As the summer is coming to a close and the school year is right around the corner, that can only mean one thing. Books, paying tuition bills, no more beach trips, etc. NO. It means the Video Music Awards are here! This year they fall on Sunday, August 28. The "VMAs," as most pop culture informed humans call them, highlight the most underrated yet important asset of music: the visual aid. Videos! How much better is music that it can be put into a video? The visual aspect makes music artistic in a way that the writing and sound aspects cannot do. For those who are visual learners, music videos are for you. Did not understand what the heck Kanye West was babbling about in "The Life of Pablo?" Were you confused about Beyoncé's indirect or at other times very direct references to certain things on "Lemonade?" Look no further than the albums' deeper meanings in their videos.
I wanted to focus on this year's show because yes, it will be unpredictable as always, but there is one thing that will make it totally worth the watch: the powerhouse artists who have been nominated and who have most likely just had the best year of their lives.
2016, the year of comebacks for these powerhouse artists: Beyoncé, Bieber, Drake, Adele, Kanye...did I miss anyone? These artists took some time off in the past to recover from tours, paparazzi or disruptive behavior, only to come back this year with a bang. These five artists all have spots in numerous categories of this year's VMAs. Coincidentally, they are all together in the show's most anticipated category, "Video of the Year." All together! Each year there seem to be a few that win the most and stand out, but not this year. This year, everyone stands out. The artists' comebacks have blessed us with music like no other and a very competitive awards show that probably won't be seen again for decades.
The comebacks commenced in late 2015 with Bieber and Adele. The two were known to be putting out albums, but I do not think the world was ready for them. Bieber's "What Do You Mean?" climbed the charts as the year went on and Adele's "Hello" reached one of the top 10 most watched videos on YouTube. Then came Kanye, who released his seventh studio album in February of this year. Everyone was a little confused on how to get to it using streaming technology but hey, when there is new Kanye you gotta grab new Kanye. After that came the queen herself once again, dropping a visual album with absolutely no warning. It struck the world with controversy and awe. Lastly, came Drake with the smooth and also edgy "Views."
So yeah, nice, the biggest names in music all did super awesome in 2016 and this year's VMAs are actually going to be nuts. So in all seriousness, who the heck is going to win? Who will be the best of the best? My prediction: Queen B. Her cinematography, choreography and message in "Formation" and the rest of "Lemonade" blew people's minds. To be honest, I think my soul left my body for a bit when I sat down to watch the visual album. Since the VMAs focus on the visual aspect, I believe Beyoncé will win because she brought the most of this to the table. It will be very difficult, as said before, to choose out of music's finest, but for me, I heard, felt and saw her art in a deeper way than in the others'.
The difficulty to make my prediction only manifests how great this year was even more.
With that, I wish the best of luck to all artists, editors and producers in all of the categories. I wish the best to all of us watching as we cling to our seats waiting in a sea of possible outcomes.
