From Miley Cyrus twerking on Robin Thicke to Kanye West stealing Taylor Swift’s spotlight, the VMAs is the best awards show in terms of drama. And this year did not fail to disappoint at all. Starting out the show were Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish who weren’t afraid to make shady jokes directed towards Fifth Harmony and Jersey Shore.

The two presented the first award, Best Hip Hop, to Nicki Minaj’s “Chun-Li,” where she took a chance to clapback at Haddish for shading Fifth Harmony. Later on in the night, Minaj gave arguably one of the best performances of the night. The audience was rapping along to every word, the backup dancers had incredible choreography, and she was able to stay animated during the entire performance which was quite lengthy.

Speaking of female rappers, Cardi B was the most nominated artist of the night. However, she was only able to win three categories out of the ten she was nominated for. Those awards included Best New Artist, Best Collaboration, and Song of the Summer. For one of her acceptance speeches, she actually made an indirect jab at Minaj, saying that all of her love from her fans and family can’t be bought.

Other performances that stood out came from Ariana Grande, Logic, Jennifer Lopez. Ariana Grande, spotted with her fiance Pete Davidson, put on a performance that was beautiful enough to look like an actual music video. The costumes, props, and message went together so nicely. Logic also decided to convey a message through his performance that disapproved of the wall and how it separates immigrant families. Jennifer Lopez, who won the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard award, performed songs throughout her career, dancing and keeping the audience entertained.

To end the show, Madonna paid a tribute to Aretha Franklin by telling how she influenced her own life. However, it seemed more like Madonna was giving a tribute to herself rather than Franklin which came off as very rude. After that somewhat of a tribute, Camila Cabello was given the biggest award of the night, Artist of the Year. She also picked up Video of the Year earlier in the night.

While there may have not been too many shady comments or jabs at a certain celebrity, the VMAs was entertaining enough for someone to watch it. Yes, the majority of the performances were mediocre, but that’s really the nature of the show. This is a chance for celebrities to get what’s off their mind and let loose. So if I was a watcher, I wouldn’t be too interested in the awards and performances, but rather the drama.