6 artists who don't deserve their 2020 VMA awards — sorry
Callie Ahlgrim
- MTV handed out 24 awards on Monday night at the 2020 VMAs.
- Four of those awards were handed to the wrong artists, including video of the year, which went to The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights."
- Read a full list of the winners here.
MTV's annual Video Music Awards are designed to celebrate the best songs and visuals of the past year.
This year's remote ceremony doled out major awards to deserving artists like BTS, Megan Thee Stallion, and Taylor Swift. But a few categories were noticeably fumbled — even if the winners are, hypothetically, based on fans' votes.
Here are four awards that were handed to the wrong artists, in no particular order.
"Blinding Lights" didn't deserve to win video of the year.
"Blinding Lights" is one of the best music videos of 2020, to be sure, but multiple of its fellow nomimees are better.
Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande's "Rain On Me" is the most obvious example — especially considering Gaga was honored with MTV's first-ever "tricon" award at the ceremony — but Taylor Swift's self-directed "The Man" and Billie Eilish's self-directed "Everything I Wanted" would have also been more deserving.
These women offered insightful, tender, triumphant studies of deeply personal and relevant issues: "Rain On Me" celebrated sisterhood and resilience in the face of trauma; "The Man" artfully illustrated sexist double standards; and "Everything I Wanted" meditated upon depression and familial love.
"Blinding Lights," while cinematic and thrilling, is less original than all three, and far less insightful.
"The Box" should have won song of the year instead of "Rain On Me."
Although Gaga and Grande created a near-perfect pop video and summer bop, it's difficult to justify its win for song of the year when "The Box" exists.
Roddy Ricch's smash hit single reigned at No. 1 on the Hot 100 for 11 consecutive weeks, becoming one of just 39 songs in history to maintain such a long streak. "Rain On Me," however, debuted at No. 1 but dropped down the chart immediately after.
It's obviously true that charts and sales don't mean everything, but the dominance of "The Box" is simply impossible to overlook.
Machine Gun Kelly's "Bloody Valentine" was only interesting because of Megan Fox.
The only reason Machine Gun Kelly's music video for "Bloody Valentine" got any attention was because of the speculation it fed (that was later confirmed) about his relationship with Megan Fox. Otherwise, it's neither particularly compelling nor unique.
Multiple other nominees would have been more deserving of its award for best alternative, including FINNEAS' uber-charming "Let's Fall in Love for the Night" and Lana Del Rey's hypnotic "Doin' Time" (which Insider previously ranked as one of 2019's best videos).
Maluma and J Balvin's video for "Qué Pena" was fairly standard, whereas Bad Bunny's "Yo Perreo Sola" was a stroke of genius.
Maluma actually performed at the VMAs, so his win was fairly predictable. MTV has a habit of awarding artists who actually show up to the ceremony, despite insisting that its awards are "fan-voted."
"Qué Pena" isn't a bad music video by any means — but to anyone paying attention, Bad Bunny's "Yo Perreo Sola" was the clear choice for best Latin. Like much of Bad Bunny's work, the video skewered gender norms and reveled in the colorful delights of confidence, fluidity, and open-mindedness.
- Read more:
- 5 artists who didn't deserve their 2020 VMA nominations — sorry
- Taylor Swift is the first solo female artist to win best director at the VMAs, and fans are calling it 'poetic'
- The 32 best music videos of 2020 (so far), ranked
- Miley Cyrus channeled her iconic 'Wrecking Ball' video by climbing onto a disco ball during her VMAs performance
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