‘Be kind, mask up’: Lady Gaga dominates Video Music Awards
It was art imitating life when Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande rocked the VMAs today ... but don’t for a moment think this will be the last time that you see stars masked-up on stage.
Art imitated life at the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards when two of the biggest stars of American pop music took to the stage to perform a high-energy choreographed dance routine while wearing face masks.
In a nine-minute medley of songs from Lady Gaga’s recently released sixth album Chromatica, 27 year-old Ariana Grande emerged to sing their duet Rain On Me while dressed in a purple skirt and towering white platforms.
To introduce the medley closer, Stupid Love, Gaga said, “I want your love. I want it all night, every day — but I want you to love yourself, tonight and every night. Celebrate yourself. Love who you are. Be kind, mask up, be brave and braver all the time.”
Gaga’s performance on Monday morning, Australian time, came complete with several eye-catching costume changes, but the one accessory she kept in place was a hefty black mask complete with a coloured LED screen, a look which called to mind Bane, the memorably muzzled villain played by Tom Hardy in the 2012 Batman film The Dark Knight Rises.
It was a novel way of avoiding the problem of singers expelling fine droplets of saliva, or “aerosols”, that can make stage performances such as opera particularly dangerous during a pandemic.
For the artist born Stefani Germanotta — who in 2018 earned major plaudits for her co-starring role alongside Bradley Cooper in a modern take on the Hollywood classic film A Star Is Born — it was another memorable awards show moment in a career built on attention-grabbing stunts backed by an undeniable ear for pop hooks.
Her album Chromatica debuted at No 1 in the US, Britain and Australia in early June, and while its release was delayed due to COVID-19, its upbeat collection of dancefloor ready tracks clearly resonated with voters at the annual Video Music Awards.
Lady Gaga was named artist of the year and Rain On Me won both song of the year and best collaboration. Blinding Lights by Canadian R & B artist The Weeknd was named video of the year, while Latin American pop group CNCO became the inaugural winners of the newly created category of best quarantine performance for MTV Unplugged At Home.
As a fan-voted awards event, the VMAs don’t hold quite the same credibility as the Grammys, an annual ceremony which is voted on by members of the American music industry in the same way that our local ARIA Awards are decided by industry members.
Hosted by actor and singer Keke Palmer from New York City, the 2020 VMAs were dedicated to Chadwick Boseman, the Black Panther film star who died of colon cancer two days before the ceremony at the age of 43.
The VMAs became the highest profile event to be held “virtually” since COVID-19 brought much of the music industry to a standstill. While the lack of a crowd or a truly live broadcast might have allowed artists such as Gaga and the Korean pop group BTS the benefit of more time to finesse their prerecorded performances in the editing suite, it also offered a glossy path forward for other awards ceremonies set to take place across the entertainment sector in the months ahead, including the ARIA Awards in November.
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