I’m not entirely sure if the MTV VMAs are the cultural force that they used to be. Final numbers haven’t been released yet but early word is that viewership was down by a significant margin. It’s my job to know what happens at the VMAs and I wasn’t watching either. 

 

Traditional ratings, however, aren’t the only metric these days. Of course social media activity is a factor in determining the success of the show and the VMAs were definitely trending across platforms. But beyond shares and likes and conversation, the challenge here is that people still don’t know how to significantly monetise that actively. Enough of the business talk though because if there is one thing that the VMAs proved to us this year is that without the girls, there would be no pop. Pop music is women, and on the VMA stage this year, three of the most popular pop girlies of the year made their VMA debut. 

 

Let’s start with my best dressed from the red carpet – LISA! It’s the VMAs, a show for rockstars, which is why so much of the fashion was just about skin. I’m not objecting to all the skin and the tits and the ass, the point I’m trying to make is that with all that skin and tits and ass, it all kinda blends together, all the naked looks just amounted to no one really standing out that much with the exception, I think, of Addison Rae who, for me, was the best of all the skin looks. 

 

This is underwear, with some tulle. Basically a Victoria’s Secret outfit and not pretending to be anything else which is what I feel like the other “dresses” were trying to be. So from that perspective, Addison understood the assignment. 

To go back to Lisa, though, in a sea of skin, opted for skin colour but covered. This Mugler look is unreal on her. 

 

Before we get to her performance, though, let me just say something about the lip synching because there are always complaints about lip synching after one of these shows but I’m not sure why we’re bothering with it, particularly at THIS show, when almost all of them, if not all of them, lip synched at least through part of their performances. Lisa did it, yes, but so did Chappell Roan, and even Lenny Kravitz. On this occasion, then, there’s no point in bitching about it because it seemed to be across the board. 

This was Lisa’s first major global solo stage. And for those of you not familiar with BLACKPINK and therefore new to what she’s like as a performer, now you know how dynamic she is, how precise with the choreo, how electrifying she is to watch. At our ETALK morning meeting today, at least two of our producers were like, holy sh-t, she nails every single beat, and every move is smooth but also sharp. And she gets every facial expression with the music too. It’s true, this is Lisa’s gift. When she’s on stage you cannot take your eyes off her. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNwoQODmZUE

 

 

All of this comes from training – Lisa’s had years of experience perfecting her stage presence with BLACKPINK. So even though she’s an MTV rookie as a solo artist, last night probably wasn’t as much of a climb for her as it was for Chappell Roan. It’s been a whole year of firsts for Chappell, this was indeed her most high-profile performance and, for the most part, she killed it. Although I will say there’s room for improvement. The stage presence isn’t quite there yet and because she’s new to this, the performance itself, with the castle and the fire and the soldiers – it was all doing too much. You don’t need that much with a song like “Good Luck, Babe”. Some pyro here and there, sure. But it’s such a banger, a track that invites you to jump up and down the louder and higher she goes vocally, that everything else happening around her kinda takes away from it. 

Don’t get me wrong, I love Chappell Roan, her songs have been the soundtrack of my summer. This is more about her progression as a performing artist and it would be unrealistic to say that she doesn’t have room to grow when she’s really just come onto the scene. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65m4u4IxZLg

 

 

To round out our pop girlie post, it’s the artist who’s been mentioned alongside Chappell a lot over these last few months as both of them really broke out around the same time – Sabrina Carpenter who, from my vantage point, is further ahead of Chappell in terms of stage presence. Sabrina commanded her set, and you’ll note, at the beginning of her medley, there’s not too much going on; on “Taste” she’s joined by an astronaut and an alien but she fully owns the visual and even when all the rest the astronauts join in on “Espresso” she remains, as tiny as she is, firmly the focus leading the choreo. Sabrina’s star power here is undeniable and that’s likely due to the fact that she’s been at this for years. Short n’ Sweet is her sixth album, she’s had the time to develop what’s required to fully occupy a stage, not unlike Lisa, just from a different path. Technically a VMAs rookie but coming in with soooo much experience. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8c-UQ_rEYY

 

Lisa, Chappell Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, and Addison Rae were featured at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards.
Photo credits: Instar Images, Mike Coppola/ Kevin Mazur/ Christopher Polk/ Noam Galai/ Getty Images

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