{"id":2448042,"date":"2019-08-27T10:20:23","date_gmt":"2019-08-27T16:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=876981"},"modified":"2019-08-27T10:20:23","modified_gmt":"2019-08-27T16:20:23","slug":"taylor-missy-and-lizzo-save-the-vmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/music-news\/taylor-missy-and-lizzo-save-the-vmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Taylor, Missy and Lizzo Save the VMAs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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There\u2019s a simple rule for the MTV Video Music Awards<\/a>: If Taylor Swift<\/a> shows up, the night has a chance. If she doesn\u2019t, it doesn\u2019t. The past few years, Taylor has strategically opted to go nowhere near MTV\u2019s annual \u201cGoogles music once\u201d party. But last night in Newark, New Jersey, she decided to not just show up, but show off, opening with a soulful performance of \u201cLover\u201d that felt epic even though it was just Tay and her acoustic guitar, which is all she ever needs to slay. Just a few days after dropping one of her best albums, Tay made \u201cLover\u201d a solo tour de force that got Queen Latifah grooving along in the crowd. It rescued the show with a taste of her real-deal star power, making it a night that celebrated all the pop thrills MTV spends the other 364 days of the year ignoring.<\/p>\n

One of the night\u2019s comic highlights: Hailee Steinfeld came out to announce, \u201cAll year long, MTV helped discover, nurture, and amplify breakout artists, connecting them with fans all over the world!\u201d This did not, in fact, happen. But it highlighted the ridiculousness of this network presenting itself as a place where music happens. Yet this year\u2019s bash was livelier than the past few VMAs, if only because actual stars arrived to do their star thing, with a slew of great live perfomances.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the host was future trivia answer Sebastian Maniscalco, who \u201ckicked off\u201d the show the way Betty White might kick a beach ball off her lanai. When his name was announced, you might have figured you\u2019d never heard of him because he was too young and edgy \u2014 maybe an influencer? So it was a shock when he turned out to be the same stand-up comic who does a few gigs a year at your auntie\u2019s Golden Sunset Village in Pensacola. His \u201ckids today, amirite?\u201d shtick had jokes about safe spaces and support animals and his Uncle Luigi and his mom\u2019s zucchini, as if this were Lady Gaga reprising the year she hosted<\/a> this show in character as her alter ego Jo Calderon.<\/a><\/p>\n

Maniscalco said plenty of butt-stupid things, but he really took the reading-the-room prize when he announced that \u201cJersey has had one influencer in the past 40 years and that\u2019s Bruce Springsteen!\u201d Any comedian who thinks Springsteen started writing songs about Jersey in 1979 needs to have a long talking-to from Crazy Janie, Wendy, Sandy, Candy, Kitty, Jack the Rabbit, Weak Knees Willy, the Magic Rat and\/or Rosalita\u2019s mama.<\/p>\n

Lil Nas X had one of the funniest moments when he whipped out a script and then simply said \u201cThank you.\u201d He didn\u2019t do \u201cOld Town Road,\u201d which was a shame since it should have been his big coming-out moment as a live performer. Instead, he did a sci-fi \u201cPanini\u201d that was \u201cfuturistic\u201d in the sense that it resembled the Black Eyed Peas ten years ago in their \u201cwear Tron<\/em> robot suits to do \u2018I\u2019ve Had the Time of My Life\u2019 at the Super Bowl\u201d phase. It brought back flashbacks of Fergie grinding next to Slash. Billy Ray Cyrus gave him a heart-tugging introduction. Billy Ray hasn\u2019t lost a step since the days when he won the American Music Award for best country song, accepted his trophy<\/a> from the dudes in Motley Crue, and used the occasion to stoke his then-raging beef with country singer Travis Tritt: \u201cTo those people who don\u2019t like \u2018Achy Breaky Heart,\u2019 here\u2019s a quarter\u2014call someone who cares!\u201d<\/p>\n

The Jonas Brothers amped up the Springsteen ambience rocking out at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park,<\/a> dressed in E Street drag. The JoBros are riding high on their well-deserved comeback with \u201cSucker,\u201d which is not merely their best hit ever but a perfect way to commemorate the ten-year anniversary of Lines, Vines and Trying Times<\/em>. Even though it was a canned performance taped the night before, you still kept waiting for Springsteen to jump onstage and jam with the JoBros, since it looked like the whole performance was planned with his cameo in mind. (Like when he did \u201cOne Headlight\u201d with the Wallflowers back in the day.) Just a couple of years after the VMAs when Rod Stewart got up there with Joe Jonas and DNCE to sing \u201cDa Ya Think I\u2019m Sexy?\u201d<\/a> it had to hurt.<\/p>\n