This year the Video Music Awards were different than they have been in any year in the past. Due to the coronavirus, the VMAs had a different audience this year than you normally would see.
Instead of having a large crowd of fans and multiple artists, this year saw fans on greenscreen behind presenters. Some artists performed by greenscreen or performed on stage away from others.
Behind every artist who was involved with the VMAs, their fans helped them to become the artist they are today. The VMAs allow fans to show support and appreciation through the awards.
For Sarah Jeon, her favorite artist is The Weeknd (Abel Makkonen Tesfaye). Jeon said, “I like this artist because he has very catchy music and a very melodic voice. His combination of bass-heavy and funk-inspired music with his falsetto vocals gives him a very unique sound”.
The Weeknd was at the VMAs because he was nominated for seven awards. Jeon felt that the nominations were very well deserved. The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” earned the highest honor at the VMAs, Video of the Year.
To Jeon not only was the song “Blinding Light” extremely popular globally but also genuinely a good song. As Jeon has been following The Weeknd since he started out in early 2010, she’s happy to see him gain so much recognition for his art.
Despite her admiration of The Weeknd, Jeon believes he was not the strongest performer. Jeon said he is very good at creating music, but his live performances have always been a bit underwhelming.
Jeon said that it was interesting to see The Weeknd dance on the skyscrapers and have fireworks go off behind the NY skyline during his live performance, but that was about all that was noteworthy.
The VMAs are known to have the most creative performances, so it’s hard to compete. Jeon said, “However, the entire performance does match the aesthetic of his most recent album, so that was nice to see.”
Overall, Jeon felt that The Weeknd’s overall presentation at the VMA’s was fine. Plus it was nice to see him win some of his nominations.
Another fan, Amanda Mcdonie, a student, was focused on Blackpink. Mcdonie said, “I like Blackpink because they are style icons, and the members are really talented. They seem to work really hard and try their best at anything they try, which I like a lot.”
Even though Blackpink didn’t attend the VMAs, they were nominated for Song of the Summer, and that they ended up winning that award for “How You Like That.” Mcdonie felt that most of the nominations were deserved and fair for Blackpink.
Even though Blackpink didn’t perform at the VMAs, she hopes they will next year. However, Mcdonie said that Lady Gaga put a poster of Blackpink in the background of one of her performances, which was really nice of her.
Aria Jung, a student, is a fan of BTS. She tuned in to the VMSs to see the group. She said she “really likes their sincerity and passion for their culture,” However, what Jung likes the most is the messages in their music. BTS was once fairly unknown, but the group is now famous all over Korea and across the globe.
“These artists,” Jung says, “are real people — they’re human.” were at the VMAs as the winner of the K-pop category. Since K-pop is so popular at the VMAs, the award show recently added a special category just for K-pop artists. BTS won this category with the song “ON.”
BTS won four awards in total, one for the best Choreography, one for the Best Pop Video, one for the best K-pop Video, and one for Best Group. Jung said she felt that they deserve the award for Best Pop Video the most. However, Jung believes that BTS should have won more awards.
As a BTS fan who doesn’t speak Korean, Jung and a lot of others get a lot of hate for not understanding Korean. Jung and other members of the BTS Army (the Army is the name for BTS fans) believe that music is an international language.
Jung described BTS’s performance as “truly exciting” and very organized. Jung said what surprises many people who are not fans of BTS is how the group makes the choreography less complicated for fans.
“If you watch the video of their performance, you can tell that BTS is very detailed,” Jung said “If you look at any other performances, BTS’s performances are always better!”
Jung thinks that “people know that BTS is a threat to other artists because the power BTS will withstand the test of time with their fans by their side.”
As the VMAs award season has come to an end, some award-winning artists are feeling the special love from fans who voted for them.
Michelle Pacheco is a staff writer of The Express. Follow her @Miseon7Michelle .
