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| Lady Gaga on the Red Carpet |
If quirky, entertaining, and downright bizarre are what you might have
expected of the first ever YouTube Music Awards, the event, which streamed live
on Sunday evening, did not disappoint. Much like any other time spent hopping
from YouTube video to YouTube video, the awards show was a fantastic mash-up of
music, improvisational MC-ing, and eccentric performances.
According to Noisey, “Depending on what time you clicked on,
you either saw [hosts] Jason Schwartzman and Reggie Watts holding up crying babies or
you saw M.I.A. swinging LED hula hoops through a crowd of screaming people. At
times, the off-the-cuff nature of the show worked. Other times, it created some
situations that were, uh...weird,” of the jumbled,
albeit entertaining, evening. The publication also describes the event as
spontaneous and intentionally avant-garde, per director Spike Jonze.
The New York Times wasn’t so kind in its review of the
live event, describing it as “a show of essentially no importance,” but
admitting to enjoying some of the unconventional approaches to imitating other more established awards shows. There was comedy, and music, and a live audience
with live audience energy, after all. Oh, and there were awards too, of course.
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| M.I.A. backstage at the show |
Fans voted for each of the awards categories,
honoring rapper Eminem for “Artist of the Year,” and pop group Girls’
Generation for "Video of the Year.” The “YouTube Breakthrough” award went to
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, and the “YouTube Phenomenon” award was given to
Taylor Swift. Notable performances included the haphazard hosting efforts of actor Jason Schwartzman and comedian Reggie Watts, as well as Arcade Fire,
Lady Gaga, and Earl Sweatshirt.
Jon Caramanica writes for The New York Times, “like
any number of artists with a webcam, a dream and a bit of hubris,
YouTube was entitled to screw up in full view of everyone. And after this
bizarre but comforting experiment, it’s earned the right to try again next
year.”
What did you think about the first-ever YouTube Music Awards?
Images: youtube via Instagram
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