Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga steal the show at MuchMusic Video Awards - Globe and Mail

<div readability="120.36890437"> <p>A week in downtown Toronto's arts and cultural life that was dominated by the festivals of Luminato and North by Northeast was capped off by an electric spectacle of sound, vision and shrieking hormonal glee. On Sunday evening, the annual MuchMusic Video Awards ceremony, a glossy bomb blast of youth music and all its inherent excitability, happened in spectacle style.</p> <p>After his sound check earlier in the afternoon, Bruno Mars tweeted "Lets [sic] have some fun tonight Toronto." It was a reasonable request and expectation by the pompadoured U.S. pop star, as it wasn't award announcements that carried the night, but joyful razzamatazz and smiling uproar.</p><p>Trophy claims were secondary to upbeat outdoor performances on a urban-themed stage by international-video-winner Far East Movement, bluesy rockers the Black Keys, a kohl-eyed Avril Lavigne, Simple Plan and Fefe Dobson, a night-gowned Selena Gomez, City and Colour, the charismatically smooth hit-maker Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga, the blue-wigged pop provocateur who opened and closed the swiftly-moving two-hour broadcast.</p><p>That being said, the blocky trophies (newly designed and right-angled) weren't being treated as paper weights, even if the did weigh in at 4.5 kilograms per. Toronto-area R&amp;B crooner Shawn Desman won the prize for top video (Electric/Night Like This), while a video starring his younger brother Danny Fernandes won for top post-production (Automatic).</p><p>The ever-noticeable Lady Gaga was a multiple winner (international video artist for Judas and a fans' choice victor for Born This Way), as was Justin Bieber.</p><p>Mr. Bieber, whose appearance was unadvertised but not unexpected, earned the most audience screams and squeals of the evening. The Baby singer won one of three UR Fave awards, voted on by fans. The show was hosted charmingly by the young actress and singer Gomez, romantically linked to Mr. Bieber.</p><p>Ultimately, it was, as always, the young fans who won the most. The shrieking teens don't buy music in the manner or the volumes purchased by previous generations, but they consume it voraciously. This was their night of appreciation.</p><p><strong>THE WINNERS</strong></p><p><strong>Video:</strong> Shawn Desman's Electric/Night Like This</p><p><strong>International Video Artist:</strong> Lady Gaga's Judas</p><p><strong>International Video Group:</strong> Far East Movement, featuring The Cataracs and Dev, for Like a G6</p><p><strong>International Video by a Canadian: </strong>(Tie) Drake's Find Your Love and Justin Bieber's Somebody to Love (remix)</p><p><strong>Pop Video: </strong>Down With Webster's Whoa is Me</p><p><strong>Rock Video: </strong>Abandon All Ships' Geeving</p><p><strong>Hip Hop Video:</strong> Classified's That Ain't Classy</p><p><strong>Director: </strong>Sean Wainsteim, for You Say Party's Lonely's Lunch</p><p><strong>Post-Production:</strong> RT!, for Danny Fernandez's Automatic</p><p><strong>Cinematography:</strong> Blake McGrath's Relax</p><p><strong>Indie Video:</strong> Jdiggz, featuring Neverending White Lights, for This Time</p><p><strong>Most Watched: </strong>Taio Cruz's Dynamite</p><p><strong>UR Fave Video (fan-voted): </strong>Fefe Dobson's Stuttering</p><p><strong>UR Fave International Artist:</strong> Lady Gaga's Born This Way</p><p><strong>UR Fave Artist: </strong>Justin Bieber, featuring Usher, for Somebody to Love (remix)</p> </div>