Maroon Mondays Awards Reviews: Much Music Video Awards 2014

(UPDATED and RE-EDTED on April 25 and June 21, 2015 for better reading experience)

Welcome to MaroonMondays Awards Reviews: the reason people go to this site every month, and the reason I wish I get paid for this stuff every year.


The time around, I'm reviewing the Much Music Video Awards, the biggest awards ceremony in Canada...and the only one I really know of from that country.
(well, I've heard of the JUNOs, too, but in name and never watched.)

If you've never heard of it, here's the sum-up from my review last years' show.
Plus it airs on Fuse here in the States, so that's all I'll give.
(Well, used to; sadly, they don't do that anymore for some dumb reason. So you'll have to rely on the Internet to watch it.) [And fortunately, this video here below. Thank you to the people who uploaded it.]


This year's show is hosted by Kendall and Kylie Jenner. If you've never heard of them, good. Don't bother researching them. Much usually has recording artists co-host, so I don't know why the execs chose them to host; if they have careers in music, I'm not bothering with them. And please don't ask for an SLMR on any song. I do applaud them for taking this step toward a different direction, though.

I've been a fan of the MMVAs since 2010, but this year got me really excited because of the performers.

LORDE! IMAGINE DRAGONS!

ARIANA GRANDE! ED SHEERAN!

...and the Canadian acts I've never heard of because of this show.

Also, THE SET. Nothing gets me excited than something that a network uses for an awards show every once a year. Last year:

I though this one was tied with 2012 as best I've ever seen. This year?

I love it, almost as much as last years. It's huge, pops of color, and is an amazing mash-up of the set from 2011 and 2012.

Now that the crappy stuff is out of the way, let's get to the performances.
I’ve never heard of some of the performers and the songs they performed at the show before last night, so the reviews of the performances (and thus, this review in general) are a little more shorter than usual.

So we start with Hedley performing their latest hit “I’m So Crazy For You”. Never heard it before last night, but it was great. Nice influence of Disco (as referenced by the disco balls in the giant screens). This is the first Hedley song I truly like (and there aren’t many).

Immediately after, Ed Sheeran finally made it to the adults table that is the main Queen Street Parking Lot stage to sing--well, “Sing”. It sounds completely different from his earlier work, which is more folk-y, but this is a really good song by him and sounds fantastic acoustically. I think this is one of the better performances of the show.

Next up, MAGIC! sang “Rude”. It’s about a guy who wants to marry some girl but her father doesn’t want him, so he thinks the dad is “Rude” and based the song around that. I don’t like the song; because the guy calls the dad “rude” because he doesn’t want the guy to marry his daughter. Maybe the dad has a good reason; you could be an annoying slacker or a jerk to the girl or is a trophy wife-like dude, and the dad just had the instinct not to trust him. The reggae beat is really good, though. Also, the live performance does save me from downright hating this song.

Kiesza (Kai-Zuh) performed "Hideaway". This song has a very rad 90s beat and is really dance-able. Although the chorus is questionable; it’s just “Ooh” and "Aah” repeated over and over; it’s sounds like she was having sex in the recording booth during sessions, heard it, liked it, and decided to make it more to the beat. It sounds nice though.




LORDE.

Seriously. She performed her colossal hits “Tennis Court” and “Team”. She looked nice in something you might find in a video from the 1980s. The show said that she had a performance made just for the show; It’s just nothing but her and some stage lights, dancing like Kurt Cobain on an episode of Headbanger’s Ball, then she got down with a lamp.
LITERALLY.
I felt a little let down by this, but since Lorde is such a low-key artist when it comes to performances, I guess that was the point. Still it was pretty awesome to see her sing.

Sam Roberts Band (who by the way haven't played in over a decade) played their song "We'll All in This Together". It was an awesome song; so catchy and rockin'. I surely did sing along later on, and the sax sample coming later on. I like this band, and they deserve their awards.

Virgina to Vegas performed “We Are Stars” with guest Alyssa Reid. It's a very heartwarming song, and I enjoyed it very much. I like this band...or duo...or person. Who names themselves a name like that, though?

Imagine Dragons killed it. They performed “Demons” and “Radioactive”. I love both songs but I hate “Radioactive” performed live. I hate the way the frontman sings the lyrics differently, I hate the chorus when sung differently and the drum solo; I could do without that long-ass part. I must get used to that if this keeps getting performed live, which is a lot. On the plus side, the producers said the band would melt the stage. They did; there were pyrotechnics everywhere. On stage, and over the stage, with fireworks all over. That really made up for that. I really loved their performance of “Demons”, too, though.