Outside of Lamar’s literally fiery opening performance and Pink’s medley before accepting the Video Vanguard award, no amount of confetti could hide the fact that this show generally lacked the kind of electric unpredictable spark that’s made VMAs of years past so interesting.

Hell, it didn’t even matter that Swift was only nominated for a single award (Best Collaboration, for “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever (Fifty Shades Darker)” with Zayn Malik, which she ended up winning); she still managed to dominate the conversation surrounding them.

Instead, It was the mere possibility of whether or not Swift would show her face after staying out of the public eye for so long, whether to perform her new single “Look What You Made Me Do” or make some kind of self-aware nod towards her longstanding feud (or lack thereof) with Perry .

Susan Bro, speaking out for her daughter once again Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images It’s always a little jarring when a moment like this happens during a show that also takes time to congratulate Demi Lovato “on an epic performance!” on behalf of Pepsi.

A few bright spots just couldn’t make up for a night full of confusing bits, flat jokes, desperate attempts to create viral hashtags, and the vast majority of performances coming and going so forgettably that they almost immediately floated away into the ether of blandness past.