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Tag: Britney Spears VMAs

  • Apart from Sabrina Carpenter, the 2025 VMAs Keeps It Pretty Tame (and Straight)

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    Perhaps it was only right that Doja Cat should kick off the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards with a performance of her lead single from Vie, “Jealous Type.” Not just because it throws shade at the notion of how artists get so competitive with one another at these sorts of award shows, but because, with her “new” sound embodying the sonic landscape of the 80s, it’s in keeping with the identity of the erstwhile “cable” network that was born at the dawn of said decade. A channel that changed the entire industry forever in that it made musicians fully grasp that their music was in need of a visual just as memorable (and/or “iconic”) as the song itself.

    To further heighten the overall “80s-ness” of her performance, Doja Cat appeared amidst the kind of set design that can best be described as something out of Patrick Nagel’s wet dreams. And then, of course, there was her decision to tap Kenny G as the person to perform the opening saxophone solo of the track (though, obviously, no saxophone solo will ever hold a candle to the one in “Careless Whisper”). She was also certain to evoke more than slight hints of Janet Jackson in the musical dance break toward the middle of her performance, which was rounded out with a keytar player that looked like a former member of Jem and the Holograms. All of which is to say that there’s definitely a reason the word “nostalgia” was used to describe the ceremony. Since, of late, that’s what MTV has been coasting/banking on in terms of staying afloat. This clearly being part of the reason that, for the first time, the ceremony was also aired on CBS, a network not exactly known for appealing to “youths.”

    In this sense, it’s as though MTV has decided to pander to the Gen Z view of their network as something dated, out of touch and generally “dinosaur-y” (a reality that still seems unfathomable when considering how “edgy” it once used to be). And yet, a great many of the musicians that dominate TikTok were in attendance, including Doja, Tate McRae, Sabrina Carpenter, Sombr and Conan Gray. However, those considered of the “older” generations now, including Mariah Carey and Lady Gaga also took precedence in terms of their performances.

    As for Mariah, who received the Video Vanguard Award this year (marking her first Moonman ever), her medley touched on “Sugar Sweet,” “Fantasy,” “Honey,” “Heartbreaker,” “Obsessed,” “It’s Like That” (interpolated with “Dangerous Type”) and “We Belong Together” (complete with a violin-playing ensemble behind her). And even her alter ego, “Bianca,” made a little cameo onstage. Her first appearance being in the “Heartbreaker” video as “the other woman” that Mariah catches Jerry O’Connell with at the movie theater. Alas, the homage to her greatest hits was more than slightly flaccid, especially since, after Carey’s appearance, she was quickly outshined by the greater dynamism of a live broadcast of Lady Gaga’s performance of “Abracadabra” and “The Dead Dance” from her Mayhem Ball show at Madison Square Garden. This (the fact that Gaga didn’t actually perform at the VMAs venue), however, further proving, in some sense, that the awards show was mostly phoning it in.

    What’s more, Gaga didn’t have a very queer performance, at least not in a “hit you over the head” kind of way. Nor did she have a very sexual one. Even so, there were errant moments of “spiciness.” Namely, when it came to Tate McRae dancing to her hits, “Revolving Door” and “Sportscar,” with her coterie of muscular male backup dancers starting out as “statues” on platforms before jumping in to join her for “Sportscar” and, then, to quite literally play in the same sandbox as her.

    Then, of course, there was Sabrina Carpenter, who, in the absence of both Madonna and Chappell Roan, appeared to take up the mantle for showcasing queerness onstage thanks to her rendition of “Tears.” That queer and trans advocacy being on-brand for the accompanying The Rocky Horror Picture Show-themed video. Throwing it back to late 70s-era New York vibes (since, again, most of the musicians at the VMAs are relying on already overdone sound tropes of the past for their “current” selection of music), Carpenter emerges from a sewer next to a trash bag as drag queens gather ‘round to have a kiki. Toward the end of the performance, there’s a bit of an “It’s Raining Men”-meets-Flashdance-meets Britney singing “…Baby One More Time” during the Dream Within a Dream Tour (and Carpenter is no stranger to imitating her at the VMAs either) moment when water begins raining down on Carpenter and the stripper-looking cops dancing next to her. The queer folk parading around the stage with protest signs that offer such insights as, “If you hate you’ll never get laid,” “Protect Trans Rights” and “Dolls Dolls Dolls” reminded the audience that, with the current administration in office, these are messages well worth reiterating. Particularly before the boot comes down completely, and all such forms of free speech are suppressed.

    Swinging the pendulum back toward straightness, Sombr, who comes off like a mash-up of Benson Boone (sonically and visually) and Austin Butler (just visually), also did his quote unquote best to “sex it up,” albeit with a very straight male perspective as requisite “hot girls” danced around him while he sang “12 to 12.” This after commencing the performance with “Back to Friends.” His only other “male competition” (in the same age bracket, that is) was Conan Gray, who served as this year’s dose of Kate Bush-meets-Chappell Roan with his romantic performance of “Vodka Cranberry.”

    As for the big winners of the night, Lady Gaga, Sabrina Carpenter and Ariana Grande, all three played up their gratitude and appreciation for the fans (this being the go-to for the VMAs, whereas “God” is usually for the Grammys). And yet, one wonders anymore who MTV thinks that demographic includes. For, the older the network gets, it doesn’t appear to matter if they have the “newest” (ergo, youngest) acts onstage. Because, more and more, MTV is playing it as safe as possible—this extending to a kind of “sexlessness” and general lack of controversy compared to years past.

    It’s also saying something that the tameness of the show comes at a time when Paramount (a.k.a. MTV’s “parent” company) is accused of cancelling The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, ultimately, because of an Orange One-related vendetta. Perhaps prompting MTV to keep its content less “offensive” to certain (political) parties, while also trying to keep appealing to the generations it started out with: X and millennial. In other words, the generations that can even still remember what a marvel it was to have cable.

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    Genna Rivieccio

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  • Mondo Ironico #8: Britney’s Formerly “Too Sexy For Children” Looks Suddenly Being Distilled Into Toy Form

    Mondo Ironico #8: Britney’s Formerly “Too Sexy For Children” Looks Suddenly Being Distilled Into Toy Form

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    In a series called Mondo Ironico, let us discuss how fucking antithetical something in pop culture is.

    For anyone who witnessed the rise of Britney Spears that truly began in 1999 (though her illustrious debut single, “…Baby One More Time,” was released in 1998), it’s impossible to forget that the number one criticism lobbed against her was being “too sexy” for the demographic she was theoretically “geared toward”: little girls, tweens and teenagers. As many pop stars after her would learn (including the likes of Miley Cyrus and Olivia Rodrigo), the pressure to remain “Disneyfied” was constant, even after Spears herself was no longer in her teenage years.

    The condemnation surrounding what she wore as her success amplified got so out of hand that, after the 2000 VMAs—during which she wore one of her then most scandalous outfits to date (a sheer bejeweled bra top with matching low-rise pants that made for a shimmering nude effect [with help from a coordinating nude thong, naturally] which presaged her literally nude look in the “Toxic” video)—MTV thought it would be a cute idea to make her sit down and watch some of the hot takes from people on the street about the way she dressed.

    Some of the comments included, “If I had a little girl, I wouldn’t want her to emulate Britney Spears, you know, if she’s like twelve, thirteen, anything like that,” “Think about those twelve-year-olds that listen to your music and think about the twelve-year-olds who saw you on the VMAs. Think what they’re thinking. They’re probably thinking that it’s okay to dress like that, which it’s not.” To this particular criticism, Spears responded to the screen, “I’m not their parent, man.” Another commenter added, “She’s a role model to little kids and she doesn’t need to dress like that.” The furor surrounding Spears’ body and how much of it she chose to reveal as the 00s went on reached another crescendo when, during her now infamous 2003 interview with Diane Sawyer, the latter knife-diggingly mentioned how Kendel Ehrlich (the wife of then Maryland governor Robert Ehrlich) said, in reference to the way she dressed/was a “bad” role model for her young fans (not the male ones, mind you), “You know, really, if I had an opportunity to shoot Britney Spears, I think I would.” Naturally, it came as no surprise that Ehrlich would later serve in the Trump administration.

    Conversations around Spears’ body and being “too sexy” gradually began to taper off after 2008’s Circus, when, conveniently, a new batch of pop stars began rising to prominence—including Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift (even if then still in “country” form) and Katy Perry (who didn’t know her peak would cease with Teenage Dream). This wasn’t just because the media was trying to be “nicer” to her after contributing to her very public breakdown in 2007 through early 2008, but because, by pop star standards, she was finally considered day-old bread (she turned twenty-seven the year Circus came out). In the time since then, it has also become less acceptable to make comments about a woman’s body or how she dresses—and now, perhaps even unacceptable to be anywhere near the realm of what Eminem would call a “stan.”

    By the same token, female pop stars have seemingly decided to “cover up” in general (with Billie Eilish being one of the first to set this trend during the teenage years of her initial stardom). This phenomenon was crystallized in a 2021 Salon article titled, “From Britney to Lorde: Young women shift from embracing body positivity to body neutrality as teens.” Which, of course, only adds further insult to Spears’ injury—as she seems to be positioned as some “relic” of what pop stardom used to mean when, in fact, she was arguably the last great show(wo)man.

    All of this is to say that, after everything Spears endured in terms of the venomous rhetoric about what she chose to wear (or not wear) during the first eight-ish years of her career, some of those formerly salacious looks are now being deemed perfectly suitable to be turned into Fisher-Price Little People. Specifically, Britney Spears is becoming part of the Little People Collector editions that have also extended to the likes of The Beatles and E.T. Obviously, compared to those two, Spears’ Little People renderings are patently more “controversial.” Except that we’ve now entered an epoch where there is really no such thing. In fact, it’s more controversial to be conservative in the present climate than it is to be “liberal” (mind you, if you tear the mask off a liberal, you’re likely to find a conservative). Thus, the ease with which Fisher-Price opted to make miniature versions of Spears in some of her most “notorious” looks is but par for the blasé-about-sexuality course.

    Among the looks selected to immortalize in “Little People” renderings is a version of Spears in her “…Baby One More Time” schoolgirl outfit, her “Oops!…I Did It Again” catsuit, her 2001 VMAs “I’m A Slave 4 U” costume and the flight attendant getup from “Toxic” (apparently, they had to stop short at choosing her naked-save-for-some-glued-on-diamonds look from that video)—and yes, these variations of Spears have already been rendered in Funko Pop! form. Her “toy-ification” knowing no limits, which of course has plenty of symbolic implications.

    Another irony about the whole thing is that it is precisely because of the decreased interest in sex (all in keeping with George Orwell’s 1984 predictions) that Spears’ formerly “overly provocative” looks are no longer a source of such frenzied “hullabaloo.” In short, no one is really “that interested” in the voyeuristic sensibilities Spears once stoked at a time when the internet’s sexual scope was far more limited. Thus, the sudden “no big deal” aura surrounding Fisher-Price’s decision (or rather, the millennial in charge of said department who likely made it) to turn these erstwhile “scandalous” instances in Spears’ career into toys suitable for “children ages three and up” (a very big range, obviously) is not just a sign o’ the times, but yet another slap in the face to Spears.

    Though, hopefully, at the very least, she 1) sanctioned the use of her image for this product and 2) will receive the majority of the money it rakes in. Though that still feels like a small token of “justice” for all the suffering she underwent for her “too sexed-up” persona before it was deemed suitable for distilling into a collectible toy.

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    Genna Rivieccio

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