I went to the VMAS ?!

Ever since I was young, one of my biggest dreams was to attend an award show. Everything from the glitz and glam to seeing how happy the artists and actors were when receiving an award always had me looking at it with puppy dog eyes and big dreams.

I am SO EXCITED to say that 5 year old Halina would be absolutely ecstatic to hear that that dream finally came true and that 24 year old Halina got to live it out.

The two questions that seemed to be a topic of conversation when telling my friends and coworkers that I was going were: "HOW?!" and "HOW MUCH?!" followed by the occasional gasp of shock when answering "I got them for free". Now you also may be wondering the first question of "HOW?!" when I mention the topic of "free".

The answer to that is simple.. (kinda). There is this website called 1iota. Now if you are not familiar with it, this website is a fan to audience website. By this, I mean they provide fans with opportunities to attend anything from tv tapings (such as TRL & Jimmy Fallon) to movie premieres and music festivals. It is a fairly simple website to use and so worth the (FREE) experience.

This year, I remembered that The MTV VMA's would be hosted at none other than.... The Prudential Center. The second I remembered this, I had put on my notifications for 1iota's tweets to make sure I did not miss the drop of these tickets. I checked my phone constantly making sure I saw every notification that popped up.

I remember the tweet that they released the tickets going off during a lunch with my sister and how I pulled my phone out and immediately started filling out my information. The things about these kind of drops is that you have to be QUICK. Usually the faster you are with requests, the more likely you are to get tickets. It's not always the case but sure does help!

A few days go by and I get the email asking me to confirm that I will be able to attend a mandatory covid test in order to be a seat filler. I was a bit confused at first as it did not send me a ticket confirmation. However, after speaking with representatives from the company, they reassured me that as long as I tested negative, they would send me the ticket... which as you can probably tell by the title of this article.. yes, I did.

The next two days were spent seeing Harry Styles at his residency (yes, AGAIN. Shoutout to my friend, Jae for giving me her ticket last minute) and stressing over the outfit I would wear to ~possibly~ see some of my favorite artists.

I ended up settling with a black dress with gemstone straps and a side slit covered in those same gemstones along with black heels (completely dismissing the fact that 1iota reps said non-heeled shoes would probably be more comfy) and a half up hairstyle.

It was then time to finally make my way to The VMA's.. aka The Prudential Center. I took the train and walked a few blocks until I along with others were redirected to another location on the other side of the building for the ticket holders. On the way there, I talked to other holders and if our excitement wasn't noticeable by our faces, it sure was by the pitch of our voices while talking.

Upon arriving at the arena, different ticket holders were separated into different sections of the lot and assigned with different colored wristbands, I walked to my designated section after being checked in and screened at security. Once we were past security, we had TWO HOURS left to kill before we were finally let into the building. Here, I was able to talk to and make friends with people sitting around me and exchanged socials as people do in 2022.

After taking pictures around the arena (& paying 12 dollars for a bottle of water), we found our seats and waited for the show to start. As soon as I sat down in my seat, the anticipation of FINALLY living out one of my childhood dreams was starting to hit. The lights dimmed and the MC announced that there was 1 minute till showtime. Here we GOOOO! I know I was not presenting or performing but the nerves I felt as they counted down were REAL.

The show opened with Jack Harlow performing his newest hit First Class which samples Fergie's Glamorous which.. surprise, she ended up performing with him. Insane !! The show continued with artists winning their respected awards. Notable wins of the night included Bad Bunny winning MTV VMA Artist of the year which also made him the first Latino /non english speaking artist to win this award. Nicki Minaj performed a medley of her biggest hits including Super Bass, Monster, Chun-Li and her newest single Super Freaky Girl before being presented with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. The night then ended with Taylor Swift not only accepting the Video of the Year award for All too Well: 10 Minute Version (The Short Film) but ALSO ANNOUNCING HER 10TH STUDIO ALBUM TITLED MIDNIGHTS out October 21.

In the midst of all of this going on and having Conan Gray and Yung Gravy sitting less than 20 feet away from me, I just so happened to meet one of my all time favorite singers... TATE MCRAE (most known for her singles you broke me first and she's all i wanna be) who is just as sweet and as beautiful as she is portrayed in the media.

Even though I regretted wearing my heels and had to pay the price for not listening to the reps about it, to say this was a night to remember is an absolute understatement and I am so grateful to have been given this opportunity and cannot wait until the next one.

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Lots of love,

Halina <3