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autisticlancemcclain · 1 year ago

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Keith presses the heels of his palms to his eyes and exhales deeply. He lets all the air trickle out of his lungs until his chest feels concave, until spots dance behind his closed eyelids, until his lips start to go numb. Then he lets go and lets the air get sucked back into him like a vacuum.

“One more try,” he whispers to himself, conscious of Lance sleeping — finally — beside him. “One, and then we move on.”

He swipes the touchpad on his computer to wake it back up, dragging the blinking curser over the rarely-used blue ‘10’ under the Google logo. The page loads, and loads, and loads, and finally spits out the next few results.

Most of them he’s already seen before. Dozens of times. BARGAIN BALLET TICKET SUBSCRIPTION, reads one link, CLICK HERE FOR 20% OFF YOUR FIRST MONTH. Another reads, Rush Ticket Prices — Buy Now!

He’s been there. Clicked that. Priced it out. Looked at the worst possible, next-to-the-washrooms, garbage seats. Nothing. Not a single ticket within their limited budget — or even close to it.

Completely out of the realm of possibility even if they hadn’t agreed on a price limit for their Christmas gifts.

He keeps scrolling down a few pages that all advertise the same thing — a disgustingly costly subscription here, bargain-but-not-really tickets there, more scammy resell ads than one would believe possible. Even, notably, a still-active link from 1997 that Keith peruses for clicks and does not actually count towards his one-more-try limit. (It even tries to accept his Paypal, which is crazy and means that someone updated the site to accept modern payment for a show that is no longer running. Keith is so amused by the pure audacity that he has to fight the urge to buy one. Wild thing, ADHD.)

Just as he’s about to give up and buy his boyfriend yet another plant this year, a link catches his attention. It’s the very last result on page 13, with no description, no punctuation, hell, hardly even a sentence of text. Nutcracker ticket sales, it reads, for a website called ‘FeuillesBrillantAcademie.org’.

Keith shrugs. Might as well. Not like anything else has been promising.

He clicks the link and immediately wishes he hadn’t. The ugliest website he’s ever seen literally assaults his eyes — a bright blue and a neon purple, clashing in the worst possible way. It takes at least four solid seconds for his eyes to unblur enough to recognise the screen in front of him as having words rather than a solid wall of Bright And Bad. Even then, he has to squint, glasses practically touching his eyeballs.

Feuilles Brillant Academy is pleased to present the final performance of the hard-working dancers this season, is what he can finally make out. The show begins at 7 p.m. on December 23rd, tickets for $20 per person. In-person payment not accepted. Please pay via e-transfer using the link below. Call out administrative office if there are any difficulties.

Keith stares at the page for as long as his eyes can handle, then he looks up at the ceiling. (Where, he may add, he can still see the screen perfectly, because the damn thing has been burnt onto his retinae. He will never mock Matt for his web design degree again. Well, probably.)

This seems…too good to be true.

It’s outrageously cheap, for one. Keith has been looking for literal days and the cheapest he’s managed to find is $50 per person, for bad rush tickets. $20 is bonkers. For two, this is a perfect time, and nearby, as well. And there are still tickets left. Somehow.

Something is amiss.

Keith’s first thought is that it’s a prank page. But the page is buried so deeply — page thirteen of Google. The hidden archives, basically. If this is someone’s prank, it’s garbage. His second thought is that the link is a virus, which, while possible, is still kind of unlikely for the same reasons. Why on Earth would someone post something nefarious so obscurely? It doesn’t make sense. This might be one of those rare times when something isn’t too good to be true, it’s just good.

Then again. Keith just got his laptop back from the last time he fucked around and well and truly Found Out.

Time to get a second opinion.

Despite the disgustingly late hour, the phone picks up on the second ring.

“Hey, stinky,” says Pidge. Keith can hear the smile in her voice as clearly as the explosions and gunfire of Call of Duty in the background.

“Asshole.”

“Turd for brains.”

“Skidmark.”

“Rotting splatter of parking lot vomit at three in the afternoon in Arizona during high summer.”

“…Pidge, that’s disgusting.”

She snickers. “I win.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Keith freezes as Lance stirs next to him, curling his arm around Keith’s bent leg and muttering something in Spanish too fast for him to understand. Keith smiles, tucking a stray curl back under his fluffy frog-eye hairband, lingering over the scar on his temple from a skateboarding accident when they were fifteen. “I need your help.”

“Well, obviously. You’re calling me at three thirty four in the morning. Usually you’re in bed by nine because secretly you look up to Adam and emulate his habits.”

Keith flushes. “I don’t remember ordering a psych analysis, fucker.”

“Consider it a bonus! Tell Auntie Pidge about your troubles.” He can practically see the face she makes immediately after, and snorts. “Ignore that. My mouth is not attached to my brain. Carry on.”

“I need you to check out a link,” Keith says, choosing to be merciful. “It’s pretty buried and obscure, but honestly I think it’s fine —”

“Yeah, last time you thought a link was fine you fucked your shit up so bad I had to download another virus to cancel it out. I’ve never had to do that before. You fucked your laptop up so bad I’d actually never seen that kind of damage before, Kogane. And I do this for a living.”

Keith pouts. “No, you commit cyber crimes for a living.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m an angel and have never gotten so much as a speeding ticket. I am a law abiding citizen. Send over the link.”

Switching his phone to rest between his ear and shoulder, Keith does. “I need to know if the link does what it says it does.”

Pidge hums. He can hear the ding of her laptop as his e-mail goes through, and then the sounds of her clicking as she inspects the website, running it through her various programs that Keith cannot fathom for the life of him.

“What did you say you were looking for, again?”

Keith closes his eyes and tips his head back, letting it thunk gently on the thin wall under the big window, in the corner of the apartment where they’ve shoved their bed. He lets his eyes go blurry, lets the stars they stuck on the ceiling before they did anything else turn into bright green dots. They’re real constellations. The two of them spent hours on them; Lance on Keith’s shoulders, tripping and shouting and laughing.

“I need tickets,” Keith says quietly. He turns his gaze slowly to Lance, who is sleeping soundly again, who has bags under his eyes, whose hands twitch every few seconds, who frowns deeply. “And we can’t — these are the only ones I could find. That I can even pretend to afford. I need it to be —” He swallows. “I need you to tell me they’re real.”

Pidge is quiet for a moment. The only sound is her breathing, her nail tapping slowly on the edge of her screen.

“The link is exactly what it says it is.”

Keith sits up. “Yeah?”

“Yeah, man.”

Keith bites back a cheer so he doesn’t wake Lance up. Hell yeah! This is perfect! Exactly what they needed! Just — a little bit of luck. A little bit.

“Thank you, Pidge,” he gushes, hurrying to punch in his information. “Seriously.”

Pidge huffs fondly. “Okay, dweebus. Gross. Go be all affectionate somewhere else.” She pauses. “Take a picture when you tell him.”

Keith smiles. “I will.”

———

It takes every inch of Keith’s willpower to keep his mouth shut for a whole three weeks.

“I Know you are hiding something, Kogane,” Lance says while walking home from classes, while curling up into him as they watch TV, while cooking, while showering. “I see it in your face.”

“It’s nearly Christmas, you dweebus,” Keith says every time, and every time he softens it with an exaggerated kiss to Lance’s cheek, one to make him laugh despite himself and shove Keith’s face away. “Of course I’m hiding something.”

But it’s eating at them both. Lance’s blatant curiously makes it that much harder for Keith to keep things hidden, to stash the tickets between the pages of his corniest romance novel that Lance won’t touch with a ten foot pole. To wait, and wait, and wait, as they set up the three-foot high discounted Christmas tree and Lance changes their sheets to the flannel ones his mother gave them.

But the days pass. Finals come and go and so does the time. And finally, finally, it comes time to crawl onto the creaky mattress, knees on either side of Lance, nose kisses down his neck, and murmur, “We’ve got plans today.”

Lance groans. “No we do not.”

Keith smiles widely. He knows Lance can feel it, because he scowls harder, trying to hide his own fondness even as he melts into Keith’s affections.

“Yes, we do. I know. I planned them.”

“Well, then, un-plan them,” Lance grouches. He turns over so he’s facing Keith, now, trying hard to glare up at him, but late afternoon sunlight bleeds into his dark brown eyes and makes them shine golden, and they are as warm and bright as the rest of him, and his hands slide up Keith’s chest, over his shoulders, brushing through his hair, to rest on his cheeks. “Come nap with me.”

Keith turns his head to press a kiss to Lance’s palm, keeping his mouth there. Lance rolls his eyes, and can no longer hide his smile. “Later. I made plans. Dress up, I’m gonna pick us up some food for the way. We’ll leave in forty minutes.”

“Ugh.”

“I don’t know who you think you’re fooling, baby. I can see you eyeing the closet.”

“Shut up and get me a burrito.” He soothes the bite of his words by pulling Keith’s face closer to his, pressing their lips together softly. “Please.”

“Whatever you want.”

God, he’s whipped, and Lance knows it, because he grins, pleased, and pulls Keith even closer, kisses him stronger. It takes Keith a good five minutes to muster up the willpower to pull away, and Lance knows it, smirking.

He finally manages to yank himself away, stumbling backwards towards the kitchenette of their studio. Lance pouts at him.

“Menace,” Keith says sternly, deliberately turning away as he pulls on his boots and coat. He ignores his boyfriend’s grumbling and finally makes it out the door, hustling to their favourite bodega and hoping it isn’t too crowded.

Thirty-seven minutes later, burritos secured, Keith is shoving his frozen fingers around the door handle to jimmy it open. The bodega was indeed crowded and they are indeed late. The show starts in an hour. From what Keith remembers from Lance’s recitals — and he has been to many — people who are late are people who miss the show. The ballet does not fuck around with tardiness and disruptions; if you’re late, that’s tough shit for you. Plan better.

“You’re going to eat shit,” Lance says, amused, the fourth time Keith power walks right over black ice and nearly actually dies. “Slow down, babe.”

Keith does not.

“Can’t,” he huffs, keeping a half-eye on the pavement. A tourist walks into him, shoving him into Lance, who takes the opportunity to slide his hand into Keith’s back pocket and wink at him when his cheeks colour.

“Why can’t we slow down? Where are we going?”

“It’s like you don’t know what surprise means.”

“I do know. I also know that if I annoy anyone long enough they’ll snap so I’ll shut up.”

“Nah. I like it when you talk.”

He’d meant it as somewhat of a comeback, as a jab back to Lance’s teasing. But suddenly Lance stops, spine going rigid, something like shock flirting across his face for half a millisecond before he blinks it away and moves again. It happens so fast that Keith would almost be convinced he’d imagined it, except Lance’s cheeks are crimson.

Keith smiles. “Lance.”

“Shut up.”

“Babydoll.”

“Shut up.”

“I’m barely sayin’ anything, baby.”

“You are so fuckin — gay, you know that? God. Who fuckin — who says shit like that? Who on this Earth?”

Keith laughs, bending down to kiss right below Lance’s ear, to feel his flushed skin warm to frozen tip of his nose.

“You are so easily flattered.”

“Easily flatter this dick. How about that. Fuckin. Jerk.”

He lets Lance grouch at him, pleased and embarrassed about it, as he pulls them along the overcrowded streets. He checks his watch. Fifteen minutes ‘til the show starts, thirteen minutes ‘til they get there. Hopefully.

“Are we almost there? It’s cold and these shoes are pinchy.”

“I told you to wear comfortable shoes!”

“You told me to dress up! I can do one of those things, Akira!”

At the seven minute mark Keith starts running. Lance, surprisingly, doesn’t complain — a grin pulls at his sharp features, actually, and he wraps their hands together and runs faster, despite not knowing where they’re going. Every time they bump into someone in a suit he laughs. He laughs harder when they curse at him. Keith has to fight to keep his head in the game, to keep running, to not stop where he’s standing and watch Lance laugh for hours and hours and hours. It’s been too long.

He nearly pulls Lance’s arm out of his socket when he stops then abruptly, shouting “Here! Here! We’re here!” and pulling him inside a well-kept brownstone.

“Where’s…here?” Lance wonders, taking in the well-salted walkway and pretty red-and-green decorations all over the aged brick.

Keith doesn’t answer. “Close your eyes.”

Lance narrows his eyes. Keith makes his expression as wide and pleading as possible, and in seconds Lance caves, much to Keith’s satisfaction.

“You’re a pain in my neck.”

Keith kisses him quickly and chastely. “Thank you.”

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t let me walk into anything.”

Satisfied that Lance won’t peek, Keith shuffles them over to the box office, holding out their tickets. The stewardess smiles at him, scanning them, eyes twinkling at Keith wordless plea for her to keep the secret, and gestures towards a grand set of doors.

“Up the stairs, to your left, seat and row on your ticket,” she murmurs. “Enjoy the show.”

Keith nods his thanks and rushes them off.

“This sounds very fancy,” Lance observes as their shoes click on the — literally marble, how the hell were these tickets $20 — floors. “Dangerously so.”

Keith shrugs. “Perhaps.”

“…Not to be. A bummer. But please tell me you remembered our budget, Keith.”

“I did, Lance. I swear.”

Lance relaxes into him, and Keith realises for the first time how tense he was. He winces to himself. He probably could have made things a tad less stressful and still kept the surprise. He’ll remember that for next year.

“Okay, good. I trust you.”

They barely make it to their seats in time. Keith’s butt barely makes contact with the cushioned chair before the lights dim and the orchestra starts tuning, the rest of the audience lapsing into almost immediate silence.

Lance inhales sharply. “Keith…?”

“Open your eyes, sweetheart.”

Lance does, and they’re wide, and his mouth drops open, slightly, and for a moment he just stares, frozen, at the stage and the lights and the set, the familiar set, as the dim light casts shadows onto his face. The orchestra’s tuning note reaches its satisfying peak, harmonizing as one sound, and Keith’s full attention is on the lines of Lance’s face, the set of his jaw, the curves of his cheekbones.

“Merry Christmas,” he says quietly.

Before he can say anything else, before Lance can say anything else, the familiar sound of pointe shoes tapping delicately across the stage steals Keith’s attention. He turns his eyes to the stage, watching the dancers strut on the stage, and — stops.

He leans forward, squinting.

What?

Keith is…very familiar with the Nutcracker. He’s grown up alongside Lance’s family since he was eight years old. He’s been to more recitals than he can count. He’s been dragged to more performances than he can ever remember. Lance has lived and breathed and loved ballet his whole damn life, for the entire time Keith has known him, and that love bled well outside of the studio, has lasted even after he aged out of the program last year. Keith knows how the Nutcracker begins, and nothing about the program said this one was supposed to be any different.

Half of the dancers walking onstage are significantly shorter than they should be.

Now he knows damn well that there are kids in the Nutcracker. The main character is a kid. That’s the whole deal.

But there is not one adult on that stage right now. Hell, not even a teenager.

Keith looks down at the ticket — Feuilles Brillant Academy. He looks back at the stage. He looks at the other audience members — lots and lots of people with camcorders. And other small children.

Keith sinks into his chair, head in his hands.

His dumb ass bough a ticket to a children’s ballet recital.

Lord above.

“Lance, I am so sorry,” he whispers, “I was so caught up in the ticket being in budget I didn’t bother actually, like, looking deeper into things, this is totally — Lance?”

Keith leans forward in alarm, hands immediately falling on Lance’s knee, on his back. His shoulders shake and his hands are pressed to his eyes.

“Shit, babe, I’m sorry,” Keith says desperately, embarrassment replaced with panic. Everything feels like it’s crashing down around him, as dramatic as that is. He’d been so excited for this. Now it’s a whole mess. “I didn’t mean to — fuck things up, shit, we can leave.”

Lance shakes his head. Blindly, he reaches over the grasps Keith’s hand, holding tightly. His own hand is damp from his tears.

“No, no, it’s — perfect,” he whispers, voice hoarse. “I —”

His chin trembles, and more tears spill over his cheeks. As the music swells along to the climax of the first dance, Lance lifts the armrest separating their seats, half crawling over Keith until his head is tucked in the crook of Keith’s neck, arms folded between their chests, hands clutching at the fabric of his sweater. His voice is wet with tears and soaked in an emotion Keith can’t quite name, an almost — relief.

“It’s been so long. I didn’t want to — I thought I wouldn’t be able to do this again. I wouldn’t let myself think about it.”

Keith lets a huge, relieved exhale, sagging forward. He wraps himself more comfortably around Lance’s frame, squeezing him back, pressing a lingering kiss to his temple.

Growing up has been…hard. For the both of them.

They’d been told by everyone who knew them that they were being stupid and reckless. Keith has been promised that they won’t last more than two years by almost every grownup he’s ever known. Even his own brother had sighed his trepidation when Keith told him, stubborn and bold-faced, that he was moving in with Lance, that they were going to start their lives together the second they pulled off their caps and gowns, that they were ready for the next step. That they were eighteen and ready to face the world.

“Sacrifices,” Shiro had warned, “are going to be half your life now. It’s not that I think you can’t, Keith. I just. There’s a reason people don’t move in with their highschool sweetheart they summer after they graduate. Katy Perry wrote a whole song about it. It’s a banger.”

Keith hates it when his brother is right, and this time he was right about so many things in consecutive order. Living on your own is hard. Learning to live with someone else is harder. Doing it in a city far away from home, while balancing school and work and rent and groceries, is the hardest.

“I miss dance,” Lance croaks, and Keith closes his eyes and breathes deeply and holds Lance tighter.

He knows Lance misses dance. He knows that he hasn’t so much as listened to a ballet since they moved to New York, unless it’s in the dead of night, and he thinks Keith is asleep, and he puts in his headphones and moves their furniture as silently as he can to the edges of their tiny ass studio apartment and laces up his falling-to-pieces pointe shoes and dances like the very act of it is tearing him apart, and cries the whole time. And then stashes his shoes in the bottom of his gym bag and crawls back into bed and pretends again in the morning that he left his pointes back in Arizona. And Keith looks away and lets him because school is already twenty thousand a year and in no shape or form can they afford that and money to rent a studio.

But Keith can give him this. For a little bit, maybe, even if it’s little kids with handmade costumes pirouetting across a stage.

“I know, bluebell.”

Lance exhales, shaky, breath ghosting across Keith’s collarbones, and finally turns back towards the stage, keeping tucked under Keith’s chin. The kids dancing as the Snow Queen’s ladies-in-waiting are — three years old, maybe. At most four. They keep twirling right into each other like clumsy little bumblebees. It’s maybe the cutest thing Keith has ever seen in his entire life, and what’s better is the tiny smile that graces Lance’s face, despite the tears, growing bigger every time one of them wobbles back up to their feet and prances on, oblivious.

They watch the rest of the play in silence, Lance hands entwining with his sometime around the Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy and holding fast. They stand and clap as loudly as the gathered parents, louder even, at curtain call, as each kid jumps and twirls across the stage to thrown roses and cheering. It’s adorable.

They’re among the first to walk out, because the majority of the crowd surges towards backstage to collect their kid, so the walk is blessedly unrushed. They take their time, observing the pictures of grinning ballerinas that line the walls and numerous awards on endless shelves. Keith is filled with a deep and strong longing, a strange feeling of coming home — years of waiting on plastic chairs for Lance to finish solo practice when they were thirteen, fourteen, fifteen. Of taking his boots off at the door and quietly sneaking in the back of the studio, ducking away from other dancers’ boring stares, to watch Lance shine under the studio lights, reflected a thousand times by mirrored walls. Of the smell of lemon cleaner and polished hardwood floors and satin.

He notices a poster on the wall, among dozens of drawings and pictures of intricate sets, and freezes.

“Lance,” he says, tilting his head, “look.”

At the end of a hallway, right next to a door, is a hand-painted banner, reading: WE’LL MISS YOU, MISS RAULA! HAPPY RETIREMENT!

He squeezes Lance’s hand. “I bet they’re looking for a replacement.”

Lance stares at the poster for a long time. “You think?”

“I think it wouldn’t hurt to shoot them an e-mail.”

Smiling, Lance stops them in the hallway, puts his hands on Keith’s shoulders, stands on his tiptoes, and kisses him, long and sweet and loving.

“I’m already in a pretty tight spot now,” he murmurs, still standing so close to Keith and smelling so sweet that he has trouble focusing on his words, “‘cause this is already kind of the best Christmas gift ever. If that ends up being true I’m never topping you again.”

Keith laughs, suddenly, not expecting the turn, and Lance grins, pulling Keith down to him and kissing him again. It’s less of a kiss and more of a press of smiles, a clack of teeth, a shared laugh.

“I love you, Lance. Merry Christmas. I will be the Gift Giving King forever.”

“Shut up, goober.” He lifts Keith’s arm, tucking himself under it as they walk back out into the snowy December night. “I love you too.”

———

based on this post (third slide)

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hoshibatake · 6 months ago

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Sunflower Live - Prologue

AV room

Subaru: Wakuwaku, wakuwaku…♪

Hokuto: Akehoshi, stop bustling about. There’s fragile equipment in here. If you break anything by kicking it, we’ll be in trouble.

Subaru: But I’m just so excited! Watching something on a screen this giant makes me feel like we’re in a movie theatre!

Subaru: Oh! How about we go to the movie theatre with Trickstar and Anzu soon? Recently they even have places that do practical effects*!

(*TN: Like 4DX, where the seats move and air is blown in your face.)

Mao: The movies, huh〜? I’ve been so busy with student council work lately, that I haven’t had time to go. That might be great.

Makoto: I’ll go hunt for coupons online! We might be able to find some great deals for tickets〜♪

Hokuto: You guys… You all sure are carefree, given the fact that we’re supposed to be holding an evaluation meeting right now.

Subaru: Sorry, sorry.

Subaru: We’re here to watch the recording and reflect on the “Summer Live”, where Eve utterly defeated us, after all.

Subaru: We did evaluate right after the concert too, but we had to keep it short because it was late at night. Let’s really dig into it today!

Hokuto: Right. Thanks for joining our evaluation meeting, Anzu. I’m sure you’ll be able to give us some pointers, especially because you didn’t produce us this time.

Hokuto: Although, it’s not like I’m exactly happy about having to put our blunders on display like this…

Hokuto: “Chin up”? Yes, you’re right. We can’t afford to stop moving forward. Thanks, Anzu.

Subaru: Hey〜! It’s not fair if you’re the only one who gets to chat with Anzu! She produces all of us, you know? C’mon, Anzu, chat with me♪

Mao: Hey now, Subaru. Don’t pull her arm. You’re scaring her. Don’t get all up in girls’ faces like that.

Makoto: I’m a little envious, though. I could never do anything as brazen as that.

Subaru: Why not? You should chat with Anzu too, Ukki. Come on, join us, join us〜

Hokuto: That’s enough. I’m staring the video playback. It’d be humiliating if we use up all our time in the AV room by just chatting.

Hokuto: No more talking. Focus your attention on the video.

Makoto: …Eve really is something.

Makoto: I thought this during the concert as well, but now I’m watching the footage back, I can really tell how polished their performance is.

Hokuto: Indeed. The Summer Live was a joint concert between Trickstar and Eve, but most of the audience was enraptured by Eve.

Hokuto: We rehearsed our performance according to Eve’s instructions. Despite that, we didn’t really stand out at all. Though, it’s not like we were being completely ignored, either.

Makoto: I guess to the fans who were gathered there, we looked more like Eve’s backup dancers, or something?

Hokuto: Right. You mentioned that Eve had gathered a large audience by advertising a lot…

Hokuto: …but coordinating the concert with the release timing of a game that Eden featured in was a dirty trick.

Makoto: Yeah. It made us realize how important it is to have a proper sales strategy.

Makoto: But thanks to that, a lot more people than we had expected came to watch us at the Summer Live.

Makoto: The audience consisted mostly of Eve fans, but some of those fans have actually become Trickstar fans as well.

Makoto: We may have been completely defeated by Eve, but I don’t think it was all bad.

Subaru: I agree, I agree〜! Dancing and singing together with Eve was lots of fun! I wonder if we can do it again, sometime?

Hokuto: I doubt it. It seems that the student council president wants us to go up against Adam instead. There’s a good chance that Adam will be our next opponent.

Mao: You say “opponent”, but… It might be another joint live, like we did with Eve, so I don’t think we should get too carried away.

Hokuto: Plus, they said the members of Adam aren’t as friendly as those of Eve.

Hokuto: Although, I wouldn’t exactly call Eve “friendly” either, so we should probably keep our guard up.

Hokuto: Anyway, we’re not making plans to fight Adam right now. We’re reflecting on our encounter with Eve. Leaving any minutiae aside for the time being…

Hokuto: I think our biggest weak point is the fact that we don’t have nearly as much experience doing live performances as Eve does.

Hokuto: I think we should get up on the stage as much as possible and gain some valuable experience.

Mao: That’s easier said than done. It’s the summer break, after all. It’s not like they’re organizing a lot of concerts right now.

Makoto: If we’re not hung up on it being a DreFes, there might be some events we can apply for on the school socials. I’ll go check whether there are any promising jobs available.

Hokuto: Thanks… Summer has already started, though. Even if there would be lots of summer events going on, I feel the application deadlines for those would be long past by now.

Makoto: Hmm… Oh! What about this one? One of their participants bailed, so they’re looking for an emergency replacement!

Hokuto: “Sunflower live”…? It’ll be held at a beach nearby.

Hokuto: That’s pretty sudden, though… I wonder what kind of reason they had to bail at the last minute. But at least it’s a stroke of luck for us.

Hokuto: Yuuki, could you fill out the application for us?

Makoto: Of cou--

Mao: H-hey! Wait a minute!

Hokuto: What’s wrong, Isara? Is there some kind of problem?

Mao: You could say that… Agh〜! It’s just-- I really don’t know how to put this delicately, but Trickstar is flat-broke right now.

Hokuto: Right… We haven’t been able to participate in many of the internal DreFes’. In other words, we haven’t been able to save up Yumenosaki currency.

Makoto: Oh, right. And to make things worse, we’ve been using up a lot of our money in order to perform at events outside of the academy and at other schools, so we’ve been digging into our savings.

Subaru: Hmm? What’s up, Anzu? You’re saying not to worry, because you can make our costumes for us?

Hokuto: We appreciate the thought, but fabric and other materials still cost money.

Hokuto: I’m afraid we’ll have to pass on the Sunflower Live. We should focus on earning some money right now.

Makoto: I agree. Without Yumenosaki currency, we can’t make costumes. Or build a stage, for that matter.

Mao: Yup. It’s too bad we’ll have to miss out, but let’s focus on earning money, so we won’t miss the next chance we get.

Subaru: Wait…!

Subaru: Why are you all just deciding this without me? The next chance? If we keep putting it off, the summer will be over before we know it!

Subaru: I want us to perform live again before the summer ends!

Subaru: Wouldn’t it bother you too if the only memories we’ll have of this summer are those of that painful Summer Live? It would bother me!

Subaru: Summer concerts are supposed to be fun and sparkly! Leaving things on a sour note like this would be a waste!

Subaru: …No, wait. We did also gain a lot from the Summer Live, so it’s not like all those memories are bad, but…

Subaru: …if we leave it at this, I feel like I’ll just be thinking about Eve every summer from now on…

Subaru: That’s why I don’t want to leave it like this! I want to make some fun summer memories with all of you!

Mao: …Yeah. I know all too well how you feel. I’m frustrated too. I want to make some fun memories during a live concert with you guys, too.

Mao: But we have to face reality. We can’t hold a live concert if we don’t have any money…

Mao: Even if we would all start doing odd jobs around the school right now, we wouldn’t be able to save up enough before the event starts.

Makoto: Hmm〜 Isara-kun, I have a question. Would it be possible for the student council to lend us some money?

Mao: There is a precedent for that, so I don’t think it’s impossible, per se. I’ve got student council work to do after this. Do you want me to ask about it while I’m at it?

Makoto: Would you do that? The page about the Sunflower Live also mentioned that they’re still looking for people who want to set up booths, too…

Makoto: …so if we sell a bunch of merchandise on the day of the concert, I think we’ll have a good chance of being able to pay off the loan.

Mao: Understood. I’ll go ask the president about all of that, then.

Mao: Alright, see you guys later! Better keep your fingers and toes crossed it’s all gonna work out〜♪

Next chapter

#ensemble stars #story translation #sunflower live #trickstar #mao isara #hokuto hidaka #makoto yuuki #subaru akehoshi #anzu

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badgrammerlieshere · 11 months ago

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Someday

because I couldn't come to terms with what had happened to them and needed to get this out of me as fast as possible.

This is set 5 years after the end of season 3.....

The brush strokes against the horse's body were soothing, it was something she had always found almost meditative. Brush Brush Brush. The process was almost a symphony at this point. Brush Brush Brush. Sara hadn't been working at Hans stable for very long. Only for the last 2 years, after school and her own graduation had passed she found herself stuck. Nothing to do, no prospects. She wasn't dumb by any means she was just lost. Simon was off coasting the world with Willhim spending their summer somewhere warm based on the postcards she had received from Italy. Felice was preparing for the next stage in her life. A prestigious culinary school in America, and that left her home alone. Luckily an advertisement had been called to her in the morning paper and since then she hasn't looked back.

“Sara, could you come back to the office for a moment?” a voice called to her from the back of the stables. The voice belonged to Hans. The owner, her boss, and at the moment one of her closest friends. Hans was a kind man, old and short. He loved horses as much as she did, something that was apparent from the start. Usually, a level-headed person the franticness with which he was moving things in his office felt more than offputting.

“Ah, Sara” Hans outstretched his hands in a beckoning motion reaching for her shoulders.”I've good news very good news. One might say the best.” His eyes held more excitement than she had ever seen before

“Which is?” she asked

“We have quite the guest coming today, I need you to make sure every horse is looking their best, no mistakes.” Hans quickly let go of her shoulders with a pat. His body was a dancer walking around the room putting away any messes and papers that were out of place.

“A guest?” she questioned the farm often had guests. Mostly rich folk looking to buy, or new money trying to flaunt their wealth with the buying of a horse. All in her opinion were idiots. A guest of this caliber however must have been someone big. Never had she seen Hans get so worked up.

“Yes, yes, now hurry it up They are here soon enough” Hans shooed her out of his office handing her a small broom before she left. After a few hours had passed she heard it. With the sudden approach of cars, looking out a small window she saw two very expensive vehicles. The usual rich types. From the door stepped a woman who looked like a heaven on a platter. Long legs flawless skin. She oozed radiance. From the other side of the car stepped a man. Curly dark hair. Striking blue eyes that haunted her memory from time to time. Her posture was tenser than anyone she had ever known. August had just stepped out of the car.

“I see you've noticed our guests. Can you believe it, the king has come to look for a horse at my shop” Hans came to her side also trying to look through the window. She tried plastering on her most believable smile, attempting to hide the panic that coursed through her veins.

“How about you go and get the Annbell out, she's the calmest one.”

“Of course”

The process of getting the horse out was walled from her mind. Too busy thinking about what would happen if he saw her. It had been 5 years. A long time, and yet not quite long enough for her. She walked into the barn the backs of the couple faced her as Hans expressed his gratitude at their arrival

“Ah here we are, this is one of our finest mares.” Hans reached for the reigns that were in her hands which easily were taken away as august looked at her for the first time. From her standpoint, it looked as though the air had been sucked from his body. The woman standing next to him reached forward towards the horse.

“Oh, she's just beautiful! How perfect!” Her manicured hands clasped together giddy to be near the animal. “Oh August isn't she lovely” The woman was now reaching for the reigns that were in Hans's hand. Looking back toward August for confirmation, but he hadn't stopped looking at her.

“Yes, she's perfect.” His gaze was unwavering.

“How about we get you saddled up?” Hans smiled at the young woman, and she had to admit her eagerness was endearing in a way. Like that of a child. Walking away from the groups found herself a spot against the wall. There was no point in standing there unless she was needed. Why put herself through the burning of his eyes when she could avoid them?

She leaned against the wall watching them as August watched her. A game of looking that was becoming more annoying by the second. Before he began to walk towards her. The staring she could handle but the thought of a conversation made her palms start to sweat.

“Hello” His voice was deeper than she remembered, smoother in the way his mouth formed his vowels. She kept her eyes on the ground. Realizing he wouldn't be getting a repose he moved towards her spot and let his body rest against the wall next to her

He had the same smell. That was the first thing she noticed. That rich encompassing smell that often lingered on her clothes after she left. The only difference was that it was stronger now. Wasnt diluted by the water she often caught him filling into the bottle. He didn't need to resort to that now. He was going to be king. A king could buy as many lavish collages as he wanted, there was no fear of the money going dry. With him standing so close it felt as though she couldn't breathe. The last time they had spoken. Actually spoken to one another, she was sure she'd broken his heart. That memory flickered through her mind sometimes. His dejected eyes. Once so happy to look at her were red with tears. The way he had tried to reach for her when he first saw her. So eager to have her close even if it was just for a moment. She never wanted to make anyone feel that way again. She could feel his gaze on her head. Willing her to look at him. She stared straight ahead. Afraid that if she looked up that memory would no longer be a flicker but a burning picture in her mind.

“She's pretty.” The words had fallen out of her mouth before she could stop them. They were true, however. The woman who had accompanied him was beautiful. She had walked in with such elegance it wasn't hard to see why Augst had chosen her. He was always attracted to the richer things in life. Her elegance was however nowhere to be found as she attempted to month the horse.

“I suppose.” August's reply was dry, it was obvious he would rather talk about anything else than his companion.

“Where did you meet?” Her speech felt slowed like she was trying to make sure this was really happening.

“Nowhere. This is our third outing, the cameras will be here in a moment. Take some pictures, then take some more. It's very logistical.” His tone had reached its typical professional level it often sounded like on the TV and only then did she look up. He had abandoned looking at her face and it gave her a moment to take his in. Still skinny, eyes now seemed to hold more weight under them. A few wrinkles here and there that showed the years that had passed between them. He took a deep breath before looking down at her. His eyes creased in a small smile.

“You look well, I hope you are” His eyes seemed to jump everywhere on her face trying to take everything in all at once. She looked the same, she was certain of that, but the way he looked at her made her think she was someone different. Someone worthy of a second look.

“She doesn't see me. Not the way you do.” His words registered slowly in her head. She could feel the warmth of his shoulder more than ever, along with the slow inching of his pinky finger towards her hand. God she wished he would stop looking at her like that.

“Sara!” Hans's voice broke through the moment. “Come over here, help Mrs Andersson get to a trot” As she walked towards the horse she couldn't help a look back. August had resumed his tense position and had now plastered an almost cartoonish smile onto his face. From the corner of her eye, she saw a flash. The cameras had arrived. Logistical he had said and he wasn't kidding this moment felt as clinical as that word.

It continued like that for an hour she would walk the horse in circles, the people taking photos and moving others, as they saw fit. August and the girl together, August and the girl separate, leaning on the wall, with the horse. It never ended. Until suddenly they were done. Cameras were packed, people went to their cars, and Sara was given the reigns to take the horse back into its stall. Taking one last look behind her as August led the young woman he was with out of the barn towards the cars. He was done here too. Gotten his photos, and now he had bigger things to do. She almost couldn't believe she had seen him. August Horn of Årnäs, well not of Årnäs anymore but still. It didn't quite feel real.

Brush Brush Brush back to the regular meditative motions away from thoughts of him. Brush Brush Brush. Away from thinking of them.

“It never passed.”

Her hand stopped its path mid-motion.

“Excuse me” She turned and there he was. Standing in that ridiculous suit that cost more than the shoes she had on her feet.

“You said it would, and it didn't. Which honestly was a greater pain in itself. I wanted to forget everything about you.”

Augu-” She had moved towards him trying to push him back through the door

“No, please Sara. Please let me say this because I don't think I'll ever get another chance.” He reached his hands toward her. Sliding his hands around her waist, gently squeezing as if making sure she wasn't a figment of his imagination.

“You were right when you said I didn't see you, but I've spent every day trying. I've looked back on who we were a million times. I spent so long trying to achieve the crown it was all I could see, but when I had it….it didn't feel the same as having you look at me and actually know who I was.” His hand enveloped the side of her face, tracing the freckles that had appeared from time in the sun willing them into his memory. He closed his eyes, leaning his head against her own. Brushing the tip of his nose against hers.

“I'm not asking you to say anything back, I just needed you to know.” Sara felt August's body unwind as he finished his sentence, the tension that covered his arms vanished as he wrapped himself around her. They stood like this for a moment and with a sharp inhale he was gone from her body again. The warmth he had wrapped her in vanished, and he passed her one last look before she left the room. She stood there for a while longer trying to memorize the places his hands had touched. How rough they had felt against her face.

Hans entered the room as she stood motionless.”Nice folks.” His words made her snap out of her stupor.

“Oh yeah… definitely..” The brushing resumed again. Forget him her mind screamed.

“The man left this and said it was for you. A friend of yours?” Hans had flashed a small business card at her, a number engraved on the back.

She could feel the smile beginning to form on her face. August would never let her forget him. It wasn't his nature

“Maybe one day.”

#sara eriksson #sara and august #august horn #sara x august

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frenchieee · 5 months ago

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sources of light

(A Gray/Haze confession one-shot! One of them is drunk for the first part so feel free to skip if you aren’t comfy 🫶🏻. Hope you enjoy!)

Gray fumbled for his keys-how did they always manage to bury themselves at the bottom of his bag? Right, that’s what was flustering him at the present. It definitely couldn’t be Haze, who somehow looked better in Gray’s jacket than he ever had. He snuck a quick glance at Haze, who was staring at the sky in amazement, moonlight reflected in his eyes.

“The moon is so cool. She makes everything silver and pretty,” Haze was somewhere between a sigh and a sing-song. His foot caught on an uneven brick, sending him crashing to the ground. Gray dropped his bag with a thud, reaching towards Haze. He’d somehow caught himself with one hand, grinning up at Gray. Haze’s grin was one of Gray’s favorite sights in the world-it was the only sunshine that didn’t hurt to look at.

“Professional dancer, bitch,” Haze slurred slightly. Gray rolled his eyes with a smile, turning back to the door.

Speckles of moonlight shone through a fluffy cover of cloud, casting an odd harmony of silver and shadow throughout the sitting room. Gray softly shut the door behind him, heading to the cabinet for a spare box of matches. While this was a usual level of light for him, Haze would likely appreciate a candle. He plunked it on the end table, taking note of Haze’s sprawled form. Sleep was a likely outcome, given the state Gray found him in. Gray placed a small trash can and pair of water bottles near Haze, the sound making him roll over. Upon seeing Gray, his face lit up.

“Should you be inclined, please throw up in there,” Gray tapped the can. Haze nodded, patting the cushions near him with pleading eyes. Sure, he could sit. It was probably preferable to a drunk Haze having run of his apartment. He settled down, earning a satisfied smile from Haze.

“You’re so pretty.”

It was so quiet Gray almost missed it, but he nearly choked. Pretty? Him? Haze was pretty, although the words Gray would use were more akin to ‘radiant.’ Gray was…fine, mostly.

“Thank you, Haze. I think you’re the pretty one,” it was a bit forward, but it felt right, like exchanging gifts.

“We’re both pretty!” Haze shot back, sitting up with considerable effort. The fog in his eyes melted into unmistakable sincerity as he continued.

“Your hair is golden and shiny and you have a really nice smile and I’ve only seen your eyes once but WOW! They’re pretty! So there! You’re pretty.” Gray blinked a few times behind his sunglasses, the breath knocked from his lungs.

Nobody ever complimented his eyes. Even while discussing his appearance, they were always a downside. Faces dropped a little the first time people saw them. It had taken years of effort to be okay with his eyes, to wear his sunglasses as a badge of honor and not an advertisement of his flaws.

“That’s…the nicest anyone’s ever been about my appearance. Thank you, Haze. You are truly kind.” Haze might not remember this, but Gray could never forget it. Haze nodded vigorously.

“It’s true! We’re both pretty and kind! You let me in your house!” Haze erupted into laughter, a sound so infectious Gray couldn’t help but join in. When the room settled back into silence, Haze rolled into the cushions.

“Night, Haze.”

“G’night, Gray.”

“Gray?” Gray was nearly out of the room when Haze piped up again.

“Hm?”

“Can I kiss you when I’m not drunk?”

Gray said a silent prayer of thanks that Haze couldn’t see his face, which was somewhere between a fish gasping for air and a bug-eyed frog. It would never happen, but there was no telling how Haze would react to that in his current state. Might as well answer in the affirmative. It would just be something for the two to laugh about tomorrow while Gray choked down disappointment.

“If you still want to,” Gray chuckled, proud of how calm his voice sounded.

“I’ll leave a note for not drunk me!” Haze slapped the cushions a few times, presumably looking for his phone.

“Remind me to kiss Gray in the morning!”

“What time should I remind you?” A tinny voice rang out.

“I said the morning.”

Gray padded down the hall as Haze continued to argue with his phone. Upon reaching the bedroom, Gray slipped off his sunglasses, gasping a little as he shut the door. Wow. As he drifted off, Haze’s compliments played on an internal melody.

Gray slipped on his sunglasses before leaving the bedroom. Ordinarily, he kept his home dim enough to not need them, but he’d left the curtains open for Haze’s sake. The apartment was sure to be baked in sunlight. Peculiar. The place was still dark. Gray poked his glasses in his shirt pocket, scanning the room for Gray.

“G’morning, Gray!” Haze emerged from the bathroom hall, megawatt grin glowing in the darkness.

“Morning, Haze. I apologize if I drew the curtains-I know how dark my place can be.”

Haze frowned for a few seconds before realization seemed to dawn on him.

“Oh! No, I shut them. Open at night, closed during the day, right?”

A smile curled over Gray’s lips at the simple gesture.

“I do. Thank you. I can light a candle if you wish.”

“I kind of like it, actually. Plus, I get to see your pretty eyes,” Haze giggled. Okay. He remembered. At least he didn’t seem embarrassed.

“Truthfully, I don’t think you could have caught me off guard more,” Gray chuckled nervously. Haze took a step towards Gray, eyes full of that sincerity present last night when complimenting him.

“Not even asking to kiss you?”

There was no hiding his facial expression this time. All Gray could do was hope he didn’t look too moronic.

“Y-you-“

“I meant every word of it, Gray. You’re pretty like the moon and I don’t just think you have pretty eyes. I think they’re the most beautiful eyes ever and I’m so lucky to have seen them. I’d be even luckier to kiss you, if you want me to.”

All Gray could do was nod frantically. Haze giggled again, pulling him in for a warm embrace. Sunshine radiated through Gray’s body, pulsating from his lips and hands, which were currently wrapped in Haze’s hair. The sunshine was strong as ever as the two broke, grinning at each other in a rather moronic fashion.

Gray had a hunch the sunshine would remain for a long, long time.

#just dance fanfic #just dance fandom #just dance game #jd gray #jd haze #gray x haze #my first jd fic not featuring the fruity five #haze: can i kiss you? gray: gay panic #took a break from the sad stuff for some fluf

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posttexasstressdisorder · 3 months ago

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Donald Trump’s Dancing Shows Just How Crazy He’s Become

FRIGHT NIGHT

Trump’s weird dancing episode may finally bring his mental decline center stage for voters—and reveal him as the worst possible choice for president.

David Rothkopf

Updated Oct. 16, 2024 4:50PM EDT Published Oct. 16, 2024 11:35AM EDT

Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty/Reuters

This is the week Donald Trump’s fitness for office finally became an issue.

It wasn’t, as we all have been shocked to discover, the treason or the rape or the 34 felony counts or the impeachments that did it though. In fact, the moment Trump crossed the line from extremist maniac to extremist maniac who appears to need round-the-clock care, soft foods and an early bedtime, was not caused by any of his traditional acts of recklessness or mayhem.

Perversely, in fact, what ultimately did him in may turn out to have been the fact that most Americans didn’t think he could get any worse as a dancer than he has been all his adult life…and then he did.

And oh, the way he did it.

‘Morning Joe’ Baffled by Trump’s ‘Bizarre’ Rally DancingBEATS MEDan Ladden-Hall

This is a guy, after all, who was known as a true pioneer of the white man’s overbite back in his Studio 54 days. More recently, his Grandpa Used to Know How to Dance Dance, was even more cringe but candidly, I’m not that sure we’d be much more comfortable seeing Joe Biden or Mitch McConnell dance these days either.

But as we discovered this week, his skills have, almost impossibly, faded further. Appearing at a rally in Pennsylvania on Monday, he resembled nothing so much as one of those battery-operated dancing Santas you might see on the counter at your local hardware store at holiday time. But one whose battery was nearly dead. Who twitched and stared blankly into space.

While such rogue electronic toys have been a scary standard in movies since Close Encounters of the Third Kind, this was something even more chilling. Trump’s spasmodic rocking and peculiar arm movements were the centerpiece of one of the weirdest incidents in modern American political history. As the Washington Post described it in a Tuesday headline, “Trump sways and bops to music in a bizarre town hall episode.”

By now, thanks to countless Internet memes and social media commentary, or an airing of the full nearly 40 minute incident on Nicolle Wallace’s MSNBC show Deadline: White House, you have probably seen what happened.

Unaccountably, in the middle of what was advertised as a town hall, Trump briefly stopped the program to enable care to be given to two attendees who had medical incidents and then decided he didn’t want to change things up a bit, “Let’s not do any more questions. Let’s just listen to music. Let’s make into a music (sic). Who the hell wants to hear questions, right?”

And for the next 39 minutes as an eclectic variety of hits played over the arena loudspeakers (many apparently without necessary permissions from the artists who recorded them), Trump did his failing battery operated Santa dance. His team encouraged him to take more questions via teleprompter. But he ignored them.

The moderator for the evening, South Dakota governor and noted pet murderer Kristi Noem tried to wrap up the event. But Trump ignored her too. And when she could not persuade him to wrap up, she tried half-heartedly to dance along with him. Hands to the left. Hands to the right. Repeat. She looked pained, like she was hoping someone would put her out of her misery. And for most of this awkward display, Trump stared into the middle distance, alone in a strange and distant world we can only imagine.

It was too strange to ignore. It went on for too long. His flacks tried to spin it as a “lovefest.” But no one who saw it will ever be able to wipe from their memory banks the image of the addled and lost former president unaware of his surroundings or it seemed, just what a candidate for president is supposed to do at a rally.

The optics were made worse by the fact that the next day, Wednesday, Trump cancelled not one but two scheduled media appearances without explanation. Rumors started to spread that even his staff was freaked out by this lengthiest of Trump’s increasingly frequent meltdowns.

Then, he did an event at the Chicago Economic Club at which he could not maintain a thought for all but a few questions and proved unable to answer even the most basic questions much to the consternation of the moderator, Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwaite who was forced to fact-check and challenge the loopy ex-president throughout.

Republican presidential nominee former U.S. President Donald Trump dances during a town hall campaign event in Oaks, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 14, 2024.

David Muse/Reuters

It was precisely the kind of thing that resonated with a quote that also garnered headlines this past week, from Bob Woodward’s new book War. In it, General Mark Milley, who served as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff under Trump was revealed to have described Trump as “fascist to the core” and as the greatest individual threat America faces.

It is fair to state that Americans have never seen such a public meltdown of a presidential candidate nor one that coincided with such increasingly erratic behavior. Trump’s niece, Mary Trump, a trained psychologist said that he was “decompensating in front of our eyes.” Other experts concurred.

Trump’s opponent in the presidential contest, Vice President Kamala Harris, embraced inventive tactics to drive home the message about how unsuited Trump is to be our commander-in-chief. She actually showed video of Trump’s threats to turn the army on the American people at a rally. In her remarks, she called him, without fear of contradiction, “increasingly unstable,” “unhinged” “a huge risk for America” and out for “unchecked power.”

Her campaign also acidly tweeted an account of the event with just the statement, “Hope he’s okay.”

Because of this confluence of events, although no doubt informed by the cumulative impact outlandish and destructive Trump behavior over the years, it seemed very possible that the seemingly comic episode on the stage in Oaks, Pennsylvania, might actually leave voters and the media concerned about Trump’s fitness to serve in a way that his leading an effort to overthrow the government or his alleged serial sex crimes had not.

The next three weeks will tell. But in my view, Trump’s mental decline will become an ever bigger issue during that time and in the end, will be cited by many voters as the reason they ultimately felt they could not vote for him.

It makes sense. A president can unilaterally launch a nuclear strike that could essentially destroy all humanity. He or she can do it in a matter of just a few minutes. And it is almost impossible to stop him. The fact that Trump is not someone you would trust to drive your kids to school, who seems more likely to be the subject of a silver alert than he is to handle a national security red alert, is a pretty compelling reason to cast your ballot for the experienced, capable, high-character, sound judgement of Vice President Harris.

If all that pans out that way, you may look back on the bizarre dancing episode as an unexpected turning point for the addled president. Indeed, it may be said that in the end the October surprise was that Trump himself revealed himself to be a candidate who would be surprised to find it was actually October.

An earlier version of this story said Kristi Noem is the governor of Idaho. She is the governor of South Dakota.

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chiskz · 2 years ago

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▶️ [슈취타] EP.5 SUGA with CHICHI

♡ 일본의 위대한 사랑의 함정에 빠졌다! / 게으른 고양이 vs 작은 호랑이 ! ♡ caught in the trap of Japan's great love! / lazy cat vs small tiger!

-> Suchwita (슈취타) is a variety web series starring SUGA (BTS). The series features him chatting with guests while enjoying alcohol.

《♡》 Chichi's SUCHWITA Profile:

Name: CHICHI

choreographer, main dancer and oldest member of Stray Kids

"Who wouldn't take the opportunity to get drunk for free in good company?"

♡ A charming choreographer straight from Japan. ♡ Don't be fooled by her deep voice and muscles!

《♡》 [ xxxx ] - editors' note

Chichi enters the room bowing to the staff. She stops in front of Yoongi.

"Ah, should I bow? Or shall we shake hands?"

"Ah, no, no, I should... I should... should I?" They both laugh and bow their heads briefly.

"Of course, I didn't come empty-handed!" She bows with her head a second time, handing Yoongi the pink box.

"Pink, I could have expected that!" He laughs and opens it carefully to reveal the contents - a bottle of Hibiki (name is censored) Whiskey. "You really want to get drunk tonight!"

"I rarely get the chance!" She laughs loudly and they finally sit down. "And it's actually a collector's edition, you can't drink it!" [ whiskey, not for consumption! don't touch, just look! ]

"We've met before, so you seem relaxed!" [ big meeting of two introverts! ]

"Yes, that's true. But we shouldn't talk about the circumstances of our first meeting."

"That's right... we really should take this to the grave." [ great mystery shrouded in an even greater mystery??? ]

"Should we get rid of the honorifics on this occasion?"

"Did we ever use them at all?"

Yoongi looks straight at the camera as Chichi laughs in the background. [ SUGA's thoughts: she keeps exposing us ]

"This is my second tiger visitor in such a short time." [ first was HOSHI! ]

"Yeah, but Hoshi and I are different tigers. He's... a real tiger and I'm just... a big cat?"

"No, I wouldn't say that. I've watched a lot of your shows, a few before you came here. You're both wild on stage, but you seem really dangerous. You are a tiger."

Chichi covers her mouth with her hands, editors draw her blushes. [ is that the dangerous tiger??? ]

"I also listened to your solo digital album, Member Branding. Your voice is as impressive as they say."

"Aren't you praising me too much?" Chichi laughs, trying to hide her embarrassment. "But wow, you really did some research."

"Of course, who do you think I am?"

"A lazy cat?" [ CHICHI, straight to the point! ]

"So quests bring the drinks?"

Yoongi blinks in surprise.

"She really wants to drink now!"

Chichi laughs and pulls out the second bottle of whiskey today, Hibiki Whiskey - "regular" edition.

"For you, so you're not sorry you can't drink the one I bought you as a gift!"

"Wow, now I can not touch it at peace!"

"This is my favorite whiskey. I got it as a gift from a good friend in Japan once. It's a light whiskey, with mild dried fruit, a bit spicy, but everything is in balance. I brought a flavor with toffee in it. It's good when you want to relax and not necessarily get drunk, so I thought it would be a good start."

"If this was an advertisement for this product, I would definitely buy it!"

"Oh, thank you! I don't have many opportunities to drink alcohol for fun, so sometimes I just drink something light, mostly with Minho."

"With Lee Know... with Minho. Yes, we know each other!" [ Lee Know, one of BTS' past dancers! ]

"Of course you know him. He was a good dancer, wasn't he?"

"That's right, I remember that. He was really good."

Chichi leans her elbow on the back of the chair.

"So he's even better now!" [ tiger mom attacks! ]

"You're studying."

"Yeah, law. I'll probably be graduating by the time this episode airs."

"Then Chichi from the future, congratulations!" [ lawyer and choreographer! ] "What made you do this? I'm not saying it's bad or super weird, but most idols like to live in the moment. College takes a lot of time, and you didn't seem to have much time with your activities."

"I understand, I had fears too. I didn't think I could do it, but I thought to myself... The future is very fragile and uncertain. I want to be an idol as long as possible and enjoy it as much as possible, but the time will come when I will leave the stage. I want then to know that I still have something to do. It required a lot of self-denial and a lot of sacrifice from me. But I wasn't alone, I had my members."

"Yes, BTS members are also my strength. I understand that perfectly." [ two cats deeply in love with their members ]

"It's often forgotten, but you're the oldest in the group, right?"

"Yeah! I forget that a lot too. I don't feel it at all unless Seungmin painfully reminds me."

"You've lived your whole life in Japan. I also know that you're really popular there."

"Thank you! You're really praising me a lot today, I'll think you want something from me!"

"It's not like that, really! I was just wondering why you didn't decide to pursue a career there."

"Ah, a career in Japan? I don't know, now you've made me think about it... J-pop is a good genre of music, but I feel like it's still more entertainment-oriented, which of course is great! But still, I was more intrigued by the k-pop groups' system. There's a lot more place to display here, more opportunities to create something like a little spectacle every time."

"Speaking of the spectacle, you also have an acting career on your account!"

"I wouldn't call it that!" Chichi immediately waves her hands in embarrassment. "But yes, I'm also interested in acting and I managed to get a role in some interesting productions. I think that playing different roles has always interested me, mostly I showed it on stage. But I'm not thinking about switching to acting completely, it's more my hobby."

"I also looked up some articles on the internet to get a better point of view from your fans. I can say for sure that you have become a great support for them. I don't know how to put it correctly, but according to many, you don't fit the idol stereotype. When people think of an idol, they don't have someone like you in mind."

"Ah yes, I've seen that opinion too. I'm not trying to stand out by force, although most people think that's what I do. Why a male group if I'm a woman? Why did I force myself to go somewhere I didn't belong in? But honestly, I don't care about such opinions. I fell in love with Stray Kids and their music, and music is universal for everyone, I wish everyone would think in those terms, in terms like Does this make me happy? Do I like it? Do I love these people? Do I feel good doing this? Instead of thinking Is this for women? Is this for men? What will other people think? Others will not live your life. They will judge you, give you an opinion and forget about you. You are the person who will be with you all your life, not them. Do everything to make you feel good."

"I know J-HOPE shares your view of the world."

"Yes, I think that's why we immediately understood each other and became friends. Please look forward to our collaboration with DIOR!"

《♡》

_______________________

♡taglist: @g4m3girl , @smh-anon

#oc-ommunity #kpop addition #stray kids 9th member #kpop added member #kpop oc #stray kids oc #idol oc #stray kids female oc #stray kids added member #stray kids addition #stray kids female addition #kpop fake member #kpop fake idol #stray kids imagines #bts imagines

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quinloki · 1 year ago

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Can we have Crocodile during Business Hours? Please?

Sir Crocodile

Role: Co-Owner (mostly handles finances and advertising)

Time in the “business”: 20+ years (15 with this Club)

Description (Attire): Out of all the owners, Sir Crocodile is the one who looks like The Owner. Those canon warlord/mafia boss vibes with the big coats, ascots, vest and jacket combinations are pretty true to what he wears during business hours. Custom leather shoes and a cigar that’s probably as expensive as most people’s rent. Not a hair out of place. Three rings on his right hand, and a… slightly less intimidating hook on his left hand.

Description (vibe): Crocodile can be seen talking with investors and high spending regulars, but few others. He’ll let anyone approach him – it wouldn’t do to scare off a new client, and keeping everyone comfortable keeps the budget smoother. He doesn’t have as much “why are you even breathing my air” arrogance plastered on his face, The Club has provided a much less stressful life than he had canonically.

There’s no layers upon layers of plans to overthrow any desert kingdoms, and he and Vivi even get along well in this AU. They’re not besties, but she’s not trying to behead him either.

Crocodile will play host from time to time, especially if there’s an amusing or lucrative reason for him to indulge someone.

Addons: He is an amazing dancer, and it’s about the only add-on he willingly offers. Crocodile’s more of you-massage-him kind of person than someone who massages other people.

Tag line: “Praise the hosts, bring your criticisms to me.”

Host Club AU Head Canon Event

#quin muses #One Piece Host Club AU #x reader #reader insert #September head canon event #Sir Crocodile

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skyviewadvertising02 · 3 months ago

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adriansvetozaroff · 6 months ago

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Space Travelers, Sheeku and Lamarr.

Perhaps this is a shot from the very first season of their show "Outlanders", or even their first departure from Coruscant.

Lamarr Garhai is a male Neimoidian who was a scientist and an expert in the field of ecology. In his youth, he dreamed of becoming an explorer and going on expeditions to other worlds, but early on he learned about anti-neimoidian sentiments in the galaxy and chose to build a career on his home planet. He performed well in his position at the Ministry of Environmental Protection, but in the last year of the Clone War he began to have some problems with his thought processes, probably due to stress - it became difficult for him to summarize data, he had to spend more and more time and nerves on familiar tasks. He was among those assessing the damage caused to Cato-Neimoidia by the terroristic attacks at the end of the Clone War, however, the new, human authorities did not really take their conclusions and projects into account. Then he made a difficult decision to leave his homeland, unable to bear the sight of what had become of it. For a while Lamarr had easier and that's why boring job related to air quality assessment on Coruscant. In the capital he did not advertise his origin, struggled with memories and periodically drank, until one evening he met Sheeku at the Outlander club.

Lamarr brought a protocol droid TC-17 with him to the capital because he thought he would have to work with representatives of a variety of species, but in fact it turned out that 90 percent of those with whom he had to communicate were human. The droid's body has traditional patterns made from bioluminescent resin from trees native to Cato-Neimoidia.This was the artwork of Lamarr himself, a reminder of his abandoned job and homeland. In this regard, TC-17 considers himself a masterpiece of art and has a rather arrogant personality.

Sheeku DeBrek is a male Duros who was employed in the family business along with his sister Sheerua, who is slightly younger than him. Their parents have a small company that rents out shuttles on Coruscant. They wanted their offspring to get to know the business from the inside, so the job of young duros with the company started as a technicians and then they were supposed to become pilots, before being able to manage and hire employees for these positions. However, Sheeku was not overly inspired by the family business, unlike Sheerua. He did not want to live a hectic life in the eternal pursuit of money in the capital, where it is difficult to survive, doing something uninteresting to him, and would prefer to travel a lot, at last return to the homeland of his species and one day settle in an orbital city. To fulfill his dream, Sheeku tried to become a professional dancer and get the opportunity to tour, and also hoped that he could prove himself during performances in Duros cities and, if he was noticed, join one of the local show ballets and stay there. He has talent and love for dancing since childhood, but he began to master this art seriously too late, so his body was not sufficiently prepared for such stress and he had to give up trying and return to the plans that his family had prepared for him. While relaxing after the training flight at the Outlander club, he met Lamarr.

An astromech droid H8-B2, or simply B2, always helped Sheeku in his work. He is a responsible hard worker who always wants to be useful. H8-B2 and TC-17 don't like each other too much.

Sheeku and Lamarr quickly developed a mutual interest, which allowed them to become close despite some cultural differences. They together came up with the idea of traveling around the galaxy, visiting various interesting planets, and hosting their own travel show on HoloNet. In this matter, they greatly helped each other - one managed to fulfill a dream and monetize this business, and the other overcame his mental trauma being able to feel that life goes on.

#art #star wars #duros #neimoidian #droid #star wars oc #sw outlanders

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allthebrazilianpolitics · 8 months ago

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Madonna receives "motion of censure" from Brazilian politicians

The House Social Security and Family Committee approved a motion of censure against pop stars Madonna, Anitta, and Pablo Vittar for their participation in a large concert held at Copacabana Beach on May 4.

Madonna’s free concert in Rio was the last of The Celebration Tour, the 12th tour of her career. The show was sponsored by Itaú, Brazil’s largest private bank, and heavily advertised. It also aired on network TV.

Brazilian singers Anitta and Pablo Vittar were invited on stage. During Madonna’s 1990 hit ‘Vogue,’ Anitta held up placards rating the performance of the dancers. This role was performed by different people during the tour, such as Salma Hayek during Madonna’s concert in Mexico City.

Pablo Vittar danced with Madonna to her 2000 hit ‘Music,’ while both wore yellow shirts similar to those used by Brazil’s national football team.

Madonna’s concert in Rio became a target for the far-right’s endless cultural war, especially on social media. Far-right lawmakers argued in their motion that the concert “vilified (…) the faith of the majority of the Brazilian population” and had a “strong erotic tone.”

#brazil #brazilian politics #politics #madonna #music #anitta #pablo vittar #arts #mod nise da silveira #image description in alt

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kcyars99 · 5 months ago

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The 2024 MTV Video Music Awards are on Wednesday night!

let’s be clear, since debuting in 1984(that’s 40 years ago!) The video music awards (or vmas for short) had some outrageous and iconic moments that we will never forget. Here’s a list from each year

1980s

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Radio City Music Hall, site of 12 VMAs, including the first

1984: at the first MTV Video Music Awards in 1984, Madonna performed her hit "Like a Virgin" wearing a combination bustier/wedding gown, including her trademark "Boy Toy" belt. During the performance, she rolled around on the floor, revealing lace stockings and a garter.[7] Cyndi Lauper spoke in "Exorcist-esque gibberish" to explain the VMA rules right before winning the Best Female video for "Girls Just Want to Have Fun".[8] David Bowie, the Beatles and director Richard Lester were rewarded with the first ever Video Vanguard Awards for their work in pioneering the music video. The Cars' "You Might Think" won the very first video of the year, beating out Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and Herbie Hancock's "Rockit".[9]

1987: At the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards, Peter Gabriel won ten awards, including the Video Vanguard Award and Video of the Year for his video "Sledgehammer", holding the VMA record for most Moonmen in a single night.

1988: At the 1988 MTV Video Music Awards, Michael Jackson appeared for the first time. A pre-recorded live performance of Bad was shown."[10] He was also awarded the Video Vanguard Award,[11] which was later renamed in his honor.

1989: Comedian Andrew Dice Clays appeared at the 1989 Video Music Awards to promote his new movie, The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, earning a "lifetime ban" from the network when he introduced Cher with some of his recently notorious nursery rhymes that contained vulgar language and references.[12] After performing with Tom Petty, Guns N' Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin was assaulted by Mötley Crüe lead singer Vince Neil, leading to a verbal battle between Neil and Guns N' Roses lead singer Axl Rose.[13]

Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora turned out a stripped-down acoustic performance of the Bon Jovi hits "Wanted Dead or Alive and "Livin' on a Prayer", and in the process possibly provided the inspirational spark for MTV Unplugged.[14][15]

Paula Abdul was nominated for six awards, picking up four wins. She performed a seven-minute medley of her singles "Straight Up", "Cold Hearted", and "Forever Your Girl".[14]

When Madonna won the Viewer's Choice Award (sponsored by Pepsi-Cola) for her "Like a Prayer" video, she thanked Pepsi-Cola in her acceptance speech "for causing so much controversy". Pepsi-Cola had paid Madonna $5 million to appear in a commercial that would predominantly feature the world premiere of "Like a Prayer"; the commercial, titled "Make a Wish", depicted Madonna drinking Pepsi and watching a home video of her eighth birthday. The tone that the commercial sought to convey sharply contrasted with the music video. When Pepsi executives saw the video, they yanked the advertisement after only two airings, in an attempt to dissociate themselves from Madonna.[16] She also gave one of the most memorable performances of her hit "Express Yourself", as a preview of what would become her Blond Ambition World Tour.[14]

1990s

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Nirvana performing at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards

1990: at the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards, Madonna performed her single "Vogue", which featured Madonna and her backup dancers dressed in an 18th-century French theme, with Madonna bearing great resemblance to Marie Antoinette. The performance consisted of both a dramatic historical reinterpretation of "Vogue" as well as her dramatically becorseted breasts.[17]

1991: during the award show the MTV Video Vanguard Award was renamed to the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award from then on, in honor of his contributions to the culture of music videos[18] by changing them from a mere promotional tool featuring musicians playing instruments and singing, to a "short film" with a storyline. His video "Thriller" influenced and changed music videos into what it is like today.[19]

A conflict between Poison's Bret Michaels and C.C. DeVille culminated in a fistfight at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards. DeVille was fired and replaced by Pennsylvanian guitarist Richie Kotzen.[20] Paul Reubens had his first public appearance, during the opening montage, following an arrest for lewd-conduct earlier that year. Taking the stage in costume as Pee-wee Herman, he received a standing ovation, after which he asked the audience, "Heard any good jokes lately?".[21] After his appearance, Van Halen made their television debut, performing "Poundcake". Metallica was another highlight of the performances with "Enter Sandman".

Prince and The New Power Generation performed their sexually charged song "Gett Off" on a Caligula-esque set, with Prince dressed in a yellow mesh outfit which infamously exposed his buttocks. His trousers were parodied numerous times throughout the following year, on the sketch comedy TV series In Living Color, and even at the following year's VMAs by radio shock jock Howard Stern. It also marked the final TV appearance of Kiss with Eric Carr prior to Carr's death in November 1991.

1992: in the 1992 show, MTV requested Nirvana perform "Smells Like Teen Spirit", while the band itself had indicated it preferred to play new songs "Rape Me" and "tourette's". Network executives continued to push for "Teen Spirit" but finally offered the band a choice to play either "Teen Spirit" or "Lithium", which the band appeared to accept. At the performance, Nirvana began to play, and Kurt Cobain played the first few chords of the song, "Rape Me", much to the horror of MTV execs, before continuing their regular performance of "Lithium". Near the end of the song, frustrated that his amplifier had stopped functioning, bassist Krist Novoselic decided to toss his bass into the air for dramatic effect. He misjudged the landing, and the bass ended up bouncing off of his forehead, forcing him to stumble off the stage in a daze.[22]

Backstage and before the show, Guns N' Roses vocalist Axl Rose challenged Cobain to a fight after he, his wife, Hole lead singer Courtney Love, and Nirvana bandmates Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl egged him on. At the end of Nirvana's performance, while Cobain was trashing the band's equipment, Dave Grohl ran to the microphone and shouted "Hi, Axl! Where's Axl?" repeatedly. Guns N' Roses' video for the ballad "November Rain" won the MTV Video Music Award for best cinematography. During the show, the band performed "November Rain" with singer Elton John. Because of the dispute Rose had with Cobain, moments before the "November Rain" performance, Cobain spat on the keys of what he thought was Axl's piano. Cobain later revealed that he was shocked to see Elton John play on the piano he had spat on.[10] During the commercial break, the Alien 3 Pepsi commercial was shown.

Radio host Howard Stern appeared as Fartman, Stern's radio superhero, wearing a buttocks-exposing costume obviously inspired by Prince's outfit from the previous year. Stern was a presenter for best hard rock/metal performance with actor Luke Perry (after several other celebrities turned him down).

1993: at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards, Madonna opened the show in a gender-bending performance of her song "Bye Bye Baby", in which Madonna and her two backup singers, dressed in tuxedos and top hats, danced with women in corsets in a choreographed, highly sexual routine.[23]

RuPaul and Milton Berle, who had conflicts backstage, presented an award together. When Berle touched RuPaul's breasts, RuPaul ad-libbed the line "So you used to wear gowns, but now you're wearing diapers."[23]

Rapper Snoop Dogg presented the Best R&B Video award with Dr. Dre and George Clinton. At the time, Snoop was wanted in connection with the week-old drive-by murder of an L.A. gang member.[23]

Janet Jackson closed the show with her performance of "That's the Way Love Goes" & "If".

1994: at the 1994 MTV Video Music Awards on September 8, months after a profanity-laced appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman, Madonna was announced to present the award for Best Video of the Year. She came out, arm-in-arm with an unannounced David Letterman, to a wild ovation. At the microphone, Letterman told her "I'll be in the car. Watch your language", and left.[24]

Recently betrothed couple Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley received a standing ovation as they walked on stage hand-in-hand. After turning to the audience and proclaiming, "And just think, nobody thought this would last", Jackson grabbed Presley and kissed her.[25][26]

1995: at the 1995 MTV Video Music Awards, Hole perform the song "Violet" from their major-label debut album Live Through This. This was one of the first major televised performances given by frontwoman Courtney Love following the death of her husband Kurt Cobain and the death of her band's bassist Kristen Pfaff in 1994. Before beginning the song, Love dedicated the performance to her husband and different people in the entertainment industry who had recently died: "This is for Kurt, and Kristen, and River, and Joe, and today Joni Abbott, this is for you." Abbott worked in the Talent Relations department at MTV and had recently committed suicide.[27] The song ended with Love throwing her guitar, knocking the microphone stand into the crowd and pushing over speaker-boxes with bandmate Eric Erlandson before exiting the stage.[28] Love also caused a stir when she interrupted a post-ceremony interview with Kurt Loder and Madonna by throwing her make-up compacts at the singer as they broadcast outside the awards venue.[29]

Michael Jackson performed for over 15 minutes to a medley of his main songs, including "Scream", and danced his signature moves, including the robot, moonwalk and the relatively unknown "Bankhead Bounce". While Slash accompanied Jackson and played guitar on "Black or White and the beginning of Billie Jean".[30] This performance was voted by the public as the Best VMA Pop Performance and Most Iconic VMA Performance in 2011 with more than half the votes.[31][32]

TLC was the big winner of the night won four awards, including "Viewer's Choice", "Best Group Video", and "Video of the Year" (Waterfalls).

1996: at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards, the four original members of Van Halen received 20-second standing ovation when they made their first public appearance together since their break-up in 1985.

Several weeks later, the public learned that Van Halen would not reunite with Roth. Roth released a statement apologizing to fans, stating that he was an unwitting participant in a publicity stunt to sell more copies of the greatest hits album, Best Of Vol. 1, and that he had been led to believe that he was rejoining Van Halen. The following day, Eddie and Alex Van Halen released a statement, stating that they had been honest with Roth, and never led him to believe that he had been re-hired.[citation needed]

During British band Oasis' performance at the show, lead vocalist Liam Gallagher made rude gestures at brother Noel as he was playing his guitar solo, then spat beer all over the stage before storming off.[33]

Alanis Morissette performed "Your House", a hidden track from her bestseller album "Jagged Little Pill".

The recently reunited Kiss closed the show with a special concert aired from the Brooklyn Bridge.[34]

Tupac Shakur made his final public appearance before his murder.

1997: at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards, Pat Smear announced that he was leaving Foo Fighters halfway through their performance and presented his replacement, Franz Stahl, who had been a member of the band Scream with Dave Grohl.[35]

The Spice Girls, who won the best dance video award to the for their music video "Wannabe", who wore a black strap on their left arms as a sign of grief because of Diana, Princess of Wales's death prior to the event.

While accepting the MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist Video that year for "Sleep to Dream", Fiona Apple appealed to her audience not to be enamored of celebrity culture. She proclaimed, "this world is bullshit" and quoted Maya Angelou, saying "go with yourself". Though her comments were generally greeted with cheers and applause at the awards ceremony, the media backlash was huge. Some considered her remarks to be hypocritical, however she was unapologetic: "When I have something to say, I'll say it."[36][37][38]

Shock-rocker Marilyn Manson performed the song "The Beautiful People", as the grand finale, and the video for this song was nominated for "Best Rock Video" and "Best Special Effects", marking one of the most significant performances for the band.[39]

1998: at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards, during the original broadcast of the show, a commercial faded in the Nine Inch Nails NIN logo on a black screen while playing a combination of music that started as a solo piano piece and morphed into an electronic/industrial beat (which would later found out to be the songs "La Mer" and "Into the Void", which share many melodic components and can be considered variations on a theme) and ended with Trent Reznor screaming "Tried to save myself, but myself kept slipping away" and the word "ninetynine" in the trademark NIN reversed-N font. This was only shown once during the original broadcast, was edited out of all repeats.

Geri Halliwell attended the event, one of her first public appearances since she left the Spice Girls.[40]

At the red carpet, actress Rose McGowan was wearing a see-through dress, no bra, and a thong,[41] while Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston poked fun at their rumored rift by wearing lookalike chocolate brown dresses by Vera Wang. In an attempt to outdo each other, the singers tore off pieces of their dresses to reveal minidresses then staged a faux catfight that left the audience in disbelief. "People thought Whitney and I had some kind of beef", explained Carey.[42]

1999: Lil' Kim showed up at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards with an entire breast exposed and only a small pasty over the nipple. Kim's outfit became even more controversial later when she appeared on stage with former Supremes member Diana Ross and Mary J. Blige to present the Best Hip-Hop Video award, and Ross reached over, cupped her hand under Kim's exposed breast and jiggled it while Kim laughed.[43]

During the following acceptance speech by the Beastie Boys, group member Ad-Rock addressed the instances of rape and sexual assault that occurred in the crowd at the recent Woodstock 1999 concert event. He pleaded to other musicians in the room to make a change in the way they treat fans at concerts; to pledge to talk with promoters and security to ensure "the safety of all the girls and the women who come to our shows".[44]

Afeni Shakur and Voletta Wallace, the mothers of the recently deceased Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G., met for the first time at the ceremony.[45]

Britney Spears made her debut appearance on the show, performing her single "...Baby One More Time" and later introducing NSYNC for "Tearin' Up My Heart".

Ricky Martin took the stage of the ceremony to perform his singles "She's All I Ever Had" and "Livin' la Vida Loca".[46]

TLC won Best Group Video for "No Scrubs", receiving a standing ovation from the audience and artists. For the second year in a row, the Backstreet Boys took the Viewer's Choice Award for "I Want It That Way", a song they performed during the broadcast.

Before presenting the final award, a group of drag queens paid tribute to Madonna wearing her most iconic outfits with a medley of her hit songs. Madonna herself then appeared onstage and remarked, "All I have to say is that it takes a real man to fill my shoes." She then introduced Paul McCartney, who presented the Video of the Year to "some guy called Laurence Hill" (Lauryn Hill).

2000s

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Kanye West taking the microphone from Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards

2000: at the 2000 Video Music Awards, Limp Bizkit won the award for Best Rock Video. As vocalist Fred Durst spoke, Rage Against the Machine bassist Tim Commerford climbed onto the scaffolding of the set. Durst egged Commerford on, saying "Stage dive, dude" and "Take a dive", finally ending his speech with "and [Commerford]'s a pussy 'cause he won't jump". Commerford and his bodyguard were sentenced to a night in jail. RATM vocalist Zack de la Rocha reportedly left the awards after Commerford's stunt. RATM guitarist Tom Morello recalled that Commerford related his plan to the rest of the band before the show, and that both de la Rocha and Morello advised him against it immediately after Bizkit was presented the award.[47][48]

Eminem performed his two singles "The Real Slim Shady" and "The Way I Am". The performance began with Eminem's single "The Real Slim Shady" which started outside the Radio City Music Hall on 6th Avenue, Manhattan. Eminem continued his performance into the arena and was followed by a hundred Eminem 'clones' wearing white tank tops and baggy jeans with bleached blonde hair.[49]

Napster co-founder Shawn Fanning co-introduced Britney Spears. Fanning wore a Metallica T-shirt, much to the displeasure of Metallica drummer and anti-Napster advocate Lars Ulrich. Britney performed "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" and her newest smash hit "Oops!... I Did It Again", which gained media attention mostly due to Spears's ripping off a tuxedo to reveal nude-colored performance attire. At performance's end, VMA co-host Marlon Wayans proclaimed, "Girl done went from 'The Mickey Mouse Club' to the strip club."[50]

At the end of Christina Aguilera's performance, Durst walked onstage and performed part of his band's song "Livin' It Up" with Aguilera. After eliciting charged reactions from his fans, Durst stated: "I already told you guys before, I did it all for the nookie, man."[51] The feud died weeks later. Aguilera denied Durst's statement, saying Durst "got no nookie".[52]

Aguilera and Spears disproved rumors of a rivalry when they came onstage, holding hands, and introduced Whitney Houston. Houston, who had been targeted by the media for erratic behavior, canceled appearances, drug use rumors and being busted for carrying marijuana at a Hawaii airport just a few months prior, came out to a standing ovation and introduced an award to Eminem with husband Bobby Brown, who was recently let out from jail. Houston revealed more erratic behavior, jumping up and down saying "free" in reference to Brown's recent jail release. Aaliyah would win two MTV Video Music Awards for Best Female Video and Best Video from a Film for "Try Again".[citation needed]

2001: at the 2001 Video Music Awards, Britney Spears performed her single, "I'm a Slave 4 U". while dancing in a very revealing outfit, the performance featured the singer in a cage with a tiger and briefly dancing with a real albino snake on her shoulders. The inclusion of a tiger and a snake in the performance bought a great deal of criticism from PETA.[50][53]

U2 had been set to perform a medley including "Elevation", "Beautiful Day" and "Stuck in a Moment You Can't Get Out Of". The riser they were performing on lost power and MTV had to cut to several minutes of promos while everything was set up again. They lost power again and finally the band was lowered to the ground and performed without the riser. After the performance, lead singer Bono explained that MTV "forgot to pay the electricity bill".[54]

Michael Jackson made a surprise appearance at the end of NSYNC's performance of "Pop". Surrounded by members of the group, Jackson performed some of his trademark dance moves to Justin Timberlake's beatboxing.[54]

The show paid tribute to the R&B singer/actress Aaliyah, who was supposed to present an award but died two weeks before from a plane crash. U2 paid tribute to punk-rock singer Joey Ramone, who died of lymphoma 4 months before.[55]

2002: in 2002, the VMAs took place on Michael Jackson's birthday, and as a tribute, Britney Spears introduced him saying she "considered him the artist of the millennium". Jackson said, "When I was a little boy growing up in Indiana if someone told me I'd be getting 'the artist of the millennium award,' I'd have never believed it."[56] A year later, at the 2003 VMAs, this was parodied by presenters Fred Durst and Jack Black, with Durst stating that Black was the "funniest man alive".[50][57]

The Hives and The Vines both performed on the night after the sudden garage rock revival during the year, with rumors spreading around that it was to be 'battle of the bands' performance. Once The Hives performed, singer Howlin' Pelle Almqvist said to the crowd "I know you want us to play more, but that's all the time we have for so you can turn off [your TV] now",[58] just before The Vines came on the bigger stage to perform their hit single "Get Free", ultimately destroying their set after their performance.

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog appeared and had a confrontation with Eminem. Eminem had a confrontation with Moby, who had called the rapper's music misogynistic and homophobic. By that time, there were multiple boos from the crowd. The Best Male Video award was given to Eminem right after the confrontation with Triumph and Moby, and when Eminem went to stage to pick up the award, in the middle of his speech, he challenged Moby to fight if he continued to boo him.[59]

Justin Timberlake made his solo performance debut on the show, performing his single "Like I Love You".

Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas, the surviving members of the top-selling R&B trio TLC, made their first television appearance since the death of bandmate Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes.[59]

Shakira took the stage of the VMAs to perform her single "Objection (Tango)".

Christina Aguilera shocked the audience by wearing a skimpy outfit and heavy makeup, with a dirty look removing her good-girl image.[60] She was part of an awkward moment at the awards when presenting the Best Male Video Award to Eminem, who had insulted her in 2000.[61]

Canadian artist Avril Lavigne won her first award ever as Best New Artist in a Video, getting the record for the youngest artist so far to win this award at the age of 17. She kicked off the 2002 VMAs with a "Complicated" / "Sk8er Boi" pre-show performance and together with Lisa Marie Presley they gave the award for Best Female Video to Pink who was under the effects of alcohol during her acceptance speech.[59]

Axl Rose unveiled the new lineup of New Guns N' Roses. The band's set was the show's finale, and although the performance was meant to be kept a secret, some New York radio outlets announced the performance earlier in the day. The band played a set consisting of "Welcome to the Jungle", "Madagascar", and "Paradise City".[62]

2003: at the 2003 Video Music Awards, Madonna played a groom kissing her brides, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, on stage. The gender role-reversal and lesbian theme instantly made front-page headlines. The three singers performed a medley of her classic hit, "Like a Virgin", and her then latest release, "Hollywood", with a guest rap by Missy Elliott. A quick camera cut to the reaction of Justin Timberlake, who dated Spears until 2002, also gained media attention.[63] The design resembled Madonna's performance of "Like a Virgin" at the 1984 VMAs: the same wedding cake set, wedding dresses and "Boy Toy" belt worn by Madonna 19 years ago now adorned Aguilera and Spears.[64]

Beyoncé opened her performance by descending upside down from the rafters at Radio City Music Hall. Knowles performed "Baby Boy" as she was gently lowered to the stage, dressed in harem pants. She was later joined by Jay-Z as they performed their duet "Crazy in Love". The performance marked Knowles' solo debut.[65]

2004: the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards were held at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. This was the first time the awards show was held outside of New York City and Los Angeles. It was the first video music awards to not have a host.[66]

2005: at the 2005 show, Green Day returned, taking home the Best Rock Video, Best Group Video, and Video of the Year Moonmen for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", which they performed during the broadcast. They also took the Viewer's Choice award for "American Idiot".

The 2005 VMAs were the first to have a performance in Spanish, when Shakira performed her single "La Tortura" with Alejandro Sanz. It was also the first time that Spanish-language videos were nominated at the awards.[67]

Also at the show, while introducing the reggaeton spot, Fat Joe made a disparaging comment about G-Unit: "I'd like to tell the people home I feel so safe tonight with all this police protection courtesy of G-Unit...". Later in the show, after G-Unit's performance, 50 Cent directed profanities at Fat Joe which were edited out before the shows airing although some broadcasts played the uncensored version of the show.[68] Reggaeton artists Daddy Yankee, Tego Calderón and Don Omar performed.

Actress Eva Longoria caused a stir when she appeared barely dressed to introduce Mariah Carey.[69] Gwen Stefani and Snoop Dogg won best dressed female and male and received prizes to donate to a charity of their choice.[70]

Kelly Clarkson performed a high energy version of her song "Since U Been Gone" barefoot wearing a graphic belly top and capri pants. Clarkson moved through the crowd during the performance, which culminated in the singer getting sprayed with water. By the end of the song, she and a portion of the audience were soaking wet.[71] R. Kelly performed his rap opera, "Trapped in the Closet".[67]

Animated duo Beavis and Butt-head appeared in several Viewer's Choice award skits, saying to "Vote to put Beavis and Butt-head back on MTV!".[72] Rather belatedly, the TV show returned to MTV in 2011.

2006: Justin Timberlake opened the 2006 Video Music Awards performing his singles "My Love" and "SexyBack". The awards were distributed evenly widespread all genres, as hip-hop, pop and rock artists alike all won Moonmen. 2006 was also the first time that viewers voted for all the performer's categories (Video of the Year, Best Male Video, Best Group Video, among others, except professional categories).[73]

When Panic! at the Disco won Video of the Year for "I Write Sins Not Tragedies", a man calling himself Sixx jumped onstage claiming that MTV had denied him his own TV show.[73] Hosted by Jack Black, there were also performances by Shakira with Wyclef Jean, Beyoncé, Christina Aguilera and The Killers.

2007: the 2007 Video Music Awards was opened by Britney Spears performing her comeback single "Gimme More". To many, Spears failed to live up to the pre-show hype. She wore black sequined lingerie and put in less energy than her previous performances.[74][75] The performance was called "career crippling".[43]

Kid Rock and Tommy Lee were involved in an altercation during Alicia Keys's performance. Lee was sitting with magician Criss Angel when the two went to visit Diddy, who was sitting close to Kid Rock. Kid Rock allegedly punched Tommy Lee in the face. The two were broken up, and both were escorted from the resort. Angel was removed a short time later.[76]

2008: the 2008 Video Music Awards were opened by Britney Spears which welcomed everybody to the 25-year anniversary of the Video Music Awards. Barbadian singer Rihanna opened the show with her song "Disturbia" in a very revealing black leather outfit. After 16 nominations, Britney Spears finally won her first VMA, taking Best Female Video, Best Pop Video, and Video of the Year for "Piece of Me", considered as Spears' comeback.[citation needed]

Host Russell Brand commented on Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, begging the audience to vote for him. Brand called President George W. Bush a "retarded cowboy" and claimed Bush "wouldn't be trusted with a pair of scissors in Britain".[77]

Russell Brand also made comments on the Jonas Brothers for wearing purity rings. Brand later faced criticism for his swipes at the trio. He confirmed his apology at the MTV Video Music Awards 2009 by saying "I upset the Jonas Brothers last year, I had to say sorry to them and they forgave me. They had to, they're Christians." During her introduction of T.I. and Rihanna's performance, Jordin Sparks, who also wears a purity ring, defended the boy-band by saying "It's not bad to wear a promise ring because not everybody, guy or girl, wants to be a slut." Sparks was in turn criticized for implying that those who do not wear purity rings or do not abstain are promiscuous.[78]

2009: at the 2009 Video Music Awards, singer-songwriter Taylor Swift won Best Female video for "You Belong with Me". During her acceptance speech, rapper Kanye West unexpectedly showed up on stage. Taking the microphone from Swift, he announced "Yo Taylor, I'm really happy for you, and Imma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time. One of the best videos of all time!".[79][80] MTV cut away from the stage (showing Beyoncé with a shocked and disapproved look) after West gave the microphone back to Swift and giving the middle finger to the audience as they started booing him off stage, and so Swift did not finish her speech. West was removed for the rest of the show. However, when Beyoncé won Video of the Year for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)", she called Swift back on stage to "have her moment" (finishing her speech from winning Best Female Video). In an off-the-record portion of an interview the following day, President Barack Obama called West a "jackass" for his antics.[81] During a post-interview, Jay-Z admitted West was wrong to go on stage, but he thought people were overreacting to the incident.[82]

Madonna opened the show talking about her experiences with Michael Jackson. After her speech, a Michael Jackson tribute commenced, including Janet Jackson performing the duet "Scream". The show closed with a sneak preview of Michael Jackson's This Is It movie.[83]

At the show's red carpet, Colombian singer Shakira and American singer Pink attended with the same dress. Both singers took it humorously and posed together for the paparazzi.

Lady Gaga later performed her song "Paparazzi" and shocked the audience when she appeared to bleed out on stage. It was actually a contraption in her outfit.[84] Beyoncé performed her song "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" with over two dozen female dancers dancing with her.[85] Pink performed her single "Sober" while doing a trapeze act during the entire performance while singing live.

Rapper Lil Mama jumped on stage as Jay-Z and Alicia Keys performed "Empire State of Mind".[86] Lil Mama later apologized.[87] During an interview with New York Radio DJ Angie Martinez, Jay-Z said that he thought the unrehearsed move was something similar to the West and Swift incident.[87]

Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Green Day were the big winners of the night, with three awards each.[85]

2010s

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The standing inflatable KAWS moonman at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards

The redesigned moon man by Jeremy Scott at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards

2010: at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, Taylor Swift performed her song "Innocent", while Kanye West performed "Runaway" with Pusha T giving a stellar performance on the MPC2000.[88] Eminem, who performed at the show, did not receive his awards in person, as he had to leave immediately to perform with Jay Z at The Home & Home Tour in New York City the next day.[89] Additionally, will.i.am's "blackface" outfit sparked controversy among African-Americans.[90] Florence + the Machine performed "Dog Days Are Over".[91]

Lady Gaga won eight awards, including Video of the Year, Best Female Video, and Best Pop Video for "Bad Romance"; she also won Best Collaboration for "Telephone" with Beyoncé. Upon accepting her Video of the Year award, Gaga wore a dress made entirely of raw meat, which drew criticism from PETA.[92] While accepting her Video of the Year award, Lady Gaga announced the title of her next album, Born This Way, and sang the chorus of its title track and lead single. Justin Bieber won Best New Artist, making him the second youngest Canada-born artist to ever win a VMA (first being Avril Lavigne in 2002).[93]

Overall, the show grabbed 11.4 million viewers—the largest audience for an MTV Video Music Awards since 2002, and until 2011's new record.[94]

2011: the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards returned to the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, California. In the entire history of the show, this was the third time no host was scheduled, although Kevin Hart, who would receive the position a year later, delivered an opening monologue.

Lady Gaga opened the show dressed as her alter ego Joe Calderone, delivering a monologue and then performing her single "You and I" from her album Born This Way. She was joined on stage by Queen band member and guitarist Brian May.

The tribute to Britney Spears included performances by young talents, who danced to various hit singles by Spears including "...Baby One More Time" and "Till the World Ends". After the tribute, Lady Gaga went onstage to present Spears the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.[95] While accepting her award she and Gaga (dressed as her alter ego Joe Calderone) teased a kiss. Spears rejected the exchange saying, "I've done that already", referring to her liplock with Madonna at the 2003 show.[96]

During Kanye West and Jay Z's surprise performance of "Otis", a man attempted to rush the stage but was quickly taken off by security.[97]

Katy Perry and Kanye West won the Award for Best Video for a Collaborative Single. As they went onstage to receive the award, Perry made a reference to West's incident with Taylor Swift two years back. This was the first award Perry won in four years of being nominated.[98]

Prior to her performance, Beyoncé announced on the red carpet that she and husband/rapper Jay Z were expecting a child. Straight after Beyoncé finished performing her song "Love on Top", she also revealed again that she was pregnant by showing off her baby bump and rubbing it. That evening, Beyoncé set the record for the most mentions on Twitter per second (with 8,868) and helped this year's VMAs become the most-watched broadcast in MTV history, pulling in 12.4 million viewers.[99]

A tribute to late singer Amy Winehouse also took place; Russell Brand delivered a monologue on his thoughts on her, after which Tony Bennett previewed his collaboration with her for his album Duets II. Afterwards, Bruno Mars performed "Valerie" in her honor.[100]

Katy Perry won three awards including Video of the Year for "Firework", and Lady Gaga won two awards, including the new category Best Video With a Message for "Born This Way".[101]

2012: The 2012 MTV Video Music Awards aired live from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California on September 6, 2012. British boy band One Direction was the big winner of the night receiving Best New Artist, Best Pop Video, and Most Share Worthy Video. Rihanna won the Video of the Year Award for "We Found Love".

2013: For the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, MTV redesigned its moonman statue[102] for one year only due to the ceremony's being held in Brooklyn for the first time. Brooklyn-based artist KAWS used Michelin Man as inspiration to redesign the image of the renowned MTV moonman. Barclays Center, which served as the venue for the 2013 show, was decorated also by KAWS, themed around the redesigned moonman. The 2013 VMAs also marked the fourth time in the award show's history that a host had not been appointed for the annual event.[103] Lady Gaga opened the ceremony, performing her single "Applause". During the performance, Gaga changed three times on stage and gave a tribute to her past eras (The Fame, The Fame Monster and Born This Way). At the end, Gaga came on stage wearing nothing but a seashell bikini.

Miley Cyrus' performance of her song "We Can't Stop" featured the former Disney star entering the stage through a giant teddy bear wearing a one-piece bodice with a teddy bear design on it. The singer performed with a group of female backup dancers dressed as giant bears before singer Robin Thicke joins with Cyrus on stage to perform his single "Blurred Lines". Cyrus then stripped down to a nude-colored lingerie and proceeded to perform her signature twerking dance moves, simulating sex with Thicke and grabbing his crotch with a giant foam finger.[104] The unimpressed reactions of several celebrity audience members, including Rihanna and members of One Direction, also gained attention in the media.[105]

Justin Timberlake's "Mirrors" won Video of the Year, making him the first male solo artist to win this category since Eminem in 2002 with "Without Me". Timberlake also became the second artist to be honored with the Video Vanguard Award and win Video of the Year in the same night, after Peter Gabriel did it in 1987. To celebrate his Video Vanguard Award, Timberlake performed a 15-minute medley performance, which included a mini-reunion with his former band *NSYNC.[106] The set list of the most watched performance of the night[107] included hit singles from his first four solo albums, such as "Cry Me a River", "SexyBack" and "Suit & Tie".

2014: the 2014 show was held at The Forum in Inglewood, California. Miley Cyrus won Video of the Year for "Wrecking Ball" and got a young homeless man named Jesse to accept the award on her behalf. His speech was a call-to-action to help raise awareness to the homeless youth of America.[108] Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj and Jessie J opened the show.[109] Beyoncé closed the show by performing a 16-minute medley of songs from her self-titled fifth studio album. After the performance, her husband Jay Z and daughter Blue Ivy presented the Video Vanguard Award to her.[110]

2015: the 2015 show was hosted by Miley Cyrus. Fashion designer Jeremy Scott redesigned the year's "moonman", marking the second time that the statue had been transformed.[111] Taylor Swift won four awards, including Video of the Year for "Bad Blood".[112] She presented the Video Vanguard Award to Kanye West, who ended his acceptance speech by claiming that he will run for president in 2020.[113]

Nicki Minaj ended her acceptance speech for Best Hip-Hop Video by passing the show back to Cyrus, saying: "And now, back to this bitch who had a lot to say about me the other day in the press: Miley, What's good?".[114] Minaj was referring to Cyrus' comments about how she handled "Anaconda" being snubbed for a Video of the Year nomination. Cyrus appeared stunned by Minaj's remarks and replied, "We're all in this industry. We all do interviews and we all know how they manipulate shit. Nicki, congratu-fuckin-lations."[114] The camera then cut back to Minaj who seemed to mouth back the word "bitch".[114] Cyrus closed the show by performing along with a group of drag queens who participated on RuPaul's Drag Race and surprisingly released her fifth studio album Miley Cyrus and Her Dead Petz for free.[115]

2016: the 2016 show was held at the Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. Rihanna performed four times during the show, including opening and closing the ceremony. After her final performance, Rihanna was presented the Video Vanguard Award by Drake, who declared, "She's someone I've been in love with since I was 22 years old."[116] While accepting her award, Drake leaned in for a kiss that Rihanna dodged.[117] Britney Spears returned to perform at the VMAs for the first time since her heavily criticized performance at the 2007 show.[117] Kanye West gave a seven-minute long speech covering different topics, including his feud with Taylor Swift.[118]

Beyoncé performed a 16-minute medley of her album Lemonade and won eight awards, including Video of the Year for "Formation".[117][119] She became the most awarded artist in VMA history with 24 moonmen, surpassing Madonna's previous record of 20.[119] The telecast saw a drop in audience for third year in a row.[120]

2017: the 2017 show was hosted by Katy Perry. Kendrick Lamar won six awards, including Video of the Year for "Humble", becoming the first artist to have won the award for a video he co-directed, while Pink was honored with the Video Vanguard Award.[121] Jared Leto paid tribute to Chester Bennington and Chris Cornell, who both died over the past three months.[122] The music video for Taylor Swift's song "Look What You Made Me Do" premiered during the broadcast.[121] Compared to the previous year, viewership was down from 6.5 million to 5.4 million viewers, making it the lowest viewed VMAs since Nielsen started measuring the show in 1994.[123]

At the start of Fifth Harmony's performance there were five silhouettes; one of them fell off the stage, referencing former group member Camila Cabello leaving the group the previous year.[124]

Logic performed his song "1-800-273-8255" along with Alessia Cara and Khalid. Their stage was outlined with survivors of suicide loss and attempts, who wore T-shirts that had the phone number on the front and the phrase "You Are Not Alone" written on the back. During their performance, Logic gave a speech about thanking the audience for giving him a platform to talk about the issues "that mainstream media doesn't want to talk about: mental health, anxiety, suicide, depression".[125] He further added, "I don't give a damn if you're black, white, or any color in between. I don't care if you're Christian, you're Muslim, you're gay, you're straight – I am here to fight for your equality, because I believe that we are all born equal, but we are not treated equally and that is why we must fight."[125] Following the performance, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline experienced a 50% increase in calls.[125]

2018: Cardi B, the most nominated artist of the night, opened the 2018 show with a brief speech, holding a VMA like a baby.[126] While receiving one of her awards, Cardi B stated, "all the love.. it's genuine, it's beautiful, and that's something that God give me that you can't buy. B-tch."[127] Camila Cabello won Video of the Year for "Havana" and Jennifer Lopez received the Vanguard Award.[128] With Maluma among the performers as well, it marked the VMAs with the most Latin music artists present at the ceremony since the 2005 show.[129]

Before introducing Cabello's category, Madonna gave a tribute to the late Aretha Franklin. Most of the speech said the early origins of Madonna's career and was only tangentially Franklin-related,[130] which made critics describe the "bizarre" tribute as a "lengthy" anecdote about herself that involved Franklin's music.[131][132][133] Afterwards, Madonna explained that she was there to give the Video of the Year award as asked by MTV and to speak about some experience in her career with some connection with Aretha, not to make any kind of tribute.[134]

The viewership of the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards was down 9% overall and 15% in the important 18- to 49-year-old demographic group. The total viewership was 4.8 million.[135]

2019: the 2019 show was held at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. This was the first time the VMAs took place at the venue and in the state of New Jersey (it became the fifth state to host the show after New York, California, Florida and Nevada).

The show was hosted by Sebastian Maniscalco. Taylor Swift won three awards, including Video of the Year for "You Need to Calm Down".[136] She became the second artist and first female artist to have won the award for a video she co-directed, and the fourth artist to win the category twice overall.[137] Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus's "Old Town Road" won two awards, including Song of the Year.[138] Missy Elliott received the Vanguard Award introduced by Cardi B and performed a medley. The performance was heavily choreographed and the set pieces alluded to her music videos "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)", "Get Ur Freak On", and "Work It".[139][140] Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello performed their hit single "Señorita" for the first time ever in a performance characterized for its kissing tension. Lizzo performed a set featuring her singles, "Truth Hurts" and "Good as Hell". During the performance she gave a short self-empowering monologue, and featured a figurative shadow of an oversized CGI rear end.[141][139] Normani gave a performance of her song "Motivation",[142][143] that featured her doing intense gymnastic styled choreography that echoed the music video.[144][145][146] Rosalía became the first lead Spanish act to ever perform at the VMAs, performing a medley of "A Ningún Hombre", "Yo x Ti, Tu x Mi" (alongside Ozuna), and "Aute Cuture".[147][148] She also won Best Latin and Best Choreography for "Con Altura", becoming the first ever Spanish act to win a VMA, for which she was congratulated by many personalities including Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.[149]

Marc Jacobs received the inaugural MTV Fashion Trailblazer Award.[150]

2020s

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2020: The 2020 MTV Video Music Awards were held on August 30, 2020. The show was originally scheduled to take place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York City, but was moved outdoors because of security concerns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.[151] Instead, the 37th annual ceremony would "highlight the boroughs in an exciting show and return to Barclays Center in 2021".[152] For the first time in its history the VMAs were simulcast on over-the-air television on The CW, which is jointly owned by MTV parent company ViacomCBS and AT&T parent company WarnerMedia.[153]

Keke Palmer hosted the show from a VR model of the infamous Manhattan staple, Empire State Building. The Weeknd won Video of the Year for "Blinding Lights", which he also performed as the show's opener. During his speech he showed support for the Black Lives Matter movement and demanded justice for Breonna Taylor and Jacob Blake.

Lady Gaga received the first-ever (and only thus far as of 2023) Tricon Award, introduced by Bella Hadid. After giving her speech, Gaga performed a medley of her songs, including "Chromatica II"/"911", "Stupid Love" and "Rain on Me", the latter performed with Ariana Grande. Grande also won four awards, including Song of the Year and Best Collaboration.

The show was dedicated to actor Chadwick Boseman, who died less than 48 hours before the ceremony due to colon cancer.

The redesigned moonperson trophy by Kehinde Wiley at the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards

2021: The 2021 MTV Video Music Awards were held September 12, 2021, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York City, for the first time in eight years.[154] The award show also served as a celebration of MTV's 40th anniversary. An opening monologue was delivered by Madonna.[155] Artist Kehinde Wiley redesigned the year's moonperson trophy, marking the third time that the statue had been transformed and the first from an artist of African-American descent.[156][157]

Lil Nas X won three awards for "Montero (Call Me By Your Name)", including Video of the Year and Best Direction. He became the second artist and first LGBTQ+ artist to win both categories for a video they co-directed. He jokingly thanked the gay agenda in his acceptance speech.[158]

Olivia Rodrigo and Justin Bieber also received awards in big categories, winning Song of the Year and Artist of the Year respectively. BTS won three awards, winning Group of the Year for the third consecutive time, in addition to Best K-Pop and Song of Summer for "Butter".[159]

2022: Taylor Swift announced the release of her tenth studio album Midnights during her Video of the Year award acceptance speech. Swift also became the first ever artist to win Video of the Year three times.

Nicki Minaj won the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard award that night and performed a 9-minute medley of her hits including "Anaconda," "Super Bass", "Monster", "Beez in the Trap", and her newest hit "Super Freaky Girl" along with other songs. The award was presented by five members of her fan club the Barbz. In her acceptance speech, Minaj shouted out multiple people who had inspired her and people who have given her big opportunities early in her career including Madonna, Eminem, Britney Spears, Lil Wayne, Drake, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Rihanna, and more who had help boost the popularity of her 2011 hit, "Super Bass". Minaj also said that she wished musicians Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson were there to witness her.[160] She also paid respects to her father, Robert Maraj, who died in a tragic hit-and-run accident in 2021. She said she wished people took mental health more seriously. Minaj thanked the Barbz, told the audience about her son, nicknamed Papa Bear, and announced her first greatest hits album, Queen Radio Vol. 1.

There were three co-hosts in the show, LL Cool J, Minaj, and Jack Harlow.

Harlow opened the show with a performance of his single, "First Class". The performance took place on an airplane with Harlow acting as an attendant. Several celebrities were seated in the plane including Lil Nas X, Saucy Santana, Avril Lavigne, and more. The plane "landed" at the award show and mocked a red carpet interview, with Harlow saying "Ladies and Gentlemen, Fergie!". Fergie had come out onstage to perform her 2007 hit "Glamorous" which "First Class" samples, marking her first televised performance since her controversial performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the 2018 NBA All Star Game. The performance ended with Fergie and Harlow hugging.

Anitta becomes the first Brazilian singer to win the MTV Video Music Awards.

2023: NSYNC reunited for the first time in 10 years at the ceremony, to present the award for Best Pop, which was to Taylor Swift's "Anti-Hero". Swift acknowledged that she still has the 'N Sync dolls, referencing the "It's Gonna Be Me" music video, and they gave her friendship bracelets.

Shakira was awarded with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, performing a medley of her hits. She became the first South-American born artist to receive the award. Later, Shakira and Karol G won the Best Collaboration award, for "TQG", making the first time a Spanish-language video and a Latin female collaboration won the award.

Taylor Swift won Video of the Year for a second consecutive year for "Anti-Hero", making her the artist with the most wins (four) in this category.

We can’t wait to see what iconic moment happens on this year’s award ceremony.

Happy 40th anniversary vmas !

Oh and one more thing : Who do you think will take home the coveted video of the year award? Here’s the nominees:

we can't be friends - Ariana Grande

LUNCH - Billie Eilish

Paint The Town Red - Doja Cat

Houdini - Eminem

Snooze - SZA

Fortnight - Taylor Swift ft Post Malone

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