BY LLOYD CARROLL

The annual MTV Video Music Awards -- known to the hip as the VMAs -- have become the unofficial fall entertainment kick-off event in New York. The show surprisingly returned to an unlikely venue, the Metropolitan Opera House, for the second time in its history. Woody Allen once said that 80% of life is just showing up, which certainly proved true for the nominees because, in reality, most performers cared more about appeasing the MTV execs than winning in their categories.

New artists often succeed from exposure on the station, and the biggest winner of the evening was 20 year-old pianist and native New Yorker, Alicia Keys. Keys was one of Clive Davis’s first signings for his new J Records label, and her platinum-selling Songs In A Minor has rewarded Davis’s faith, as it has given his fledgling label instant credibility and seed capital. Keys said that many labels bid for the rights to record her, but she signed with J Records because Davis gave her the most creative freedom.

Hoping to have the same impact in 2002 is Colombian pop star Shakira, who has won past VMA honors in the category of best foreign video and is expecting to release her first English album this November. When asked if she was concerned about the impending lack of privacy resulting from popularity, she replied, “I don’t get much privacy in my life now.”

2001 has been a rocky year in the corporate suite for many record companies. Christina Aguilera, another artist whose label president recently departed, expressed her feelings about the recent departure of Strauss Zalnick, former head of RCA: “I am concerned, but fortunately I have a solid management team who continue to look after me.”

One of the unexpected VMA winners was the Greenwich Village-based singer Moby, who won for Best Male Video. Always political, Moby gave MTV executives apoplexy at last year’s awards when he slapped a Gore-Lieberman bumper sticker on the podium. This year, in the pressroom, Moby attacked President Bush for his environmental policies but saved his most vicious attacks for Green Party founder Ralph Nader, who Moby holds responsible for Bush’s election. “Ralph Nader is a terrifying demagogue,” Moby stated.

Just as last year, Britney Spears gave a very risqué performance. Last year, Spears wore a flesh-toned bodysuit while crooning “Satisfaction.” This year, “I'm A Slave 4 U” was indecipherable as she pranced around the stage with a snake around her shoulders. Evidently, she was trying to make some allusion to the Garden of Eden. Spears wisely did not come back to the press area, so her long-time choreographer, Wade Robson, filled in. Well aware of the outrage caused by Spears’ semi-striptease last year, Robson chose to exasperate them again this year. “I can’t deny Britney’s desire to express her sensuality artistically,” Robson said rather unconvincingly.

Whereas most of the “A-list” acts avoided the press room (and MTV personnel did surprisingly little to encourage them), *NSYNC proved once again to be professionals by taking queries, most of them rather innocuous, from the media. Two of the boys, Lance Bass and Joey Fatone, will be making their film debuts this fall.

MTV did handle the tragic death of singer Aaliyah rather tastefully with an homage from various artists as well as a speech from her brother. One presenter was NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr., who lost his father in a crash at last year’s Daytona 500.” I certainly can relate to all that her family is going through,” he said sombrely.

By wearing his glasses throughout the night, host Jamie Foxx did something one rarely sees on television or in the movies these days. I asked him if he was making a fashion statement. “No, I just needed to be able to see,” he smiled. Look for Foxx to be feted in the near future by a grateful optical industry.