Did anyone else watch MTV’s Video Music Awards and just think – man, women are killing it right now!
I recently watched the VMAs, not with any high expectations, but just to see some of the performances and keep up with my necessary pop culture knowledge. However, the further I got into the awards, the more I kept thinking that this wasn’t the MTV VMAs, but MTV: Women’s Special, because this award show was the most feminist thing MTV has ever done.
Let’s start with a tally of the performances. There were four by male artists: 5SOS, Sam Smith, Maroon 5 and Usher (although including Nicki Minaj). For the women? Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj, Jessie J, Taylor Swift, Rita Ora, Iggy Azalea and of course, Beyoncé. That’s seven female performers.
Even with the awards it was the same. It seemed any time there was a female artist nominated in the group, they would win. Best Video – Miley Cyrus, Best Pop – Ariana Grande ft. Iggy Azalea, Best Rock – Lorde, Artist to Watch – Fifth Harmony.
Of course, it’s not all a numbers game. Let’s look at the structure of the show instead. It opens with Ariana Grande’s “Break Free”, jumps straight to Nicki Minaj’s hugely popular “Anaconda”, and then cuts right to Jessie J singing the opening lines of “Bang Bang”, where she is then joined by Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj who sing on the same song. It goes for about seven minutes, and that’s just the opening, people! We have Taylor Swift and her all girl band play the infectious “Shake It Off”, and Iggy Azalea with Rita Ora holding up the mid section. For the finale, MTV decides to round the whole show up with a freakin 15-minute performance by Beyoncé, Queen of pop and feminist icon.
If that still doesn’t convince you, why don’t we go a bit deeper and look at the actual songs? The opening song is “Break Free” by Ariana Grande. The chorus goes “This is the part when I say I don’t want you, I’m stronger than I’ve been before. This is the part when I break free, because I can’t resist it no more.” A song that celebrates being independent of a man. Very cool.
Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda” is a hypersexual song, and so is the performance. What’s so cool about this song is that the original beat from “Baby Got Back” was all about Sir Mix-a-Lot objectifying women for their big butts, glorifying the male gaze. Now, Nicki has repurposed the song and turned it on its head, rapping about how she uses her butt to control men. She owns her sexuality on stage, and it’s awesome to watch. The opening act ends with Jessie J beginning “Bang Bang”, which Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj feature on. With lyrics like “I’ll let you have it”, “let me take you there”, once again, this song is all about women in charge.
They’re deciding what’s going to happen. It’s refreshing to hear women sing about sex in an open, positive way.
Finally, it would be remiss of me not talk about Beyoncé’s closing act. This was really the pinnacle of the awards. She sings through her whole album, with many of her songs touching on feminist issues, mainly, yes you guessed it, female sexuality. The best part hands down though, would have to be when Beyoncé stands on stage in dark with just a huge “FEMINIST” emblazoned on the screen. In the background plays Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s speech, “We Should All Be Feminists.” Some choice lines from that go, “We say to girls, ‘You can have ambition, but not too much… Otherwise you will threaten the man.’”, “We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings in the way that boys are.”, “Feminist: the person who believes in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes.”
Guys, it really doesn’t get any more obvious than that.
During the presentation for best female video, Gwen Stefani said, “this year, the ladies are taking over.” I don’t think you can argue with that.
We want to hear your thoughts on this topic!
Write a comment below or submit an article to Hypable.