The 2024 “MTV Video Music Awards” wasn’t necessarily a night to write home about… unless, of course, you’re megastars, Taylor Swift or Chappell Roan. 

I had the pleasure of watching this year’s awards in a Holly Pointe lounge with a bunch of friends. Three hours and one noise complaint later, I finished one of the most boring VMAs I’ve seen in 19 years of life. 

The messiness got started early with Roan telling off a paparazzi on the VMAs’ “black carpet.” It gave me high hopes for a messy show (spoiler alert, that didn’t happen). 

We all know Roan is the queen of protecting her peace, and paparazzi are known for NOT respecting celebrities. So, with that, I say, good job Chappell. 

As it is every year, there was no shortage of Britney Spears tributes at the VMAs. 

From host Megan Thee Stallion dawning Spear’s iconic “Slave 4 U” snake performance look from 2001, to pop star Tate McRae looking stunning in Spear’s entrance look from that same year, Spear’s impact proved to still be strong. Even Sabrina Carpenter used the “Oops! I Did It Again” monologue in her performance. 

I firmly believe that Spears is and always will be the queen of the VMAs. 

Once 8:00 p.m. hit, all the stars made their way into UBS Arena in Long Island, while a majority of my friends decided to pile into the E7 lounge less punctually. 

The show began with a performance by the so-called “King of the VMAs” Eminem. His two-song performance was a solid 3/10 from me. 

Eminem does the same thing every time, brings out an entourage dressed as his alter ego “Slim Shady,” and they just all stand there awkwardly as Eminem walks from stage left to stage right rapping. In the E7 lounge’s collective opinion, we think he’s washed up and it’s time to hang up the boots. It felt like a waste of an opener. 

Roan, for me personally, had one of the standout performances when she sang her top ten hit “Good Luck Babe.”

It genuinely left everyone in the room wanting an encore, and according to my friend Princess Rosado, “I do not understand why Chappell Roan got only one song.” I agree with that statement.

Carpenter proved to be a force to be reckoned with in this industry with a performance of the biggest hits from her new album. It was so innovative and brought back vintage VMAs. Other standouts were K-Pop stars Lisa and Megan Thee Stallion. 

Katy Perry was awarded the “Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award” and delivered a great performance including most of her most iconic hits (and thankfully avoided her controversial song “Woman’s World”). While I think Perry is deserving of an award, I am not sure if this is the right time in her career to receive it, as she’s had a very controversial year. But as my friend Veronica Somers put it, “I’m a big fan of Katy and felt healed by her performance.” 

The rest of the night followed with 17 more performances, two of which being on a smaller scale “extended play stage,” and only five awards being announced on TV. The rest were announced in a montage that we missed because my laptop froze. 

This begs a bigger issue for me, why are award shows turning into three-hour televised music festivals?

Especially when my friends Emily O’Donnell and Stacy Daniel-Wilson say that “there are a lot of performances from artists I didn’t like, and not enough that I did like.”

You promote people to vote for these awards, yet show barely any being won. Regarding the actual awards, just like every award show, there were snubs… a lot of them. 

Swift took home seven awards for her single “Fortnight feat. Post Malone,” including Video Of The Year. I am going to say it, I do not think “Fortnight” was the best video of 2024. “We Can’t Be Friends,” by Ariana Grande had the best video and was completely robbed, but we know nobody was stopping the Swifties. 

On the other hand, in the professionally voted category “Best Choreography” I think McRae was 1000%, wholeheartedly snubbed. “Greedy” should not have lost to Dua Lipa’s “Houdini.”

Jake Falkoff, who was at the watch party, said, “For years Dua Lipa was known for NOT being able to dance.”

That’s compared to McRae, who was a finalist on the TV show “So You Think You Can Dance.” McRae had this in the bag, and it felt like pity towards Dua Lipa. 

Overall this year’s VMAs were kinda disappointing, but spending time with my friends was invaluable. 

I do think next year MTV needs to go back to the drawing board and create more diversity within the categories, especially pop music out there. But even if they don’t, at least I know I’ll have fun watching it with my friends at Rowan.

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