Keke Palmer in Ralph & Russo to open the VMAs: needs more futurism?

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I liked the VMAs last night more than I expected. The performances were drive-in style, which was fun to see, and they had an entire CGI audience watching from a rooftop, with sounds from past VMAs as Kaiser mentioned. The aesthetics and montages had a video game-type look, which was thoughtful and cool. They leaned heavily into that and I would have liked to see that more in host Keke Palmer’s fashion. She could have gone with some more modern-looking and futuristic looks, but not quite at the Lady Gaga try hard level, you know? There was way too much Lady Gaga last night.

Keke’s pre-recorded bits, during which she interacted with herself as different characters like a guy who was trying to hit on her and a spacey superficial girl, fell flat. I didn’t really understand the point of those. She did a good job with the intro and her performance of “Snack”, though. Some of the dancers last night were incredible! I liked the light effects of Doja Cat’s performance, although the light up crotches on The Black Eyed Peas were ridiculous. I especially liked DaBaby’s performance and BTS was amazing! Their choreography absolutely blew me away and I get why they have such awesome fans.

In the photo above Keke is in Ralph & Russo. It’s just a tiered feather dress with sequin accents. She was playing somewhat of an avatar on a stage, I feel like she should have worn something sleeker or at least more fashion-forward. How about some light-up effects on her fashion, similar to what we saw at the 2016 Met Gala? Her stylist could have chosen some metallic dresses at least.

Here’s the intro if you’d like to see the dress full screen.

On the red carpet/green screen Keke wore an Area dress. This is cute.
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Nicole Richie was a presenter and she was in Cong Tri. I would have liked to see Keke in something more elaborate like this. Nicole looked super tiny on stage, but maybe it was the lighting.
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Joey King was in Versace. The little clips in her hair made it look on camera like she had elf ears.
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Sofia Carson was overdone.
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Bella Hadid really nailed the video game character look but I feel like that’s her default. Do you think she had to interact with her ex, The Weeknd, at all? They’re broken up again, right? This was hard to google. I hope he’s ok.
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I loved Jaden Smith’s jacket!
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12 Responses to “Keke Palmer in Ralph & Russo to open the VMAs: needs more futurism?”

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  1. Nev says:

    Snack was fun and unexpected!!!

  2. Silver Charm says:

    KeKe had a tough job hosting the first major award show mid-pandemic, trying to keep the energy up with no audience. She was amazing. Let her host anything she wants.

    Bella…oh dear….

  3. Eleonora says:

    I only watched for BTS, but enjoyed the rest too. Love their song Dynamite. It broke youtube records already.

    Long time since I watched these awards.

    Congrats to all winners

    • Aoife says:

      I don’t understand the hype for BTS, though I am definitely not from their target age group. They are a Korean boyband mimicking an American boyband with a bland pop song and moves rehearsed to perfection. Shrug.

      • EMc says:

        AOIFE I don’t think I’m their target demographic either, but I think they do the boy band thing better than the American ones did. I think their performances are more entertaining, their choreography is fun, and without sounding too ‘get off my lawn’, it’s less of the ‘sex sells’ type of model. Granted, I’m sure the girls still go crazy and swoon!

      • Ai says:

        I think if you don’t understand the “hype” for BTS, you should listen to some of their music, read their lyrics and give them a chance instead of just judging that they are mimicking an American group. This Dynamite song is not their usual type of music. They only released it as a challenge to sing in English and to cheer the fans up during the pandemic. So don’t judge just by this one song. But truth be told, I don’t recall an American group like BTS actually. They actually have a very diverse music catalog (100+ songs that they co-produce or write or help choreographed – ranging from hip-hop, R&B/neo-soul, Latin, jazz, ballads, and pop) with really interesting lyrics that many people from all ages find relatable and touching. That is how I became a fan. Just like any other world famous music act, BTS have plenty of older fans, both male and females, from all backgrounds. There is nothing wrong with teenage fans enjoying a group too but BTS isn’t only for teens.

    • Ai says:

      Same Eleonora! I only watched for BTS at first.

  4. Flamingo says:

    I used to watch Keke on her short lived morning show at the gym. I think it was called Strahan, Sara, and Keke. She was quite funny and engaging. I think she has the potential to be big if she were to hone her career down to one thing. She’s trying to do a lot: Instagram star/ influencer, singer, host, actress.

  5. Penguin says:

    My god, Bella Hadid got her hands on a time machine and raided an early 00’s emo kid’s closet! Peak My Space!

  6. Eleonora says:

    Thanks for calling BTS-fans awesome!.

    The guys and fans do a lot of donating to good causes. They’ve also spoken at the UN, and speak out on topics like the education system in South Korea, against racism, mental health issues etc etc as well.

    One of the nicest things is that they don’t accept fan gifts, so fans organize (often local) donation efforts on their birthdays or just because.

    Just some examples:

    -Malaysian fans for blind people
    -Peruvian fans for orcas and pygmy rabbits,
    – Pakistani fans for giving people dentist check ups,
    -American, Spanish and Philippine fans for disadvantaged children,
    -Nepal for flood victims
    -Russian fans for people with diseases.

    After BTS donated a million dollars to BLM, global fans matched it in a day.

  7. Faye G says:

    I only watched for BTS, but ended up watching the entire show. Keke did a great job hosting and I really liked the futuristic stage concept, I think they pulled it off. Nice to see MTV supporting mask and distancing mandates. They were tons of great performances and it was ultimately very uplifting.

  8. L4frimaire says:

    So far liking all these looks. Nicole Richie looks gorgeous.