2018 MTV Video Music Awards (2018 TV Special) User Reviews

Not a failure like other recent editions, but still miles away from good quality

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 17 September 2018]

With the Emmy night 2018 right behind us, lets take a look at another big awards ceremony, namely the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards that are actually very new and fresh still as as of today it is less than a month since they were held. Director of these 2 hours (without commercials) was 2-time Emmy winner Alex Rudszinski and there wasn't really a host which was perfectly fine for me that they just went with announcers and recipients. But one criticism I had is one that I had many other times too when it comes to the big music awards shows in recent years and that is that for the most part it seemed rather like a concert event than really an awards show. But honestly, I have seen other music awards shows where it was even worse to be honest. But still exclusing crucial categories and winners to have people perform on stage is never a good solution for an awards show. So yeah, this one here had many Aretha Franklin references and a tribute by Madonna (a bit of a surprising choice) as the sould iva died just days ago before the event. Madonna is also around the age of 60 now already and this was the first time where I must sadly say she looked her age too, despite the bizarre outfit which was supposed to make her seem younger. Jennifer Lopez has aged too around the age of 50 now and her performance reminded me that she actually had some quality songs early in her career, shame most of her recent stuff is really forgettable now. From a general perspective one must say that we may not be in the greatest era of music by any means obviously if our generations biggest stars are Ed Sheeran, P!nk and Nicki Minaj. Oh well, we have to live with it and look for quality away from the mainstream acts I suppose. Then again, the big winner this night and her Havana song were not that bad, at least somewhat catchy and Cubans will enjoy it even more I suppose. And maybe it's gonna help her with criticisms that she is just the next poor man's version of Ariana Grande. Weakest moment of the show was probably Childish Gambino winning a category that was called something like Best Song / Music Video with a meaning? What the hell? Do we say that twe just exclude stuff with a meaning now from mainstream pop and just honor it in one single category. Really embarrassing like they were digging their own graves. And honestly, the style-over-substance winner "The Is America" is really not a particularly good winner there either. All in all, most of the winners I found disappointing. Some music numbers we saw were tolerable, also the final act, but there was nothing that really stood out from these almost 120 minutes where I would say that because of that moment, it's a show worth seeing. Instead, it stays in the tradition of highly forgettable music awards shows from recent years and I must say it is best to skip this one unless you are a big fan of the aforementioned Camila Cabello. Strangely enough, she is not even included in the cast list here. Oh well, fits in nicely the quality of this title's imdb page is approximately the same quality like the event. Watch something else instead.