![]() ![]() She raises her metal-gloved hand and slowly reveals her gigantic $5 million wedding ring. In the video’s closing seconds, Beyoncé’s icy facade finally cracks. Her eyes radiate power, and every hand-flip and hip-twitch feels meaningful. In that video, Beyoncé gives a definitional star performance. ![]() In a moment when the music video itself was in a strange state of flux - no longer in MTV rotation, not quite a dominant YouTube force yet - Beyoncé was able to turn the “Single Ladies” clip into a monocultural sensation, seemingly through sheer force of will. Those influences are important, but they don’t really capture what Beyoncé was able to do with the “Single Ladies” video. But here’s the thing: Kanye wasn’t wrong. If Kanye hadn’t jumped on that stage, our world would now be profoundly different, and I have to imagine that it would be better. Somehow, we’re still living in its aftermath. Barack Obama, the newly elected President of the United States of America, called Kanye a “jackass.” Kanye’s VMA moment would lead to ripple-effect consequences that nobody could’ve possibly predicted - consequences that were musical and cultural and maybe even geopolitical. Kanye’s interruption led to an immediate and overwhelming backlash. We’ll see plenty of Taylor Swift in this column.) (Taylor Swift, incidentally, won that VMA for “ You Belong With Me,” a song that peaked at #2. Still, Taylor Swift’s win offended Kanye West’s sensibilities, and he said what he said. ![]() Even by the wildest stretch of the imagination, you can’t say that those awards are any indication of merit or esteem. The awards are merely MTV’s excuse to get a bunch of famous people into the same room. If the year’s best video is made by a woman, wouldn’t it follow that it’s also the Best Female Video? It doesn’t make sense, and it’s not supposed to make sense. Later that night, the Beyoncé video that Kanye was so eager to defend won Video Of The Year. Other than Kanye West, nobody cares who wins. Kanye West’s actions that night were obviously rude. ![]()
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