VMAs 2013: Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, and 'NSYNC Deliver the Night's Best and Worst Moments

The VMA pre-show promised fashion suited for the patently crazy awards show — after all, Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, and Lady Gaga were all showing up. But the result? Looks that were more predictable than an 'NSYNC reunion. Sorry, Katy — we know you tried with your leopard-print dress, but we were only left wanting more bite.

Because someone had to do something interesting on the VMA red carpet this year.

Poor Danity Kane. Not only has its most famous member — Aubrey O'Day — been relegated to reality TV to maintain a career, but the band created by P. Diddy chose to reunite the same night as the most famous reunion in VMA history. And they seemed to know it too — competing with 'NSYNC, one of the biggest boy bands of all time, the girl band announced their reunion with so much ennui, you'd think they were watching an episode of About Aubrey.

After Lady Gaga emerged from an egg during the 2011 Video Music Awards, we expected the pop star to hatch bigger things for her first performance in two years. But Gaga came armed only with four costume changes — and while her speed was impressive, we'd already seen the looks before, in her "Applause" video.

It has been far too long since Saturday Night Live star Vanessa Bayer unearthed her Miley Cyrus impression — after all, Cyrus has long abandoned the "pretty cool" teen image Bayer based her impression on. But how great to see her revive it, especially since it was followed by...

The former Disney Channel star certainly brought the crazy the Video Music Awards are known for, but her tongue-brandishing ways just clashed too much with the radio-ready pop of "We Can't Stop." (Identity crisis much?) Still, it was much better than Cyrus' duet of "Blurred Lines" with Robin Thicke, which saw Cyrus vamping across the stage in a nude bikini, humping a foam hand. If she was trying to make Thicke's music video seem tame — clearly channeling the naked women from the controversial vid — she succeeded. Unfortunately, she also succeeded in embarrassing herself. We really wish Cyrus could stop.

Thicke followed up the most unpleasant "Blurred Lines" performance of all time (thanks, Miley) with a perfectly lovely "Give It 2 U." He might still be the poor man's Justin Timberlake, but could anyone pull off Beetlejuice chic like Thicke?

The presenting duo seemed about as aware of where they were as a pair of lost tourists looking for Times Square.

The comedian took the stage to ramble off some thoughts about the show thus far, but Twitter already beat him to every single joke he tried. The best joke he had following Miley Cyrus' "Blurred Lines"? "Miley better get a damn pregnancy test after doing all of that riding." And the 'NSYNC fart jokes? Kevin, it's time to listen to your own advice: "It's the VMAs, turn it up."

Perhaps he's tamed thanks to fatherhood, but the VMAs wouldn't be the VMAs unless Kanye West did something headline-worthy. Unfortunately, his "Blood on the Leaves" performance was so subdued, TV audiences suffering from Miley Cyrus PTSD hardly even noticed it.

And thanks the man who inspired her "I Knew You Were Trouble" for helping her win a Moon Man. And the Internet collectively sighs.

The pair pulled off an expected win with "Same Love" in the VMAs' "Best Video with a Social Message" category — not to mention an expected heart-warming speech. Accepting his Moon Man for his gay marriage-focused single, Macklemore noted that "out of every single song that I have ever written, to me, this is the most important record out of all of them." To boot: "Gay rights are human rights. There is no separation." This, and their subsequent awesome performance of their summer hit, is called winning.

Accepting the Vanguard Video Award, Justin Timberlake made sure to showcase his lifetime achievement, beginning his performance with a pre-taped "Take Back the Night" (disappointing!) before launching into his greatest hits, including "Sexy Back," "Cry Me a River," "Rock Your Body," and "Like I Love You" (amazing!). His still-solid dance moves were enough to thrill the most ardent of Timberlake fans…

…but it was his reunion with 'NSYNC that had every boy band fan dialing 9-1-1, because we needed to be revived after this revival. Not just because their performance of "Gone" and "Bye Bye Bye" had even had Lady Gaga — clad in seashells — dancing like a 13-year-old girl, but because we only got "Gone" and "Bye Bye Bye" ?!

One Direction's fans helped catapult the band's "Best Song Ever" to a win in the Song of the Summer category. Even though, stacked up against "Blurred Lines" and "Get Lucky," it was anything but. Bad luck, Robin and Daft Punk.

Predictably professional, the singer brought some polish to the very unpolished VMAs with his new single, "Gorilla." How did he just win his first Moon Man this year for "Locked Out of Heaven"?

We might have been disappointed to say "Bye Bye Bye" to 'NSYNC so quickly, but dude deserved the win for "Mirrors." And to dedicate his Moon Man to his grandparents, the pair who inspired the music video? Forget "Take Back the Night," Justin — you have officially have taken back our hearts.

Cheesy? Yes. Catchy? Most definitely yes. The "Roar" singer might be facing off against Lady Gaga when their albums come out this fall, but, if Sunday night was any indication, Perry — who admittedly had the advantage of a beautiful Brooklyn Bridge backdrop — will win the pop music battle with a TKO.

The biggest surprise of the night? The VMAs ran eight minutes under its expected runtime. Now, that's an award-worthy achievement.

Okay, so this wasn't officially part of the Video Music Awards. But the new episode — which aired right before the VMA pre-show — was so crazy, we had no choice but to clap for the episode. Or, rather slow clap — because, oddly and insanely, that's exactly what the episode's straight, male catfish subject did when Nev and Max found out he indeed wasn't the buxom woman he claimed to be. In fact, the catfisher — convinced he was doing the world a favor by catching cheating significant others — was so unbalanced, we're ready to clap our lap tops shut and stay offline forever. Image: MTV