‘Raise Your Glass’ For Pink! MTV Names Singer As 2017 Recipient Of Video Vanguard Award
Singer Pink is the latest to be recognized by MTV for one of the network’s highest honors: The Video Vanguard.
The “What About Us?” vocalist was officially slated by the music network on Monday as the person who will receive this year’s tribute, occasionally referred to by its full title, The Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards, as Just Jared reports.
Nowadays considered to be one of the greatest stage acts in the world of music, Pink follows fellow pop heavyweight Rihanna, who garnered the Video Vanguard win at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards, and treated the MTV audience to a multiple string of performances, including memorable renditions of “Where Have You Been?” and “Love On the Brain,” that were set throughout the special telecast last August.
Pink, whose latest album Beautiful Trauma is set for an October 13 release, recently touched base with Billboard on the recording process of her new album, led off by the singer’s new single, the inspirational “What About Us?” now streaming on Vevo, Apple Music, and other online music clients.
“I have a thing that every songwriting session that I go into,” Pink told Billboard earlier this week, “[and] it’s such a sacred space, and I don’t ever think about what a song is [written] for.”
Continuing on about her process of making music, the Grammy-nominated winning singer and songwriter, who, as it just so happens, once collaborated with fellow MTV Video Vanguard recipients Beyonce and Britney Spears for a Pepsi advertisement in 2001, went on to say that when it comes to her music, it’s usually best for her not to over-saturate her lyrics with too many personal experiences or beliefs.
“It’s really just about allowing it to happen and be whatever it decides to be,” the singer, born Alecia Beth Moore in 1979, continued with Billboard, adding, “[music] tells you, or [it] tells the people [who] are [listening] what it should mean [to them].
“If you go in with a kind of prescriptive attitude of, you know, ‘This is going to be or should be a single,’ then I think you probably limit its potential.”
As with past MTV Video Vanguard dedications, it’s safe to reason that the pop-rock powerhouse, who is also wife to former motocross athlete Carey Hart and mother to two of his kids, is preparing to pull off a performance that may be the talk of social media the night of and day following the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards.
The star-studded music ceremony, said to be honoring the visual works of artists that were released between August 2016 and July 2017, is taking place this year in California on Sunday, August 27, from The Forum in Inglewood, as MTV notes.
In a post sharing the news of Pink being named the 2017 Video Vanguard, MTV conveyed that the artist, who released her first disc Can’t Take Me Home in 2001, is someone who is well deserving of the crown.
“Ever since her debut in the heyday of early 2000s pop,” MTV writes, “Pink [has] stood out from her contemporaries thanks to her punk style, her powerful vocals, and her party-ready attitude.”
That ready-to-go persona has been heard in songs such as the hilariously nonchalant flip-off “So What?” from her Funhouse album in 2008, which is themed around a temporary split from Hart a few years into their marriage.
The two reconciled eventually and a brave Carey even made a cameo appearance in the seemingly contentious but truly loving video of the song, as an homage to the “beautiful trauma” that sometimes enters his and Pink’s still-solid courtship.
Pink will receive her Video Vanguard trophy live on the 2017 MTV Music Awards telecast on August 27 at 8/7c. Please check your listings for repeat showtimes.
[Featured Image by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]
