KING & QUEEN

I love being witness to important moments in history and last night I witnessed one of the most emotional MTV Video Music Awards ceremonies ever. On TV of course, like most us who weren't lucky enough to actually score tickets to such an amazing show.

It had been a long while since I actually looked forward to the VMA's, but this year the line-up of artists who were to perform was actually one I was excited about. Then when the show actually started, most of the performances had been taken up to a new level : Lady GaGa and her bleeding self, Pink hanging from the ceiling while performing "Sober", and then Taylor Swift singing on the NYC subway (riding on the meeeetro-o-o-oooooo....) right after her speech for Best Female Video award had been sabotaged by Kanye West's uncalled for intervention onstage. I must admit, I did miss Beyoncé's performance but just caught up with in on youtube and it was also top notch.

However, the highlight for me was the opening of the ceremony : Madonna walking down the stage to talk about Michael Jackson. So touching. So special. Like I told a friend of mine yesterday, there was no other person who could have qualified for the job. The way she pieced her speech by drawing parallels between his life and her own, the way she let us in on that one time they had dinner and how she felt close to him for the first time, her condemnation of those who began what she called a "witch hunt" against him and of the press. It all came across in such a powerful manner I wasn't able to hold back a couple of tears (I managed to hold back the rest because I didn't want to look like a mess in front of my friends). It was such a strong vision to watch THE Queen of Pop honoring THE King of Pop. She, like him, is also one of a kind, and today's artists have huge shoes to fill if they ever want to reach their status. As I watched her onstage, I couldn't help but remember an image I had seen of Marlene Dietrich (so often-a-reference for M) crying at Edith Piaf's funeral, acting like any other hurt human being. It isn't often we get to see a vulnerable Madonna and this just makes me love her more.
Here's a link (embedding is disabled unfortunately) to her speech in case you missed it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htpm8hidIPc