Hello! Last night I, a non-famous person, got to attend the MTV VMAs for the second time. As someone who grew up on the awards show, I've naturally always been curious as to how the sausage gets made, the show goes on, etc.
So if you've ever wondered what happens behind-the-scenes at New Jersey's finest, you're in the right place:
1. Let's start off with the red carpet. It led into the press and pre-show area where I, and over a hundred other media types, waited for celebs to swing by (most did not). It was incredibly hot. Celebrities' staff were armed with abundant blotting paper, water bottles with straws (presumably to preserve lip makeup), and (literal) fans, but plenty of celebs had beads of sweat up close. "I wish it was not too crowded," comedian Pretty Vee told us. Amen.
2. The heat presented a conundrum for folks like Wild 'n Out's Justina Valentine, who couldn't reapply deodorant lest it "mess up the 'fit." The solution? Perfume reapplied to the "pit, pit, cat, crack."
3. Musician Prince Derek Doll told us that most red carpet outfits involve a tremendous amount of double stick tape over the body, "To make sure things stick where they're supposed to stick, hold where they're supposed to hold."
4. Singer Emilia Vaughn told us all about being coated in body makeup, explaining, "I had to spread my legs open and [my makeup artist] had to get all in there. Body makeup everywhere. You have to cover your bruises."
5. Sometimes, getting fitted for a look can be less than ideal. As rapper Kaliii put it, "That is not so glamorous. When you got a booty on you, it's, like, really tight, you gotta jump in and fall over."
6. For Canada's Drag Race alum Jimbo, getting ready for the big night involved "taking all the hair off my body." He elaborated, "I had to take a big, huge tub of Nair and basically shower in Nair."
7. And Ts Madison said that she most dislikes "having to tuck. Tucking. It's overrated. That's why I didn't tonight!"
8. Even with all the planning that can go into people's outfits, things can still go awry. As Doechii put it: "You can plan for a really long time for a look, and then you get the look, and it doesn't look right on you. It looks good on the model, it looks good in the sketch, it doesn't look right on you and you have to improvise. But luckily, I'm good at improvising."
9. In that vein, Nigerian singer Fireboy DML mentioned that he had to get a new pair of shoes hours before the show. Meanwhile, rapper Yung Bleu simply wore the same clothes he wore the night before.
10. Indeed, last-minute moments can also lead to disaster. Comedian and TikToker Hannah Berner told us, "My dress did rip when we went in the Uber, so I had to pull up my Spanx a little too high. And it's all sweat under here."
11. As Drag Race alum Kandy Muse aptly summed it up: "The VMAs is so iconic and people have done some iconic looks, where it's not necessarily your typical gowns. I think everyone wants to outdo each other every single year."
12. On a personal note, the lights on the photo line were incredibly bright. Even though I had felt pretty confident in my dress beforehand, it felt like every single insecurity I had had a spotlight beaming onto it. In short, I am very glad that my job primarily involves hunching over a laptop and not constantly having my photo taken.
13. As I mentioned, the pre-show area was right by the pink carpet. This won't be surprising if you've been part of a live taping before, but there was a man behind the camera who told the live audience when to clap and cheer — as well as hyping them to keep going.
14. I did also attend the arena show, which was an incredibly slick production. One error that did happen was when Stray Kids were announced as the winners of the Best K-Pop award. The audio completely cut out in the stadium, even though it came through in the televised version. It's why they looked so unbelievably confused and surprised when the camera panned to them as the winners.
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Stray Kids and TxT definitely got some of the biggest cheers in the arena that night.
15. People love Taylor Swift's dancing at awards shows, and I can confirm that she was one of the celebs to be on her feet during the event. When Rema and Selena Gomez won their award, she immediately jumped to her feet and started dancing as the song played out, which was nice to see.
16. You could see this in the corner of the televised version, but the Doja Cat's flying papers effect was created by guys throwing bags of the stuff into two very, very loud fans. When they were quickly swept off the stage by a team of efficient men with giant mops in the ad break, some folks took them as souvenirs.
17. Finally, a lot of the artists took time to interact with the fans after their performances once the cameras stopped rolling — especially Shakira.
