Madonna made her big return to the MTV Video Music Awards, her first time at the annual event in 23 years. She practically invented this show the very first time it aired in 1984, making her infamous debut in her white wedding gown as the scandalous floor-humping bride in “Like a Virgin.” That performance did wonders for her, but even bigger wonders for the VMAs—it’s the moment this event has always aspired to match ever since. It established her as the once and future queen of this show. But strange as it seems, until last night, she hadn’t rocked the VMAs since 2003, when she did an even better version of “Like a Virgin,” in her legendary make out session with Britney Spears.
So the stakes were high for her hotly-anticipated return last night. But her amazing performance with Sabrina Carpenter and Charli XCX stole the show, with a medley of “One Step Away,” “Bring Your Love,” and “Danceteria,” from her recent Confessions II. It wasn’t just the highlight of the night; it was one of the most stunning performances in the entire history of the VMAs, hands down.
It’s fitting that she began with Sabrina, who was just four years old when Madonna smooched Britney, but a quintessential Daughter of the House of Ciccone. “It’s mother,” a voice moaned at the beginning, as Madonna recited her disco catechism. “The dance floor is not a place,” she said. “It’s a threshold. A ritualistic space where movement replaces language.”
Wearing a black beret, Sabrina played the piano with Madonna writhing on top of it. They did their Coachella-slaying duet “Bring Your Love,” with Sabrina twisting and crawling in her glitter-spangled black liederhosen. Madonna wrestled with black-clad storm troopers, then got rolled on a gurney through the crowd, until a really confusing interlude where she met a bizarro alien gospel choir in white gowns. (A very Creed touch.)
But the performance really exploded when Charli XCX strutted in for “Danceteria,” as the stage transformed into the famous early-Eighties NYC disco, with the cool girls hanging out in the men’s room. Charli even stroked the bathroom hand-dryer—a clever reference to everybody’s favorite scene in Desperately Seeking Susan.
The “Danceteria” bathroom was jumping with party people. Over here, Madonna and Charli rocking out. Over there, Sombr posing as a scantily clad black-leather boy. Hey, look—it’s Debi Mazar, years before Goodfellas, just another party girl and Madonna’s coolest club-kid girlfriend, name-checked in the song. (Also, a callback to Debi’s cameo in the “Music” video from Y2K—maybe Madonna’s peak era ever?) Hey, that guy looks like…wait, it is Fab Five Freddie, also namechecked. Julia Garner, dressed in the “Open Your Heart” black corset and haircut. Tony Ward, from the “Justify My Love” video. The “Boy Toy” belt buckle. Producer Andrew Watt, as Keith Haring. Seth Rogen … wait, really? What the hell is Seth doing here? Who dragged him to a disco? Ah, well—everybody’s welcome here. Anyone can be a star on Madonna’s dance floor. That’s the whole point of the song—as she keeps chanting, “Everybody here is a work of art.”
A clever detail: Lou Reed’s face on the “Danceteria” bathroom wall, the Mick Rock photo from the cover of his 1972 classic Transformer, as they all sang the “doo de doo de doo” hook from “Walk on the Wild Side.” (Watt walked the red carpet in a t-shirt displaying that Lou photo.) Given my unfortunately encyclopedic memory for trashy award shows, I can tell you this was Lou’s first cameo on the VMAs since 2006, when he and Jack White played “White Light/White Heat” with the Raconteurs.
Madonna made it all feel like a musical autobiography for her, doubling as a capsule history of club culture. It summed up where she came from, why she left, why she came to New York, and what she made of the dreams she worked to bring to life. That’s the theme of her excellent album Confessions II. But she packed the whole messy story into “Danceteria.”
Madonna kept winning awards all night, giving magnificently chaotic, unprepared, and awkward speeches, yet still with more star power than anyone in the room. Her best moment: when she won the Best Dance category, threw her arms around Charli and Troye Sivan, and said, “I’m kind of unclear what this award is for?” You and us both, Madonna. Charli had to re-read the envelope to confirm it was for her Confessions II short film. She complained about the mic stand being too high for her. She also did one of the most uncomfortable dad jokes ever heard on an award show, including the ones hosted by Billy Crystal: “First of all, I’d like to thank my fingers, because I can always count on them.” Why in God’s name did she say this? Madonna, you’re on live TV here. Hold it together. We’re rooting for you.
But even when she was making everyone squirm (poor Troye looked terrified), she was still the coolest, and she knew it, fully confident this was her show. She told the story of her 1984 “Like a Virgin” moment, and how her management team told her backstage that she’d just killed her career. “My dress went up, and my buttcheek was hanging out,” she recalled. “And in those days, buttcheeks were not hanging out.” When she and Sabrina won for Best Collaboration with “Bring Your Love,” she complained about how Sabrina’s handlers waited to return her call, until Sabrina got bleeped for quipping, “My team is shitting themselves backstage.” But she generously spent her speech heaping praise on Sabrina. “She has OCD and so do I,” Madonna said. “We write our lyrics down on pieces of paper, like they did in the 1800s.” Sabrina simply said, “Everybody, Madonna,” before they walked off hand in hand.
But the most poignant moment came when Madonna recalled where songs like “Danceteria” came from. “I came to New York to be a dancer,” she said. “Dance is where everything happened for me in my life. I came to life on the dance floor. I found my community on the dance floor. I fell in love with people on the dance floor. And I lost many people I loved on the dance floor.” It was a powerful confession. “Dance brings everybody together, okay?” she said. “We are all equal on the dance floor.” You couldn’t ask for a more succinct summary of everything Madonna’s VMAs performance—or her entire career—has been about.
I’ve been a Madonna fan—and an MTV junkie—since the early days. I’ve seen every VMAs from the beginning, since the night she debuted with “Like a Virgin,” rolling on the floor in her bridal gown, with her rosary beads and Boy Toy belt buckle. So I’m used to seeing Madonna steal the show, year after year—with her glam “Express Yourself” in 1989, her Marie Antoinette-style “Vogue” in 1990, her “Ray of Light” with Lenny Kravitz in 1998. Not to mention her infamously rowdy rooftop interview at the 1995 VMAs, throwing shade with Courtney Love and Kurt Loder. Give Madonna a few minutes of live MTV and she’ll always find a way to seize the moment. But this performance—especially the “Danceteria” half—was so emotional, so deeply personal, so elegiac, yet without sacrificing any of the disco sleaze or body-electric jubilation. It felt like she set out to tell the entire Madonna story in just a few minutes.
