And then our hero of the night went in, delivering a four-minute speech that not only spoke to why Rihanna is an icon in music right now, but why he has been in love with said icon for years: “She’s someone I’ve been in love with since I was 22 years old”. But nearly as incredible as her decade of hits and breakthrough music videos, was the completely swoon-worthy introduction Drake gave the “Work” singer in front of millions of live viewers. Hours after Drake professed his love for Rihanna at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards, the rumored couple hit up a star-studded afterparty in New York City – and they weren’t shy about showing their affection.
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The “One Dance” rapper, 29, and the “Needed Me” singer, 28, arrived (with their 60-odd person crew in tow) at downtown Manhattan hot spot Up&Down at 3:30 a.m. local time. They did OK-we got “Miley, what’s good” and Kanye’s 2020 election bid-but the whole thing felt forced and frenetic, which is probably why this year the hosting took a weird tack toward reaction-dampening meta-commentary.
But it was her jewels that really took the performance look to the next level.
Britney Spears – mother of two and pop goddess – made a triumphant return to the VMA stage after nine years away from it.
As Beyonce took to the stage to give her speech, Kanye tried to show his affection to his wife by putting his arm around her.
Olivia Newton John’s iconic Physical video appeared to be the unlikely inspiration for Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj’s VMA performance last night. He kept the focus on the music, premiering the video to “Fade” in the environment he prefers, one where everyone is paying attention to the same artistic spectacle. The Olympics may have just ended, but we’d never seen an athletic display quite like Beyoncé throwing herself at the stage.
After being held up in traffic, like the heartthrob in a romcom that would make John Hughes proud, Drake showed up just in the nick of time, all decked out, to present Rihanna with the Video Vanguard Award at the very end of the ceremony (after her fourth unfortunately underwhelming mini medley).
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From her iconic snake-charming I’m A Slave 4 U routine, to her disastrous little-girl-lost Gimme More display, Britney Spears has a turbulent history when it comes to the MTV VMAs.
