When Justin Bieber is the only person in a three-hour show to even allude to something that’s killed more than 600,000 Americans since the last live Video Music Awards, it’s a special that has very specific designs on being post-pandemic, whether we’re there yet or not. It was not a night for peak social consciousness. Was it a sign of how far we’ve come, or how little, that dudes fighting was piquing people’s interest Sunday night more than dudes grinding? It wouldn’t have been that many years ago that these would have been the major water-cooler-talk moments - not an untelevised, pre-show squabble between Machine Gun Kelly and presenter Conor McGregor. Lest the night feature only male homoeroticism, Normani had her own moment at the end of an otherwise fairly routine “Wild Side” routine when Teyana Taylor was wheeled out, tied up crucifix-style, and the singer nimbly mounted her. From the moment he appeared on stage dressed in pink as a drum major, it seemed inevitable that there would be at least two layers of tear-away clothing and that he and his equally buff male dancers would be in pink briefs before we knew it. Lil Nas X has pushed the envelope so far with his recent videos that it was hard to gage whether his performance of “Industry Baby” with Jack Harlow really counted as provocative. ![]() ![]() There were definitely some moments that recalled Spears’ soul kiss with Madonna back in the day, if they hardly register as shocking in 2021.
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