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Not bad for a Wednesday night.
Here are the spacey, medieval, and occasionally pitchy highs, lows, and whoas of the evening.
WHOA: Eminem brought his Slim Shady clones …
If it aint broke, dont fix it.
It was enough to bring something fun to that humdrum song.
(Side note: How could the VMAs not get Jelly Roll?)
LOW: Wheres Megan Thee Monologue?
Instead, she spoke for about a minute before throwing it over to the next presenters.
WHOA: Kendrick Lamar just dropped another track?!
And I havent evenlistened to it yetbecause I was stuck watching the VMAs.
WHOA: Chappell Roan came ready to fight
Chappell Roans first VMAs arrival was a production.
At least she didnt have to use the sword.
WHOA: Benson Boone, acrobat
Vocallyandphysically.
(No, she didnt play Womans World, but she did wink at it in the intro.)
It didnt work perfectly, but at least it gave us something else to talk about for a minute.
The unsung heroes of the night.
WHOA: Were really doing 9/11 tributes?
LOW: Lenny, what are you doing?
But things devolved from there.
Then came his ill-advised Fly remix with Quavo.
Dont you want to get away?
Now, theyre making veiled attacks in their separate performances.
Is there burn cream backstage?
but LL sold it with just as much poise at the VMAs.
He ran through rowdy street rap, sensual sex jams, and a joyously chaotic interlude with Public Enemy.
As the signs and song reminded us, he really is the G.O.A.T.
On top of that, Swift won the top honor of Video of the Year.
As long as she keeps releasing music videos, shell probablykeepwinning.
LOW: Arent you out of breath?
How many performances did we watch in the last three hours?
Sixteen, including multiple extended medleys, plus six more on the Extended Play stage.
There was barely a moment to pause, as the VMAs presented just eight total awards.
Most awards shows feel too bloated, but this onereallycouldve used some space to stretch out.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated how many VMAs Beyonce has won.
