At this point, in the year of our lord 2018, I do wonder which demographic the VMAs are really trying to reach. Yes, everything seems targeted towards “the kids,” meaning the teenagers and 20-somethings. But then they gave the Video Vanguard Award to Jennifer Lopez, who is honestly best-appreciated by MY generation. My generation is the one who adored J.Lo, who followed her romantic disasters and knows all of her early videos by heart and we can all sing along to “Love Don’t Cost A Thing” and “Jenny From the Block” at the drop of a hat. Do the kids feel the same way about J.Lo? I kind of doubt it.
So, Jennifer arrived on the carpet with Alex Rodriguez. It actually sort of worked and it was on-brand for this year’s VMAs, which seemed to be All About Douchebros And The Women Who Love Them. Jennifer wore a Versace gown for the red carpet and she looked… fine. CB isn’t crazy about her too-blonde hair, but I think the tragedy here is that Jen’s makeup looks a bit janky. Half-way through the show, J.Lo did her big medley/dance thing. Surprise appearance by Ja Rule!
Honestly, I enjoyed it, even if I didn’t know all of those songs. Her voice seemed weak at various moments, and I guess she was trying to sing live for parts of it (yikes). Here’s Jennifer’s actual speech:
It’s fine. I’m happy for her. I guess this was for my generation? Thanks, MTV.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I’m just here for Ja Rule. He still sounds exactly the same, and looks good.
I met Ja Rule in the Atlanta airport on my way to Vegas in Fall 2001 at the height of his fame (I think one of his & JLo’s songs was #1 right at the time); ended up hanging out chatting in the airport pub for a little while with him & his friends. He was the most sweet, friendly, kind guy. Just full of warmth & humor; no arrogance at all. I’ll always have a soft spot for him and wish he’d find some success again.
I was underwhelmed by her dress. It’s beautiful and she looked beautiful, but we’ve seen it a million times. J.lo used to cause a stir on the red carpet. The green dress…that was shocking, remember!?! Lol. Now people are wearing see through clothes. But at the time, the green dress with the V to the navel was shocking!
I loved that green Versace dress on her.
She looks like a Cher impersonator at Vegas here.
And I love her but just NO. Hey at least she’s not doing the open-mouthed pose? Maybe someone finally got through to her.
I thought her performance was amazing. While I wish she would retire that wig, she is a true entertainer. I’ve seen her live once and was amazed by the amount of energy and passion she puts into her act. When she stops to catch her breath, her voice sounds great. I give her a lot of credit for singing live and not just mouthing her way through it a la Britney.
Second that, so want to make it to Vegas to see this Queen live!!!
Really hoping the white fur was fake.
HAHAHAHA….oh no. JLO does not roll like that.
I know. Which is why she’s so out of touch.
Loved it! Her singing voice has improved and she looked great. Her speech was perfect.
A-Rod give me CEO of a Successful Accounting firm vibes.
I like JLo but something about giving her this award seemed really weird to me
Her videos are not that iconic to win this award but I’m not mad. The only ones in the last years that were deserving are Britney and Beyoncé
I hope Missy Elliot receives the award next year.
@Sarah YES, Missy is iconic, can’t believe they gave this award to Justin T, Kanye and P!nk before her lol
MTV should stop giving this every year and do like they did before and giving it every few years to people that actually deserve it.
Yes x 100000000000! It’s a shame and a tragedy that Missy is undervalued. She is amazing and her videos are always groundbreaking.
Waiting For Tonight
Love Don’t Cost a Thing
Jenny From The Block
I’m Real
I would politely disagree. Block, especially will be her iconic swan song.
I get more of a Hugh Hefner vibe from A Rod. He. is. so. gross.
Maybe an accounting firm laundering money for a brothel
He does give off that creepy vibe, like an uncle that stares at you. I have no idea what she sees in him. Most of her choices in men are questionable, except Marc Anthony. They seemed to be truly in love.
I’m 27 and I love her, everyone my age loves her and knows her songs. I think she’s very relevant, they can’t give the Vanguard award to someone who hasn’t been around for two decades like JLo has.
Put me in the love it. I went looking for the channel to watch her perform.
Well deserved Jennifer. Well deserved.
Hey performance was meh for her own standards. I’ve seen her do much better. The choreo wasn’t very complicated, nor for she dance as hard. But her voice had improved. Andbshe’s 49. She looks incredible. Loved the was ARod’s face was beaming with pride. Always thought those two made sense in a crazy way.
Hey performance was meh for her own standards. I’ve seen her do much better. The choreo wasn’t very complicated, nor did she dance as hard. But her voice had improved. And she’s 49. She looks incredible. Loved the way ARod’s face was beaming with pride. Always thought those two made sense in a crazy way.
Every time they cut to the crowd, except once, they didn’t seem to know the words. That seems kinda telling. But she brought it, I thought.
And I like her even more after this speech.
Well done, lady!
She is my girl crush.
She did this because she has a new movie coming out–Maid in Manhattan 2.0 and she wants to get this new generation to come see it and literally replay the years 2001-2004.
I was a huge fan of her when I was a teenager. Now I understand the criticism my older neighboor made while I was listening to “This is me… then”.
She is definitely an entertainer and she still can dance.
She killed it, she, Beyonce and Madonna are the most disciplined and hard working women in that industry, and it pays off. Im not talking about vocals, just working and working and bettering thmselves.
She’s a good performer but her voice never did anything for me. I remember feeling that way when I was a teenager watching her videos on TRL. Beautiful woman. Amazing dancer. Decent enough actress. But she is no vocal talent. Still, she’s done enough videos and was a major MTV staple during my adolescence so I get her getting this award.
She is gorgeous 😍
As always, when I see J. Lo, I see MASSIVE EFFORT. There’s not a thing that seems spontaneous, unprogrammed. Which is both admirable–the discipline, the sheer will power–but also a bit exhausting to encounter. But, you know, good on her. She works hard for it.
Serious question. Are the VMAs even relevant anymore? I’m 28 now but remember being a teenager and going insane over watching the VMAs before going back to school as a teenager. This was the Nsync/Britney era.
I felt like it was a huge deal back then, but suddenly within the last couple years could care less. But I’m also biased due to getting older. Don’t really know what goes on in the average teenagers head anymore when it comes to these award shows lol
Ugh, since I wasn’t paid to watch it, I can’t comment. I’m okay only imagining how it went.
To add, this was also between 2000-2003 before the internet and social media wiped TV pretty much out.
So maybe the interest is there but the demographics have shifted?
I really liked how ARod behaved throughout. It was the good, dorky boyfriend – taking videos and grinning too broadly. I think this may have been the first time I actually liked him.
She’s lipsyncing, at least for part of her performance.
At 7:31 above, everyone is paying attention to Ja Rule, but if you watch JLo, the vocals come in on her singing “I’m real” a split second before she rushes the mic back to her face. She briefly dropped it after she yelled “come on”.
It seemed evident in other parts as well, but that’s the most obvious one I can point to.
Discovered today I can watch the whole show on my computer.
Jennifer Lopez cannot sing. At All. Period. Full stop.
The open mouthed pose doesn’t look sexy anyways (imo) but standing next to Arod, who is posing for pictures like a normal person, Jlo looks just silly. She is way too beautiful to still be worried about looking “sexy” in every dang photo!