MMVAs Bring Pop World to Toronto

Posted on Jun 21st 2010 3:30PM by Jonathan Dekel
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The 2010 MuchMusic Video Awards were hyped as a showdown between two Canadian music heavyweights -- Drake and Justin Bieber. But by the time the credits rolled, it was clear that at the MMVAs, hair beats hip-hop.

Not that the rest of the star-studded line-up -- which included such international heavyweights as Katy Perry, Adam Lambert, Ke$ha and MMVA host Miley Cyrus-- didn't give the Biebs a run for his well-coiffed crown.

But not even the young studs from 'Twilight,' the 'Jersey Shore' or Stanley Cup-winning hockey players -- who all served as presenters -- had swagger like Bieber. From his first appearance during Cyrus' opening number (on an adorable bicycle!) to his smooth, New Kids on the Block-esque choreography during a his medley performance, the pop sensation spent the entire broadcast driving the crowd into a deafening tizzy and proving over and over the tiny teen is the biggest pop star in the world. Until he finishes going through puberty, that is.

As Bieber explained backstage shortly after the show, it's a subject that's been weighing heavily on his mind. "Everybody goes through puberty, it's a natural thing -- everyone does it." he explained during a short Q&A in the press room. "I'm not like some super-powered human."

For her part, Perry made the most arresting entrance (though still tame for the MMVAs, considering arrivals in past years included rockers Billy Talent pulling up in a military tank) arriving in an ice cream truck before telling local media that she planned to "get Miley drunk!"

Perry may have reconsidered after seeing Cyrus' risqué opening outfit, which no doubt encouraged many young male viewers to ask questions their parents weren't yet ready to answer. The outfit, along with the former 'Hanna Montana' star's tribal-themed take on 'Can't Be Tamed,' proved to be another big milestone in the sexual revamping of Cyrus' image.

As for Drake, his night was supremely less exciting, though equally eventful. After arriving on the red carpet with his 'younger brother' Bieber, whom he described as "one of the greatest talents that Canada has ever seen -- that the world has ever seen," the Toronto-bred rap superstar managed to lose nearly all of his leading seven nominations (winning only the MuchVIBE Hip-Hop Video of the Year and Cinematography for 'Successful,' his collaboration with singer Trey Songz) and suffered through the night's only technical glitch before performing an impassioned version of his single 'Over.'

Representing the harder end of the spectrum, Toronto's Billy Talent took home the MuchLOUD Rock Video of the Year as well as Director of the Year.

Many had expected indie-darlings and 'Twilight' theme writers Metric to take home the MuchFACT Indie Video of the Year, but in one of the more bizarre award show twists of fate, it went to Belly's 'Hot Girl' which features that bastion of indiedom, Snoop Dogg.

Where was Kanye West when we needed him?