DISTINCTIVE “VOICE”: Best Male Video nominee Cee Lo Green is also a judge on the NBC talent series, along with Christina Aguilera, Blake Shelton and Adam Levine. (AP)
FIRST UP: Lady Gaga (above) will open the show and Britney Spears will receive a special award. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)
FIRST UP: Lady Gaga will open the show and Britney Spears (above) will receive a special award. (Roger Kisby/Getty Images)
It’s been ages since MTV made its name on music videos (“Jersey Shore” provides the network’s bread and butter these days) but the channel’s Video Music Awards remains one of its signature events. “Videos as an art form are still very near and dear to our hearts,” says Amy Doyle, executive producer of the awards, which will be broadcast live tonight from the Nokia Theater in downtown LA.
“We don’t play them the same way that we once did, but we’ve found new ways to showcase music videos that are relevant,” such as the network Web site. And many artists realize the reach of the VMA broadcast. “Some of our performers aren’t even nominated, but we’ll use our stage to showcase [them],” Doyle says.
The VMAs, which began broadcasting in 1984, have become known for being one of the few events on TV where anything can happen. Two years ago, Kanye West stormed on stage in the middle of Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech for Best Female Video because he wanted Beyonce, also nominated, to win.
Eight years ago, Madonna, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera lived out men’s fantasies everywhere when they shared a sexy three-way kiss.
“People do tune in to see what sort of shenanigans might occur on the VMA stage because this show has such a history of things like that happening,” says Doyle.
Rehearsals for the show hadn’t started yet at press time, so Doyle hadn’t seen any performances but predicted which ones she thought would go viral.
“Gaga will certainly do a performance unlike any other Gaga performance. You think she can’t top herself, but she will,” Doyle says.
As Lady Gaga is opening the VMAs, the show should get off to a quick start. “And everything I’m hearing and seeing on paper around Chris Brown’s performance sounds amazing,” she says.
The award categories are pretty much the same, with the exception of the “Best Video with a Message” award, with the nominees being Eminem and Rihanna for “Love the Way You Lie,” Lady Gaga for “Born this Way,” Rise Against for “Make it Stop (September’s Children),” Katy Perry for “Firework,” Pink for “F…ing Perfect,” and Taylor Swift for “Mean.”
Doyle won’t confirm that show will honor Amy Winehouse, but it’s certainly on the team’s minds.
“We are brokenhearted, as everyone is, at the loss of Amy,” says Doyle. “We had a very special connection with her, and we are discussing ideas around how to honor her memory.”
From Lady Gaga and Katy Perry to Adele and Bruno Mars — all featured performers on the VMA stage this year — MTV struggles more with whom to turn down than with booking performers.
“Artists really want to be on the VMA stage,” says Doyle. “They know that we will do everything possible, with every bell and whistle that we can possibly offer to them. History has been made around so many performances over the years. They can be a little crazier on our show.”
In 2009, Pink stole the show by singing her hit “Sober,” accompanied by an aerial performance high over the VMA stage.
“She was on tour in Europe at the time and wasn’t planning on touring the US until the fall. Nobody had seen that performance so she called and said, ‘I really need you guys to see this because I think you’ll want this for the VMAs. I know you will help me do justice to this on TV.’ We flew over to see her show and we booked her,” says Doyle.
MTV knows well the importance of living in the moment in today’s world of fast-moving social media so they have multiple teams in place to send out video to Twitter, Facebook and MTV.com so that fans have access to everything happening at the VMAs almost as it is happening.
“If MTV played a video, it meant sales,” says Dave Meyers, who directed Katy Perry’s “Fireworks.” “Now, with online viewing, it’s more consumer-driven.”
That culture has actually made music videos relevant again. No channels dedicate much time these days to music videos, but they are tailor-made for sharing over the Internet, on such outlets such as YouTube and Vevo, and viewing on smart phones and iPads.
“Artists still value that they can creatively express themselves through the music video,” says Doyle. “Videos are bigger to them.”