what's MTV VMA?
A MTV Video Music Award, also called a VMA, is awarded by the cable network MTV to celebrate the top music videos of the year. First awarded at the end of the summer of 1984, and originally as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category), the MTV Video Music Awards have often been called the "Oscars for youth", an acknowledgment of the Awards ceremony's ability to draw millions of youth from teens to 20-somethings each year. By 2001, the VMA had become a coveted award. They are presented annually, and broadcast live on MTV. The statue given to winners is an astronaut on the moon, one of the earliest representations of MTV.
Past broadcasts have been held in New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, and Las Vegas. The most recent, the 2010 Video Music Awards, took place on September 12 at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, California.
mtv vma 2010
Lady Gaga broke the record for most nominations, 13, and took home eight awards (seven for "Bad Romance" and one for "Telephone"). She accepted the Video of the Year award for "Bad Romance" wearing a controversial dress made from cuts of meat. During her speech she revealed her upcoming album's title, Born This Way and sang a portion of the title track. Her win tied a-ha's "Take on Me" in 1986 for the second highest number of wins. (Peter Gabriel previously won 10 in 1987). Justin Bieber won Best New Artist, making him the youngest person to ever win a VMA.
A year after an incident in which Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift's acceptance speech, Taylor Swift performed her song "Innocent", talking nicely about him while West performed "Runaway" which pointed at himself for that same incident. Eminem, who performed at the show, did not receive his awards in person, due to leaving immediately to go perform with Jay-Z at The Home & Home Tour in New York City the next day. Additionally, Will.i.am's "blackface" outfit sparked controversy towards African-Americans. Overall, the show grabbed an impressive 11.4 million viewers — the largest audience for a MTV Video Music Awards since back in 2002.
