Beth Ray Writes

Tomorrow (Wednesday September 11th) is the MTV Video Music Awards, known as the VMAs. It is my favourite awards show and one I’m always happy to watch in it’s entirety. It’s legendary. The performances, the speeches, the awards. So I wanted to share some of my favourite videos and performances as to why I love the awards show so much. Let me know in the comments which are your favourite highlights. Tomorrows show has performances from Eminem, Chappel Roan, Sabrina Carpenter, Halsey and more so i’m hoping for more iconic performances like these below.

Lady Gaga ‘Paparazzi’ from the 2009 VMAs
I have to start with my favourite performance of all time at the VMAs. Gaga doing what she does best, not just singing her new single but making ART by giving us the harmonies, the live vocals, the string section, the dance routine, the mini piano interval featuring her heel playing a few notes and then finally the BLOOD. If you’ve not watched it you’ll have to give it a watch to see what I mean. For me this performance is why the VMAs is so good, it’s not just watching an artist sing their song , it’s watching them create a story and wanting you to stay and watch the whole performance.

Britney, Christina Aguilera and Madonna from the 2003 VMAS
The Queen of pop with the two pop princesses who were rivals at the time all performing together and even sharing a kiss? It’s a moment in pop culture history, which I can’t ever imagine anything similar happening now. They don’t make performances like this anymore.

Demi Lovato performing a medley in 2023
I had to include a recent performance and last years performance by Demi Lovato was my favourite. She was about to release her album “REVAMPED” which was a rework of her top hits with a rock sound and this performance reminded me how much I adore her music. She has so many hit songs and you can see how many people in the audience are a Demi fan, in particular Taylor Swift who went viral last year for her dance moves as she sang along to “Cool of the Summer”.

Madonna performing ‘Vogue’ in 1990.
She’s already featured on my list but Madonna really is the queen of the VMAs. She has so many iconic performances and her Vogue performance is one of them. This performance has the iconic dance routine, the gorgeous costumes and it’s fun and sexy. Madonna dared to be risqué in her outfits and routines before it was really accepted and it’s made watching her performance back even more enjoyable knowing how ahead of her time she was. She paved the way for more pop artists to do whatever they wanted to on that stage.

Beyonce performing ‘Love On Top’ in 2011
Every time I climb the stairs and get out of breath I think back to this performance. Beyonce performed this song in heels, jumping around singing her lungs out without breaking a sweat before announcing *SPOILER ALERT* that she was pregnant at the end of the song. She really is the epitome of motivation if Beyonce can do all of that then I can climb up them bloody stairs. Also what a way to announce to the world you’re pregnant, just go and do it at the VMAs.

Britney & N*Sync in 1999
Oh this one really made me feel nostalgic. It’s when both Britney and N*Sync were at the beginning of chart domination and it was such a moment in pop music. Again bring more performances like this one back please.

Eminem performing ‘The Real Slim Shady’ at the 2000 VMAs
I thought i’d end with the artist who is reportedly opening tomorrow show which is Eminem. This again was such a fun performance with him starting outside the venue with all of his copycats and then walking in to complete the performance. It’s giving slightly chaotic if these things were to be filmed now but it’s what makes the VMAs so much fun to watch, you never know what is going to happen next.


I’ll end the post with I did want to post plenty more performances, especially Taylor Swift’s performance of when she performed “You Belong With Me” on a New York tube however so many videos are taken down from Youtube it makes it all quite difficult. I’ll be eager to watch tomorrows awards show to see who turns up and who brings the game-changing performances tomorrow.