this VMA so iconic. She sang most of her songs off her new album “Lemonade,” including “Sorry,” “Don’t hurt yourself,” and “Formation.” Every song she performed sent a message in it’s own way, which is what I love about Beyonce. I honestly felt bad for whoever was after Beyonce because you know there really wasn’t any way that someone would top her performance. Britney Spears made her comeback to the VMA’s. Britney performed “Make Me” and “Me Myself and I” with G Eazy. I have no opinion on G Eazy besides the fact that I think he isn’t a real rapper. Even though Britney gave us the dance moves we all know her for, she ended up Lip Syncing the majority of her performance. Next, Rihanna came on the stage for her 3rd performance of the night. This performance included “BBHMM,” “Pour Up,” and “Needed Me.” I loved this performance due to the fact each song was from a different point in her career. For the next performance, The Chainsmokers came on stage to perform their new song “Closer” with Halsey. I honestly think the performance would have been very tragic if it wasn’t for Halsey's part of the song. Overall, it was an entertaining performance to watch. Going back to Beyonce, she ended up winning eight out of the eleven awards she was nominated for, including awards like “Video of the year,” “Best female video,” and “Best pop video.”To close off the VMA’s, Rihanna came back for her last performance of the night to perform “Stay,” “Diamonds,” and “Love on the Brain.” This performance gave me the chills throughout. Each song she performed showed how good her vocals are live. After she concluded her performance, Drake came out to give the “Vanguard” award to Rihanna. Drake’s speech for Rihanna hit me right in the feels because of how much I love the two of them together. The 2016 VMA’s as a whole was surely a VMA that will be remembered in later years to come.