Celebrating ‘Music of Black Origin,’ Wednesday night’s MOBO ceremony honoured some of the most successful R&B, Soul, Hip-Hop, Urban and Rap artists of recent years. Most successful on the night was Jessie J, who won four awards and performed live for the Glasgow crowd. There were also performances from Jason Derulo, Dappy and a guest appearance by Ms Dynamite among others.
As glamorous as all of that sounds, the show itself was less than impressive. Jason Derulo and Alesha Dixon’s attempts at hosting were awkward at the best of times, the former even unaware at one stage that he was on camera and expected to introduce the next act. Admittedly, this is not their field of expertise, but there have been better Eurovision hosts, and that really is saying something! If the poor attempts at humour had been avoided the hosts might have been easier to watch, instead they tended to be funny for all the wrong reasons.
The duo’s front of house effort was accompanied by backstage interviews from Tinchy Stryder and Dappy. They were at times impossible to understand as a result of their constant use of slang and abbreviations. The interviews themselves took on the appearance of a casual encounter between both parties, as if they had by chance bumped into each other walking down a street or at the local supermarket. While it is unreasonable to expect anybody on any television show to abandon their natural accent and speaking habits it would have made the ceremony considerably more watchable if the pair had held back just a little in order to make what they were saying clearer for the audience.
On the presenting front the MOBOs could have done themselves a huge favour in getting more experienced hosts and interviewers to front the show. Neither is an easy job and to the credit of those involved, nothing went completely wrong. However, surely somebody like BBC’s Reggie Yeats or Mylene Klass, who was there to present an award, would have been more suited to the task and might have given the ceremony a much more professional appearance.
Even those who came to present the awards were guilty of more than a few poor attempts at humour. Most culpable were Corrie’s lesbian couple Sacha Parkinson and Brooke Vincent, dragging out a ‘which would you prefer...a MOBO award or...’ gag far beyond reasonable limits.
The performances themselves highlighted just how reliant many of the ‘artists’ are on modern studio technology. The songs themselves, when heard on the radio are, for the most part, excellent and are rightly popular, but when performed live it is worryingly clear just how weak the vocals of some of today’s top performers are. As the public are now increasingly aware of when an act is miming, or cheating with on stage auto-tune, as in last year’s X-Factor, performers can no longer get away with such deception. From Jason Derulo’s medley to Boyz 2 Men’s finale at the end of the show, most of the performances highlighted the limitations rather than the strengths of the singers in the music being celebrated. Surprisingly, it was Dappy who more than held his own with a song from his upcoming album, showing that he can rap and sing with equal skill.
It was Dionne Bromfield who shone on the night and exhibited a live performance as near to perfection as can be achieved. The 15 year old paid tribute to her godmother, Amy Winehouse, with a performance of ‘Love is a Losing Game.’ Her voice showed a maturity beyond her years and she stole the show with the performance, towering over her contemporaries who clearly struggled with the live performances.
For future ceremonies, the MOBOs could do a considerable amount for their image with more experienced presenters and interviewers. Even a balance of artists and seasoned presenters would have resulted in a much more professional show than total reliance on acts used to being on the receiving end of the questions. On the other hand, little can be done to rectify the live vocals of some of the performances on the night. Without the visual, a listener could be forgiven for thinking they were hearing an X-Factor audition show instead of an award ceremony. Highlight of the show however, was undoubtedly Dionne Broomfield whose performance rescued an otherwise average night of live performances. She’s certainly one to watch as one of the most talented new comers to the UK music scene.
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The performances themselves highlighted just how reliant many of the ‘artists’ are on modern studio technology. The songs themselves, when heard on the radio are, for the most part, excellent and are rightly popular, but when performed live it is worryingly clear just how weak the vocals of some of today’s top performers are. As the public are now increasingly aware of when an act is miming, or cheating with on stage auto-tune, as in last year’s X-Factor, performers can no longer get away with such deception. From Jason Derulo’s medley to Boyz 2 Men’s finale at the end of the show, most of the performances highlighted the limitations rather than the strengths of the singers in the music being celebrated. Surprisingly, it was Dappy who more than held his own with a song from his upcoming album, showing that he can rap and sing with equal skill.
