DC ExtraTime: An MTV Reality Night at the 2022 VMA's

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BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

This year of 2022 was branded by yours truly & his secondary Twitter channel DCNOW as "Back to Music Season" -- the first time in three years that we've been able to have a full year of major festivals, summer tours and the usual array of summer songs that dominate the hottest of the four meteorological seasons. It all began, as it usually does on the festival front, in the springtime in March with the first holding since 2019 of the electronic dance music extravaganza that is the Ultra Music Festival in Miami. A month later came the return of the Coachella festival, which saw Harry Styles, The Weeknd and Billie Eilish headline America's highest-profile weekend of live music in the California sun... followed by EDC in Vegas, Bonnaroo in Tennessee, Lollapollooza in Chicago, and countless tours by the biggest artists.

Every year, the traditional and spiritual conclusion to the summer music season has always been the MTV Video Music Awards, which began in 1984 when the channel hired one of the TV industry's most respected executives, Don Ohlmeyer, to produce a sendup of traditional over-the-top award show galas. That night at Radio City Music Hall became well-known for the infamous performance of "Like A Virgin" by the quintessential MTV icon of her time, Madonna... and who two decades later planted a smooch on both Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera in front of their former Mickey Mouse Club mate Justin Timberlake. It has grown to become one of the biggest nights of the year in the music industry, and it's one of the few times nowadays where the cable channel's original moniker rings true.

Last month marked the thirty-ninth renewal of the VMA's, which took place across the river in Newark, New Jersey... and where the last time the NHL Devils' home arena of the Prudential Center welcomed this summer music gala, the casts of Floribama Shore and Siesta Key walked the red carpet together before they shared the winter 2020 MTV stage. And this time around: no different when it came to those big names who took to the big stage, and those from Team MTV who walked the black carpet.