Munya Vomo
THE 20th MTV Europe Music Awards took place at the weekend and they were hosted by US rapper, Nikki Minaj. She performed on the night and also won an award, allowing her to enjoy the evening for a variety of reasons.
Last year, the event was held in Amsterdam and was hosted by Redfoo (pictured) from the group, LMFAO. The musician also attended this year’s edition and spoke exclusively to Tonight about his experiences.
“I was so happy to be part of the MTV EMAs. I love their tone or voice. I was excited to go out there and cut loose,” he said.
At these awards, Redfoo was to be found all over the place and obviously had the time of his life.
“I planned to give crazy energy, just like you would expect. It had to be something ridiculous and I had to wear a kilt. We ran an insane competition on the internet where we asked fans to tell us what they wanted to see under the kilt. We had options like a crazy speedo, thong (I don’t like the word ‘thong’ for a man) or that I should go commando and I had to do what they asked which is just rock the kilt,” he explained excitedly.
For him, the MTV EMAs are one of this favourite events of the year, thanks to their high production value.
“My past EMA experiences have been crazy. Last year was Amsterdam and we had a lot of fun. It’s just always a huge party where we get all the artists from all over the world to come and have a good time while we celebrate their contributions. The after parties are always fun and for us we love seeing a whole city light up because all the people’s favourite artists are in town. It is really exciting, even though it is freezing in Glasgow,” he said.
“I like to wear a nice jacket for the red carpet, just to look good. Although I ended up wearing the kilt, I had a lot of choices in the closet,” he explained.
With the success that LMFAO have had over the years in South African clubs, you would think the group would have come to perform here by now. Redfoo agreed that it will happen, but maybe not as LMFAO.
“I have to get down there. The first plan is to drop the solo album and kind of figure it out from there.
“We are planning a worldwide tour and coming to South Africa is something that I have wanted to do for a while now. So coming there with new music would be incredible,” he said.
While he intends to come to the country, he was honest enough to say that he had no idea how South Africans have taken to his music.
“I am not so aware, but I would like to come and find out. It would be great to do some shows there and meet all the fans as we party with them. It would be nice to also see some radio and TV stations and the newspapers and magazines, too. What’s a good time to come there?” he said, and we discussed South Africa’s climate and seasons.
Bringing the conversation back to the group, LMFAO, we talked about how the acronym (which stands for Laughing My F**king Ass Off) was the right name for the group.
“LMFAO came as a thing that we thought would greatly explain who we are. Everything we do is supposed to be funny. We wanted to add the title ‘laughing’ in our name and it kind of gave us our compass. Everything we did had to have people ‘LMFAO’. Even with the Redfoo project. ‘Foo’ stands for ‘fool’ and so I have to be a little foolish and a little silly. Red stands for passion so it’s all ‘Foolish Passion’,” he explained.
While their videos are usually funny, not everyone gets their brand of humour and Redfoo was open to talking about it.
“We get negative comments all the time from people who are selling something different. It’s competition so a lot of the negativity comes from a place of contempt.
“These people will say to me: ‘But that’s silly’ and I tell them that I am a silly person and enjoy writing silly songs. They then say: But your material is not serious’ and I say that I don’t intend my music to be serious.
“I want to escape and go to the club after work and forget about my worries. If I am travelling, or am on holiday, I want to listen to Sexy and I Know It,” he said.
So what can we expect from the new album?
“The new album will have sexy tunes on it. It’s dope for the club and the girls really like this one because of the saxophone.
“ The video for New Thing has the sexy sax and even though it is a little slower, it is still a party anthem.”