No Drake, no Bey and Jay, no Tay, no Adele, no Rihanna. No Kendrick or Childish Gambino or Lorde or Cher… We were just left with existential pop culture questions. …
Taylor Swift made her annual refusal to even set foot in the same area code as MTV’s quagmire, a tactically brilliant move that’s turned into a Tay tradition — though the absence of her star power is an undeniable part of why this show has felt so small-time the last few go-rounds.
(Rolling Stone, August 21, 2018)
As it happens, I posed the key existential pop-culture question as the title to my review of the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs), namely:
Why Is Any Self-Respecting Adult Still Watching the VMAs?
In fact, I included in that commentary a quote from my review of the 2011 VMAs, which shows that I’ve been ridiculing the “small-time” nature of this show for nearly a decade. More to the point, that ridicule tracked MTV losing its way over the years – as it continually featured more reality-TV shows than music videos..
This is why the most interesting thing I read about Sunday’s VMAs was the wholly predictable way Madonna paid tribute to Aretha Franklin: she blabbered about herself.
But Madonna’s self-centered stunt was entirely fitting. After all, today’s music industry seems far more about narcissistic social-media influencers than objectively talented performers.
Nothing betrays this quite like Nicki Minaj whining about Kylie Jenner, the queen of all social media, using her influence to boost boyfriend Travis Scott’s album, Astroworld, to No. 1 this week on the Billboard 200:
‘I put my blood sweat & tears in writing a dope album only for Travis Scott to have Kylie Jenner post a tour pass telling ppl to come see her & Stormi. Lol. Im [sic] actually laughing,’ Minaj wrote on Sunday.
(People, August 22, 2018)
Minaj’s album, Queen, debuted at Number 2.
Mind you, Minaj was probably just venting frustration. After all, not only are her “followers” failing to buy enough of her albums, few of them are buying concert tickets (e.g., on 2000 for venues that seat 20,000). The reason for this, of course, is that her followers are more interested in fake images of her fake body and social life than in her real body of work. Late-breaking reports are that she’s canceling shows in a vain attempt to save face.
Still, Aretha’s loved ones might have just cause to whine too. Because producers were so busy preparing for Kylie’s “appearance,” they neglected to include a performance of any Aretha song on the program. But anyone who knows anything about today’s music industry knows not to expect that kind of “Respect” from the “Chain of Fools” who now produce the VMAs.
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still watching VMAs…