EDM in the VMAs: Zedd, Skrillex, Calvin Harris snubbed while Daft Punk, Nervo shine
Despite MTV’s recent MTV Clubland outlet, dance music stars were snubbed of awards at last night’s VMAs. There was Zedd being beat out by Austin Mahone for the fan-voted Artist to Watch, Calvin Harris falling short to Pink for Best Collaboration and to Justin Timberlake for best editing, A-Trak & Tommy Trash being toppled by Ryan Lewis & Macklemore for Best Cinematography, and both Skrillex and Duck Sauce taking a back seat to Capital Cities for Best Visual Effects.
While Daft Punk was ousted by One Direction for Best Song of the Summer, the duo made their first public appearance since the Random Access Memories craze, presenting the award for Best Female Video alongside Pharrell and Nile Rodgers following a teaser for their follow up single “Lose Yourself To Dance.” Other dance music mainstays may not have taken home a moon man, but instead served as the DJs for the red carpet. Of course, that was the Nervo twins spinning the pre-show as stars and starlets entered the Barclays Center.
Surprisingly, the program’s commercial interludes included tracks such as Baauer and Just Blaze’s “Higher” and Disclosure’s “When A Fire Starts To Burn.” When all said and done, however, dance music has certainly had a stronger presence in VMAs past with performances from David Guetta and Deadmau5. MTV’s 2013 award show was electronic friendly, it just wasn’t actively electronic.
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