Madonna’s rambling Aretha Franklin tribute earns backlash

NEW YORK — The backlash was swift for Madonna’s rambling, egocentric tribute to Aretha Franklin at the MTV Video Music Awards, with media and Queen-of-Soul fans wondering why she got the gig in the first place.

Dressed in flowing black with grandiose flourishes of African jewelry, Madonna’s send-off came before she presented the video of the year award to Camila Cabello on Monday night. She spoke at length about her own start in the business and her own career before thanking Franklin for “empowering all of us. R.E.S.P.E.C.T.”

Cabello then collected the biggest award of the night for her “Havana” video with a bow to Madonna, dedicating the trophy to, you guessed it, Madonna.


There was a short video of early Franklin that played before Madonna said that the icon who died Thursday “changed the course of my life,” and Franklin’s “Respect” played as the night’s closing credits rolled. But there was no live musical performance honoring the legend.

Some accused Madonna, in her spiky silver headpiece, heavy necklaces and beaded bracelets, of cultural appropriation. Far more accused her of making the show’s only tribute to Franklin all about herself.

“I’m so lost,” radio host Charlamagne Tha God tweeted. “I thought Madonna was supposed to be paying homage to Aretha but all I heard was her paying homage to herself.”

After describing her teen exit from Detroit to make her name in show business, Madonna said at one point, “So, you are probably all wondering why I am telling you this story.”

Why, yes. Before she got to the point (she sang “(You Make Me Feel Like) a Natural Woman” acapella at an audition of yore), Madonna meandered through references to Paris, poverty, guitar lessons and finally her backside hanging out at a VMAs show after breaking a stiletto.

“Does Madonna know Madonna didn’t die?” ESPN’s Katie Nolan tweeted.

Marc Snetiker of Entertainment Weekly described the speech on Twitter as “Madonna presents an Aretha Franklin tribute by Madonna featuring Madonna with Madonna and Madonna as ‘Madonna’.”

The response was not unlike that from some fans of Prince when Madonna donned a “Purple Rain” suit to honor him soon after his death, at the 2016 Billboard Music Awards.

The Madonna Twitter roasting included this from one angry Franklin fan: “Only madonna would tell her life story while honoring a dead Black Woman lmaooo.”

source: entertainment.inquirer.net

MTV taps Katy Perry to host VMAs

NEW YORK—Katy Perry will host this year’s MTV Video Music Awards, the network announced Thursday, as it turned to one of pop music’s most visible stars for its big gala.

Perry was also the first performer announced for the awards, which will be aired globally from Los Angeles on August 27.

MTV broke the news by posting a picture of the newly blonde singer clad as an astronaut — a nod to the awards’ “Moonman” statuette and the network’s early commercials.

In a statement, Perry joked that she had started “training in zero gravity.”

MTV has experimented with different host formats for the annual party, which are generally better remembered for attention-grabbing on-stage incidents than for the award winners.

Miley Cyrus hosted the event two years ago, but in 2016, MTV decided to have multiple presenters throughout the night rather than a single host.

Perry, the only person with more than 100 million followers on Twitter, is up for five VMAs this year for “Chained to the Rhythm,” her disco-inspired track whose video presents a sci-fi amusement park fantasy.

The 32-year-old has three videos that have reached one billion views on YouTube, led by “Roar.”

source: entertainment.inquirer.net

Miley Cyrus aimed to 'make history' with performance at VMAs

NEW YORK - Former Disney star Miley Cyrus says she was out to shock and "make history" and is unapologetic for her raunchy performance at this year's MTV Video Music Awards.

In a documentary, "Miley: The Movement," airing on MTV on Oct. 2, the 20-year-old singer and actress comes across as a shrewd, ambitious performer determined to see her single, "We Can't Stop," hit No. 1 and put her roots as the wholesome Disney Channel star of "Hannah Montana" far behind her.

Cyrus refers to her performance during the August awards show with singer Robin Thicke and an oversized foam finger as a "strategic, hot mess."

The VMA show was "meant to push the boundaries," she says, adding she wanted the act to be memorable along the lines of pop star Britney Spears' kiss with Madonna at the same award show a decade ago.

"That's what you're looking to do, make history."

Spears, who begins a two-year stint in Las Vegas in December at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino, and other child stars faced personal struggles transitioning to adult careers. But Cyrus sees it as starting as a new artist.

"I felt like I could finally be the bad bitch I really am," she says in the documentary.

Cyrus' appearance—gold fingernails, tattoos and short, platinum hair—is a far cry from her days as the teenage star in "Hannah Montana," which ran from 2006-11.

Reinforcing her image, she posed topless for the cover of the Oct. 12 issue of Rolling Stone magazine and for one of various covers for her album "Bangerz," out Oct. 8. Cyrus also shed her clothes in the music video track of the song "Wrecking Ball."

'Something that nobody was ready for'

The hour-long documentary was shot over about three months before and shortly after the VMAs. It follows Cyrus at home in Los Angeles with her dogs, during appearances to promote "We Can't Stop," and in rehearsals.

The film touches on her childhood with her country singer father, Billy Ray Cyrus, and her mother, Tish. It also includes clips with her idol, Spears, and music collaborators, producer Mike WiLL and rapper and record producer Pharrell Williams, who was featured in Thicke's summer hit, the multimillion-selling single "Blurred Lines."

Notably absent is Cyrus' former fiance, "Hunger Games" actor Liam Hemsworth. Hemsworth, 23, and Cyrus called off their engagement this month, ending a four-year relationship.

"We decided to focus on the music and the professional side," is all that Dave Sirulnick, an executive vice president at MTV and the executive producer of the film, would say about Hemsworth's absence.

At a preview of the film, Sirulnick said the extent of the media reaction to Cyrus' VMA performance surprised everyone.

"As she said, people had this image of her as one thing and then here she came with something that nobody was ready for or expecting," he said. — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

Miley Cyrus' twerking dance officially enters lexicon

LONDON - "Twerking", the raunchy dance that set tongues wagging when enthusiastically performed by Miley Cyrus at the MTV awards, is one of the new terms to make the latest Oxford dictionary update.

The former Disney child star, now 20, left audience members gobsmacked when she bent over and gyrated provocatively with singer Robin Thicke on his song "Blurred Lines".

The moves, borrowed from US hip-hop culture, have been colloquially known as twerking for around 20 years, but the term has now received official recognition after being included in the latest revision of Oxford Dictionaries Online, it revealed Wednesday.

"By last year, it had generated enough currency to be added to our new words watch list, and by this spring, we had enough evidence of usage frequency in a breadth of sources to consider adding it to our dictionaries of current English," explained Katherine Connor Martin, from Oxford Dictionaries Online.

"There are many theories about the origin of this word, and since it arose in oral use, we may never know the answer for sure.

"The current public reaction to twerking is reminiscent in some ways of how the twisting craze was regarded in the early 1960s, when it was first popularised by Chubby Checker's song, the Twist," she added.

Other new words recognised by the English language gatekeeper include "selfie", for a self-photograph taken on a mobile phone, online currency "Bitcoin" and "hackerspace". -- Agence France-Presse

source: gmanetwork.com