“Um… Mark? Pink is singing ‘Sober,’ and she’s upside down on a trapeze.”

Thanks to that announcement from Roommate Joe, I found myself watching this year’s MTV Video Music Awards. I haven’t watched, cared, or even thought about that show since Kriss Kross was a market force, so you can imagine my surprise when I really got into Sunday night’s broadcast.

Apparently, the rest of the world got into it, too. Because it’s not only Twitter that’s exploding with VMA chatter, but also my office, where many people are old enough to have crushed on David Cassidy. If you’re getting the kids and their mothers, then you’re doing something right.

So what is it about this year’s VMAs that made them click? I’ve got a few ideas, and if you watched (or heard) about the show, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

(1) Kanye West’s assholery created a vivid piece of theater

It’s one thing for West to interrupt acceptance speeches to bitch about his own awards-show losses, but it’s quite another for him to storm on stage and steal the spotlight from a teenager whose category (Best Female Video) he is not even eligible for. More than just a jerk, that makes West a hissable villain, which is compelling to watch.

It helps, too, that Beyoncé gave the drama a happy ending by ceding her acceptance speech for Best Video of the Year to Swift. Since West spoiled Swift’s party to agitate for Beyoncé, she was able to outclass and disown him with a single gesture.

And Swift’s speech was super cute, what with the shout out to her brother’s high school. Her sweetness created a perfect finale. (Maybe too perfect? I wouldn’t be surprised if  parts of this brouhaha were planned in advance, but now that I’m 30, I guess I’m cynical.)

2. The tribute to Michael Jackson was refreshingly devoid of disgusting bullshit

Who better than Madonna to speak about the pressures of being mega-famous? She’s one of the world’s leading authorities.

More than just a chastisement of celebrity culture, though, her speech was also a tribute to Michael Jackson as a person. By telling that story about their random movie night in 1991,Madonna humanized both Jackson and herself. More than any of the hysterical mourners who assaulted us this summer, she didn’t treat MJ or celebrities in general as a mystical class of people. She demonstrated instead that celebrities are just people, and she did it with a story that’s too dorky not to be true.

And sure, she called him a king and legend and all that stuff, but because she was so subdued, and because there were no spinning plates behind her or anything, it didn’t feel like she was trying to turn her praise into a circus act. For me, that let me focus on the more relatable pieces of what she was saying.

Another human moment came when Janet Jackson performed her half of the “Scream” choreography next to her brother’s projected image. It was striking to see both the person and the image doing the same dance moves, especially since Janet had been scrubbed from the video. We were given a vividly theatrical reminder that Michael Jackson is now trapped forever on a screen. Seeing him up there made me aware of the empty space next to Janet… the space where her dance partner should have been.

3. The live performances mostly rocked (and they really were live)

Muse and Green Day and Jay-Z & Alicia Keys threw down hard. Beyoncé was sexy and stylish. Pink boggled my mind with her aforementioned acrobatics. And Lady Gaga, whether I love her music or not, certainly proved to me that she is willing to take risks. I admire her willingness to do things that could make people mock her (like wearing that crazy red mask, or dedicating her award to “the gays” while Eminem stood and watched).

And I respect Lady Gaga for singing “Paparazzi” live. In fact, it seemed like everyone sang live. After seeing Britney Spears lip-sync her way through a multimillion dollar show—and after watching the VMAs in the early 90s, when everyone had a vocal track—I was pleasantly surprised to hear so many actual voices. As a bonus, no one sounded like utter buttcrack. Well, maybe Lady Gaga did a little, but God bless her… who among us could stay in tune if we had all that fake blood in our eyes?

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You know, the thing all those examples have in common is that they made the show feel real. As in, we saw actual people up there doing their jobs as entertainers, and then occasionally demonstrating that everything doesn’t have to be a damn performance all the time (GaGa notwithstanding.) Maybe that’s why this year’s VMAs became must-see TV: They felt like they were created by people, and not by androids from the planet Fameotron.

What do you think?