Even with the NXNE madness for the past week, there’s no way you could avoid the MMVAs this weekend, even if you wanted to.
If you’re one of the few who actually cares who won what award, they’ve got the list over here, but let’s be honest – the trophies themselves are hardly the focus for anyone. No, it’s the show that people care about, and each year it seems even bigger than the one before.
THE GOOD
It might be annoying how much traffic chaos the setup for the show creates in the days leading up to the awards, but no one can deny they sure know how to put on a big production. Whoever was behind the futuristic set deserves some kudos, as it made the big American awards shows seem cheap in comparison. Likewise, the pacing for the broadcast was nice and peppy, with very little downtime between performances.
THE BAD
Opening things up by giving a tie to Bieber and Drake was strange, to say the least. Surely there must have been a way to decide on one of them, and giving two videos the nod just makes the whole thing seem rigged. Then again, do people really care that much about the actual awards? Maybe they do, given how upset Britney Spears and Avril Lavigne fans were when neither won their fan choice awards, despite having healthy leads over Gaga and Bieber when voting supposedly ended. Chances are that was a technical glitch of some kind, but didn’t look good on them, and might explain why Avril looked so bored during her performance.
As quickly as the show seemed to fly by, whenever people started reading the cue cards our eyes began to glaze over. We don’t expect music award shows to be a laugh riot, but this was beyond painful at times. Canada is full of great comics, so hire some more of them to do some writing, and maybe hire some of them for some hosting duties too. Interviewing musicians sure wasn’t holding our attention.
Between the MMVAs, NXNE, Corso Italia, Luminato and summer road construction, getting around the city was a nightmare all weekend, no matter what method of transportation you chose. Wouldn’t it be in everybody’s best interest if these events were staggered a bit more, so there would at least be one route open to get across town? Besides, too many of us music types are forced to choose between NXNE and the MMVAs, which doesn’t really help anyone.
