Spears strikes success without a hitch after sweeping the VMAs

By Stacey Silberman

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 9/8/08 – Britney Spears swept the VMAs Sunday night, rolling over the competition with three big wins including Video of the Year for her tabloid inspired “Piece of Me.”

Perhaps this will provide a well-needed sigh of relief and some newfound confidence for Britney as she moves toward recovery and rebuilds her singing career tonight after winning in all three nominated categories.

Britney took some baby steps and played it safe tonight as she opened the award ceremony with a short skit co-starring Jonah Hill of “Superbad” fame.

After weeks of promotion and teasing by the show’s producers, the pop icon stuck to her script by doing a pre-recorded skit and then uttering four short lines.

The skit wasn’t the greatest, but, it could have been much worse. There were no major slips, although Hill did try to slip her some tongue during the skit, to no avail.

Britney then opened the show with “Thank you so much. Thank you for all the love. I’m here tonight to celebrate a very important birthday, the 25th anniversary of the VMAs. This is the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards and it starts right now.”

There were no surprises, nothing to shout about, but nothing to criticize either. Britney stuck to the plan this year by showing up and leaving intact with three big wins. She’d been nominated 16 times in the past for VMA awards without ever winning.

However, this year, Spears walked away with three VMA Moonmen for the song “Piece of Me.” The categories were Best Female Video, presented by movie star and funny man Jamie Foxx, Best Pop Video presented by wanna-be-singer Paris Hilton, and Video of the Year was presented by Olympic Gold medalist and NBA star basketball player Kobe Bryant.

It looks as though many people pulled a lot of strings to make sure Britney succeeded every step of the way tonight. It appeared as though her numerous fans and her carefully chosen management professionals walked her through with kid gloves. 

Of course, she has nobody to thank more than her father Jamie Spears, who she seemed to forget to thank during the show. It must have been the nerves.

Spears looked every bit of class tonight in a sparkling vintage silver fringe halter Versace mini-dress that flattered her newly regained shape.

Even the tabloid types were in her corner tonight. “I voted for Britney Spears. I felt she needed it. It was her year,” said Perez Hilton.

“This is the launch of a new Britney Spears era. Consider it the resurrection of Britney,” said VMA host and British comedian Russell Brand, during the after show.

While MTV had said, Spears would not sing, a lot of the hype and promotional spots had implied some kind of surprise would rock the show. But, obviously, that was the surprise…no surprises.

Then the audience was treated to a great performance by hot young R&B singer Rihanna, who belted out the show’s first musical number. She looked amazing. She performed twice during the show and sang the song “Disturbia,” which was written by fellow Moonman winner and boyfriend Chris Brown.

Christina Aguilera looked svelte and edgy during the high-octane dance performance of her remixed classic “Genie in a Bottle.” It actually resembled Britney’s style for the song “Toxic.” She wore a skintight black S&M looking outfit that brought out her sexy mama side. 

Katy Perry performed twice and sounded slightly of out of tune during her performance of Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” and even during her own hit song “I kissed a Girl.”

The Jonas Brothers gave an ok performance out on the Paramount lot as they sang “Lovebug” to a throng of screaming girls.

The poor guys looked a little annoyed after Brand picked on them for wearing chastity promise rings during one of his comedy routines. This did not go unnoticed by co-ring wearer Jordin Sparks (“American Idol”), who cracked wise right back at Brand, which brought a kind-of apology for Disney’s young boys.

Brand may have missed a beat or two during while hosting. He seemed to miss the audience with his humor, insulting many stars in the audience and others too. He was not in the best of form based on the audience response during his comic moments.

What was most fun about tonight’s show was the use of the Paramount sound stages and sets to create a video-like atmosphere. Some of the artists were able to perform as though making a video on the spot.

Other winners tonight were Tokio Hotel, who won the fan vote for Best New Artist, Linkin Park for Best Rock Video (“Shadow of the Day”), Chris Brown for Best Male Video (“With You”), The Pussycat Dolls for best dance video (“When I Grow Up”), and Lil Wayne for Best Hip Hop Video (“Lollipop).

As usual, the VMAs are nothing special, but the show’s producers do rock when it comes to advertising and hype for the show.