MuchMusic Video Awards: Drake Surprises and Wins Big, PSY Retires ‘Gentleman’

Drake made a surprise appearance, Avril Lavigne thanked her dad, and PSY said farewell thee “Gentleman” at the 2013 MuchMusic Video Awards in Toronto last night, a massive outdoor celebration that shut down the streets around the Bell Media building and allowed thousands of fans to watch for free. 

The show was broadcast live on MuchMusic in Canada and Fuse in the U.S.

Billed as the co-host, PSY, who opened the two-hour show with a performance of his mega-hit “Gangnam Style,” complete with ubiquitous giddy-up dance, also closed out the festivities with his new hit “Gentleman” and in the middle of the MMVAS humorously paid a little dance homage to Beyonce’s “Single Ladies.”

In the press room backstage, he said, “By the way, this was the official last performance of ‘Gentleman’ on TV, which was all with the fireworks, with the greatest crowd ever, and besides I close the show so it was a really touching moment, so bless ‘Gentlemen.’ Thank you Canada.”

There were plenty of thanks you throughout the evening — not just from PSY who of course won “Viral Video of the Year” for “Gangnam Style,” now clocking in at 1.6 billion views — as the majority of MMVA winners were actually in attendance.

Taylor Swift — who added Your Fave International Artist or Group to her collection — had been in Toronto with opener Ed Sheeran, Friday and Saturday, playing two massive shows at Rogers Centre, a stadium that hasn’t seen that kind of back-to-back concert activity from a young artist (Bieber was there in December for one show) in recent years. Sheeran got to show MMVA viewers just why he landed the coveted Swift tour when he played his song “Lego House.”

Bieber won Your Face Artist or Group, but was not in town to pick it up.  Ever-rising pop/rock band Marianas Trench was, however, for Your Fave Video for their song “Stutter” and Pop Video of the Year for “Desperate Measures.” The band — fronted by Josh Ramsay, co-writer of “Call Me Maybe” — also played “Desperate Measures.” 

When Avril Lavigne went up onstage to accept International Video of the Year by a Canadian for her new single “Here’s to Never Growing Up,” which she would also perform live on the show, she told everyone “Happy Father’s Day. My dad’s here today.” The other man in her life, fiancé Chad Kroeger, was the one to accompany her on the red carpet though. 

While Macklemore, Ryan Lewis and Wanz weren’t in town to pick up the hardware for International Video of the Year for “Thrift Shop,” nor deadmau5 and Chris James for Dance Video of the Year for “The Veldt,” a blonde Demi Lovato — who told Ellen last month she changes her hair color a lot because she’s bi-polar — did come in to collect International Video of the Year for “Heart Attack” and sing the song spliced with “Give Your Heart A Break.”

First-time nominee and performer Serena Ryder also did a medley of her hit “Stompa” (the song was used in American Idol back in April) and “What I Wouldn’t Do” and grabbed Rock/Alternative Video of the Year for the former.  Bonafide hard rockers Billy Talent — who the previous night performed a free concert to thousands at Yonge-Dundas Square after headlining an arena show at Air Canada Centre two months ago, got Post-Production of the Year for their song “Surprise Surprise.”

And the big surprise of the 2013 MMVAs? Hard-to-pin down hometown rapper Drake showing up unannounced. He won Hip Hop Video of the Year for “Started From The Bottom” and Canadian Director X nabbed Director of the Year for his work on the song. Another Canadian rapper, Classified, whose star continues to rise at home, won Video Of The Year and “MuchFACT Video of the Year” for the song he did with fellow East Coaster, singer-songwriter David Myles on “Inner Ninja.” MuchFACT is a grant organization that helps eligible Canadian artists make videos. 

The 2013 MMVA Winners:

YOUR FAVE Video
Marianas Trench – “Stutter”
(MuchFACT funded)

YOUR FAVE Artist or Group
Justin Bieber

YOUR FAVE International Artist or Group
Taylor Swift

Video Of The Year
Classified f. David Myles – “Inner Ninja”
(MuchFACT funded)

International Video of the Year – Artist
Demi Lovato – “Heart Attack” 

International Video of the Year – Group
Macklemore And Ryan Lewis f. Wanz – “Thrift Shop”

Pop Video of the Year
Marianas Trench – “Desperate Measures”

Dance Video of the Year
deadmau5 f. Chris James – “The Veldt”

Hip Hop Video of the Year
Drake – “Started From The Bottom”

Rock/Alternative Video of the Year
Serena Ryder – “Stompa”

International Video of the Year by a Canadian
Avril Lavigne – “Here’s to Never Growing Up”

Director of the Year
Drake – “Started From The Bottom”
Director X

Post-Production of the Year
Billy Talent – “Surprise Surprise”

MuchFACT Video of the Year
Classified f. David Myles – “Inner Ninja”
(MuchFACT funded)

Viral Video of the Year
PSY – “Gangnam Style”