Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Getty
The first, and who knows maybe only, moment of profundity at MTV’s Video Music Awards came in what looked like a hastily glammed up parking lot of the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
“Award shows are so dystopian,” said the young music star Conan Grey, which may be true, but all the people who wanted to be there, or who were contractually obliged to, showed up in designer clothing (sometimes that not much of it), arranged by their stylists, ready to do their management’s bidding and sell themselves.
So, on the red carpet at least, it was dystopian business as usual.