After nominations are announced, hosts are revealed and promo is launching, tv land starts pondering the performers…otherwise known as the highlight of these immensely detailed shows. The MTV Video Music Awards have offered pop culture a text book of unforgettable moments, tributes, dynamic host-crowd interaction and comic relief, and classic performances.
Of those performances, a set for a chart-dominating pop diva often solidifies a high viewer count for the show, as well as a career-defining moment for the entertainer. Past pop phenoms to take MTVs “go hard or go home” stage include, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Brandy, in addition to newcomers who’ve given their all to the VMA stage…Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Britney Spears.
This year, all three fan-proclaimed queens will grace the stage, including a tribute to Britney Spears who has undoubtedly left an illuminated mark on pop music as well as VMAs.
Look below for IABG’s favorite performances from the forcible triad…
Not long after Spears cried to the world that she was “not a girl, not yet a woman”, she stuns fans and cunningly spices up her image, taking to the VMA stage to deliver a provocative, jaw-dropping, yet dynamically-executed performance of “Oops!… I Did It Again“.
The former Mickey Mouse Club member returned to the stage that felt like home the following year and served a strikingly sexy, jungle-themed performance of “I’m A Slave 4 U“, equipped with a freshly groomed physique and a refashioned stage presence.
B. Spears mixed business, with pleasure and a few other things at the 2003 VMAs when she performed a risqué, trail-blazing rendition of “Like A Virgin” with MTV royalty, Madonna, Missy Elliott, and Spears’ then pop-nemesis, Christina Aguilera. “The kiss” was the highlights of the night.
If viewers set at the edge of their seats with toes in position to tap to the catchy rhythm of the opening performance, it resulted in floor seats and confused expressions brought on by the incredibly awful “comeback” performance of “Gimme More” by Spears. Perfectly-chaotic weave atop Spears’ head, an eerie, sluggish delivery of the choreography, and slurred lip-synching drove the performance into VMA history of horrible performances and a staple in Spears’ life as she battled depression and frustration with Hollywood.
Beyoncé Knowles, the entertainer of our generation, has left her heart out on the very stage Spears has, but instead with differently-proportioned elements of a defying choreography, power-house vocals and a shake that Latinas pull notepads out for.
In 2003, the Destiny’s Child-alum used the VMA stage to prove her solo dominance, giving a show-stopping performance of “Baby Boy” and “Crazy In Love”, stylized with bits of Indian culture, a slew of gorgeous dancing women and a cameo by then beau of Bey’s, Jay-Z.
The Houston-born entertainer set off sirens as she set knee-high boots, trench coats and fire to the VMA stage in 2006, with a reveling performance of her Basic Instinct-influenced tune “Ring the Alarm”. By the end of the set, Bey stands, fearless and adorned in a sexy catsuit, looking over her standing ovation.
Strobe lights does make everything sexier Janet. Beyoncé runs full-fierce into superstardom as she appears at the 2009 MTV VMAs to perform her now cult classic, “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)”. The ladies-anthem probed a performance embellished with more dancing women than her ’06 show, a crowd-entertainer chant that mirrored Showtime At The Apollo and ever-relevant choreography from the Kanye-praised video.
In a generation of attention-grabbing costumes, quirky concepts and controversial lyrics…Lady Gaga stands as the ambassador. The certified pop queen who burst onto the scene in 2008, called forth “Paparazzi” with her debut performance on the VMAs, adorned with masks, lace, wheelchairs, canes, a rousing piano breakdown and blood.
See what the three will bring to the show this year at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, airing tonight at 9/8c on MTV…live from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles.
