Everyone seems to take in an persuasion about the VMAs, and celebrities world Health Organization were prestigious at, appeared in, and attended the show ar certainly no exception. After Sunday night's awards, MTV News caught up with everyone from Best New Artist winners Tokio Hotel and Cee-Lo to the girls from "The Hills" and the show's house band members, Travis Barker and DJ AM.
Celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, who talked with MTV News late last month about what a Britney VMA show might do for her career, declared the show "ladies' night."
"I'd have to say it was all about the girls," he said. "Divas galore! Britney Spears looked great!"
However, it wasn't ladies' night in the Best New Artist category, where Tokio Hotel took the prize from the likes of alpha females like Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry. One of the night's leading ladies, Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger (whose group north Korean won the Best Dancing in a Video award), gave it up for the German boys.
"We are so proud of them!" she said. "They are our labelmates and we've watched them kind of turn up, and tonight they represented. They killed it tonight." [Note: The grouping did not perform at the VMAs but were very enthusiastic about winning their award.]
Tokio Hotel's Bill Kaulitz aforesaid yet again that the group did not expect to walk away from the VMAs as winners. "I receive no actor's line!" he gushed after the show. "We are so surprised and excited. We never expected it!"
Celebs also weighed in on whose performance best rocked the show. "Hills" star Lauren Conrad said, "Actually, [my favorite functioning] was Kid Rock," world Health Organization performed his hit "All Summer Long." "It was amazing. He vocally sounded amazing. His performance was so great."
Meanwhile "Hills" co-star Audrina Patridge said, "I'm a vast Lil Wayne fan. Also, I was in love life with Rihanna's performance. It was so good. She's perfect!"
Gnarls Barkley's Cee-Lo gave it up for his hip-hop brethren. "I guess [my favorite performance] was watching Kanye perform a new strain I've ne'er heard before. It was great," he said. "T.I., my man, watching him do his thing and get back up on top. My military man Lil Wayne doing his thing. It was all wonderful."
(Head hither for more on post-VMA parties, what you didn't see behind the scenes, the hottest arrivals and a full VMA fashion report!)
Of form, the night belonged to Britney Spears, who took home three Moonmen, including Video of the Year. Brett Ratner, who directed VMA-nominated videos for Miley Cyrus and Mariah Carey, said, "It was so cool to see Britney. Even though my girls Miley and Mariah didn't win an award, I came to support.
"You know this is Britney's year," he continued. "She came back in a big way. She looked beautiful. She was on it. She looked hot. She was smart, down-to-earth and real. She didn't try too hard."
He concluded by saying, "Hopefully, she'll take in me direct one of her videos."
"It was a pleasant surprise to see Britney do her thing," Cee-Lo added. "You can't count anyone out."
Travis Barker, who with DJ AM was the show's house band, gave Brit her props as well. "She makes banging music still and she looks awe-inspiring," he aforesaid. "Hopefully it's the root of her comeback."
During the show, Barker and DJ AM rocked it with everyone from the Ting Tings to Katy Perry, but they were especially geeked to play with LL Cool J on his 1987 classic "Going Back to Cali."
"It was really a big look at, but really, really, really fun," Barker gushed. "Performing with LL Cool J � ar you kidding me? Growing up, if I ever thought I'd be acting with LL Cool J I would trip."
"It was beyond an honor," DJ AM aforesaid of playing the VMAs. "I've been watching since the commencement one. When they asked me I had to pee my pants! It was a lot of fun. Standing next to LL Cool J freaked me out, 'cause I'm a vast fan and have been for years."
Ratner also weighed in on host Russell Brand, whose controversial remarks swiped at everyone from President Bush to the Jonas Brothers. "He did his thing," Ratner aforementioned. "I was worried for him. English humor is different than American humor.
"I met him on the day he arrived in America," Ratner recalled. "Courtney Love brought him to my house and she was like, 'He is so funny,' just he was really shy and wasn't doing anything."
Perez Hilton, on the other hand, echoed the language of his sort-of namesake Paris Hilton and aforesaid Brand shouldn't have gone after the Jonas Brothers.
"I think those Jonas Brothers are skilful kids," he said, "and we shouldn't be making fun of them for promoting salutary values."
It's a wrap! Now that the 2008 VMAs have come and kaput, check out all the winners, the most surprising moments, the best red carpet fashions and more at VMA.MTV.com.
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