The First YouTube Music Awards Show

YouTube held its first Music Awards Show this past Sunday night and was streamed live on youtube.com. The disheveled show was full of a variety of live performances, presentations, and some comedy sketches. The show drew from popular videos and music with no specific purpose. The nominees for each category were voted on by fans. You can see the winners here.

Spike Jonze was the creative director as well as the director for some segments. Jason Schwartzman and Reggie Watts hosted the hour and half show, which had performances from Lady Gaga, Eminem, M.I.A., Arcade Fire, and more. There was even a weird segment that Lena Dunham wrote to go along with Avicii's performance. It was a "choose-your-own adventure short" directed by Spike Jonze, with Vanessa Hudgens and Michael Shannon. I enjoyed the writing as I normally do with Lena Dunham's work, however, it was a very strange segment that ended with the audience choosing the outcome of the story.

I wouldn't take the time to watch the entire show, however it's worth looking up a few performances. My favorite was Arcade Fire's performance, or "live music video," as they called it, of "Afterlife." The director, Spike Jonze, camera operator and focus puller all did a wonderful job filming this live. Greta Gerwig also does a fantastic job dancing awkwardly but beautifully. Take a look:

Or to watch the whole thing: