[article] MTVJ awards still growing up

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MTVJ awards still growing up

by Paul Jackson, Daily Yomiuri Staff Writer

Ubiquitous J-pop idol Ayumi Hamasaki won big at the MTV Video Music Awards Japan 2004 on Sunday, along with flower-chewing diva Mika Nakashima, Okinawan-born pop vocalist Namie Amuro, and the eccentric Kick the Can Crew. Meanwhile, surprise guest appearances by Janet Jackson and Ozzy Osbourne added dramatic excitement to a show already packed with foreign participants, including Outkast, Missy Elliott, Good Charlotte and the Darkness.

However, Mary J. Blige's refusal to accept her Most Impressive Performance Award on stage despite her presence at Tokyo Bay NK Hall on Sunday suggested that while the event may have successfully established itself, it has yet to come of age.

Hamasaki won awards for Best Female Video, Best Pop Video and Best Live Performance. That she would win a clutch of prizes was presaged to some extent by the rapturous cries of "Ayu" she was showered in as she walked down the long red arrival carpet before the start of the show.

"Across all the genres, I think everyone who has performed was fantastic," Hamasaki said before thanking all the staff involved in the making of her winning video "Because of You" and expressing pleasure at being voted best performer at MTV The Super Dry Live, which took place on Saturday. "That's probably the point I'm happiest about--that the people who saw my performance thought it was good."

Nakashima, who looked subdued when she arrived at the hall in a somber kimono, landed two awards, for Best Style in a Video and Breakthrough Video. Also winning a brace of prizes were Namie Amuro (Best R&B Video and Best Buzz Asia from Japan) and Kick the Can Crew (Best Group Video and Best Web Award).

For some, the choice of Amuro over Blige for Best R&B Video was a surprise. Even Amuro looked a little sheepish when she collected her prize, commenting that being aware of the other nominees she wasn't sure she was the best choice for the award. It may be pure coincidence that Blige later declined to go on stage to accept her award, but the choice of winner does raise question marks about the decisions behind the awarding of prizes.

On a lighter note, earlier in the day, Kick the Can Crew generated more than a few laughs when two of their members dressed up as giant cans had to be pried out of their exclusive stretch limousine.

"We were also after the Best Buzz Asia (from Japan) prize. That would've made it three, but Amuro-chan swiped it from us," quipped Little of the group. "After all we've played in Taiwan so I thought we had a great chance."

Other winners included half Neptune half N.E.R.D. Pharrell for Best Male Video, young hip-hop-styled pop rockers Orange Range for Best New Artist Video, rap heavyweight Missy Elliott for Best Video of the Year ("Pass That Dutch"), swaggering emcee Zeebra for Best Hip Hop Video and hot South Korean vocalist Boa for Best Dance Video. Best Album of the Year went to schizophrenic hip-hop geeks Outkast, who performed separately on stage.

The first surprise guest of the evening was introduced by playful British retro rockers the Darkness as "the Prince of Darkness." While no one expected Ozzy Osbourne to attend the ceremony given his serious quad bike accident in December, he suddenly turned up on stage with Sharon, Kelly and Jack to receive the Legend Award.

"This is the best award of them all because it's real; all the other ones are plastic," said a light-hearted Osbourne, appreciating the renewed focus on his music rather than the TV show featuring his family. "It's really weird, people know me now from the show, but they don't know I've been doing rock 'n' roll for 35 years."

The biggest surprise of the night came when Janet Jackson suddenly appeared on stage to accept the Inspiration Award and perform "All Nite." With the show running way overtime, however, even if she had wanted to give comments to the press, she would have found that almost all of them had already departed. Her surprise appearance, though, will make for great TV viewing.

Events at the Tokyo Bay Hall in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, were preceded the previous night by MTV The Super Dry Live, a large-scale event featuring acts chosen by fans applying for invites to the concert at Yoyogi National Stadium in Harajuku, Tokyo. About 320,000 applications were posted for the 10,000 invitations available, with a lineup of Hamasaki, Elliott, Blige, M-flo and Good Charlotte assembled to fulfill the dreams of applicants.

The show launched off with the extraordinary theatrics, multiple costume changes and explosions of gold ticker tape that accompanied the visually spectacular set of Hamasaki, who started out with a futuristic routine suspended in the air with fellow dancers.

Compared to the big-budget opening, the acts that followed had to rely on more prosaic settings for their performances, of which Blige's was vocally outstanding.

The next day it came as little surprise that the audience had voted with their eyes.

This leads us back to what is essentially the key paradox of the MTV Video Music Awards Japan. While the organizers have done a fantastic job in creating an extravagant spectacle teaming with major show biz names, instead of adding credibility to the awards through the cameo appearances of foreign artists, they are actually detracting from it.

And to say the distribution of awards is formulaic is to state the obvious. The split between Asian artists and Western artists in the first two years of the awards was about two to one. This year out of the 18 main awards, 12 went to Asian artists. Naturally, all the foreign artists who performed at the awards ceremony or at the Super Dry Live received some kind of award.

While an awards show that focuses on Asian or just domestic talent would make more sense, it could be argued that with a potential worldwide audience of 300 million households--MTV Japan's figures--adding some big foreign names makes for a more attractive show.

Undoubtedly, though, the action-packed ceremony of outrageous fashion, dazzling performances and gushing acceptance speeches will be popular among viewers, and rightly so.

Now all MTV Japan needs to decide is whether this awards show is about the awards or the show.

MTV The Super Dry Live 2004 will air Friday at 9 p.m.; MTV Video Music
Awards Japan 2004 will air Saturday at 8 p.m. Both shows will be
broadcast six times.

From The Daily Yomiuri, 27 May 2004