Another year, another Spears
At last night's MTV awards, she hoped to pull off the comeback she bungled last time.
LOS ANGELES - Really, all Britney Spears needed to do was show up to the MTV Video Music Awards without stumbling and her appearance would have been considered a rousing success.
She did more than that - including opening the show without a hitch and picking up her first Moonman.
Spears won best female video and best pop video and video of the year - each for "Piece of Me" - keeping her thank-yous short and lucid on both occasions. Still, just being there was enough for a standing ovation from the star-studded crowd long before she opened her mouth to get things rolling.
"Thank you so much," she said flatly. "Thank you for all the love."
Maybe the audience was simply excited to see a glimpse of Spears looking fab once again. The rebounding pop queen wore a silver mini-dress with a plunging neckline, showcasing her svelte figure.
It was a far cry from last year, when her dishelveled, bumbling kickoff was widely panned as one of the worst in VMA history. (The freewheeling show celebrates 25 years this year.) But Spears was merely on hand this time to give a perfunctory introduction of Rihanna's opening song.
Moments later, Spears won her very first VMA.
"I first wanna thank God for blessing me like this," Spears said, then left the stage quickly.
Though she only spent a few seconds onstage at the top of the show, Spears did provide a few laughs during a pre-taped comedic segment with
Superbad
actor Jonah Hill. Pink gave perhaps the show's most rousing performance, a pyrotechnic-fueled performance of her new song, "So What."
Others set to perform included Kanye West, who, like Spears, was hoping for a second chance after a disappointing VMA experience last year. West was to close the two-hour ceremony; in Las Vegas, where the show was held last year, he had a hissy fit backstage and vowed never to appear at the VMAs again after he didn't get a Moonman trophy though nominated several times.
Kid Rock was looking to make headlines for his music instead of his fighting. The rocker wasn't even a performer last year but became part of one of the most talked about moments of the ceremony when he got into a fight with Tommy Lee, a fellow ex-husband of Pamela Anderson, in the audience.
Winners last night besides Spears: Male video: Chris Brown, "With You;" rock: Linkin Park, "Shadow of the Day;" Hip-hop: Lil Wayne, "Lollipop;" Dancing in a video: Pussycat Dolls, "When I Grow Up;" New artist: Tokio Hotel.