Do people still care about award shows?

Johnny Depp doesn’t quite land. (image: Music Mundial)

The 2022 VMAs happened apparently

Stan Twitter was tweeting all about this year’s MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs), but not as much hype outside the platform surrounded the awards show as it used to.

This year’s chaotic VMAs kicked off on Sunday with various performances from stars like BLACKPINK, Lizzo, and Nick Minaj, stylish looks, and a lot of ass-shaking.

But one of—if not the most—notable moments of the show would be Taylor Swift’s new album announcement during her acceptance speech for Video of the Year, “All Too Well (10 Minute version) (Taylor’s Version).”

This exciting moment might have been one of the factors that broke the show’s serious decline streak in the last few years. Compared to 2021’s VMAs, this year’s ratings were slightly higher by 3% with a total of 3.9 million viewers across 13 different networks.

Johnny Depp’s cameos were also rumored to have been a deliberate move for internet buzz. After his victory in a highly public defamation case, the actor was caught in controversy after allegedly encouraging misogyny directed at his ex-wife Amber Heard.

During the VMAs, Depp joked that he “needed the work.”

His appearance did cause a bit of a stir on Twitter, where users had mixed reactions, but others saw through MTV’s alleged intention to generate more noise about the VMAs.

Flop era

I’ve seen from their recent coverage and fan reactions that the VMAs just aren’t receiving the hype they were known for in the ‘90s and 2000s. In fact, after the ceremony, I found a throwback video of Britney Spears’ performance at the 1999 VMAs going around TikTok.

“Throwback [to] when VMAs were truly iconic,” the caption read. In the comments, one user said, “At this point, every award show after 2010 is a joke.” The original poster of the video, 2000s Throwback, posted other old VMAs performances as well.

During that era, the magic surrounding the VMAs was alive and well. Who could forget Lady Gaga’s groundbreaking performance at the 2009 ceremonies?

This isn’t to say that today’s VMAs performers aren’t creative, but their cultural impact seems to be nowhere near that of their predecessors. And the artists aren’t entirely to blame for it. The diminishing hype is not just the case for the VMAs, but awards shows in general.

Despite still having some iconic moments—such as the Will Smith slap incident—they often aren’t enough on their own to carry the awards shows’ names. The Oscars, Grammys, and Golden Globe Awards, among others, faced lower ratings and lesser viewers in recent years.

As social media took over pop culture, the spectacle of awards shows faded. George Howard, a music professor from the Berklee College of Music explained that more media options have influenced people to stop thinking of art as a competition between artists. 

He added that while the institution used to have the power to tell consumers what to like, that dynamic has now shifted into consumers telling the institution what they actually like.

Plus, it probably doesn’t help that there’s been a gap between awardees and fan-favorites. From The Weeknd calling out the Grammys in 2020 for their lack of transparency, to the more recent suspicions about the VMAs rigging the Group of the Year Award towards BTS—after multiple media outlets had already posted congratulatory tweets for BLACKPINK—the credibility of these shows are repeatedly called into question. 

That’s not even mentioning other awards shows’ issues such as racism and abuse.

An attempt at evolution

In response to their dwindling popularity, the VMAs and other awards shows have tried to cater to younger, more tech-savvy audiences by incorporating social media and even the metaverse into their ceremonies. 

The efficiency of these additions is debatable and ultimately shifts the focus away from award-giving bodies’ need to take accountability for their shortcomings. But many people aren’t buying it.

Unless a radical, culture-resetting twist happens in the next few years, we may or may not witness the death of awards shows. It’s a shame, but at least we’ll always have the throwback footage of iconic pop culture moments from these events’ glory days.