The MTV Video Music Awards last month sparked controversy and remorse as the two biggest events that took place were the infamous Kanye West outburst and Janet Jackson's tribute to her brother.  Because of these incidents, the Kanye West outburst especially, some of the awards were not given the full attention they deserved.

Matt and Kim, best known until now for their song "Daylight" which was featured in a Bacardi commercial, were given the Breakthrough Video Award for their music video, "Lessons Learned."

In this video Matt and Kim strip naked in New York City's Times Square.  They start the video out fully clothed and halfway through, are completely naked, shocking everyone they pass.  The expressions of the passerbys are priceless.

Near the end of the video they are forcibly restrained by police officers.  Many YouTubers say that this video was set up and they were either not naked or the police were actors.  Matt and Kim assure their fans that they were in fact naked and restrained by real police officers. 

In an interview for Pitchfork Magazine, Matt and Kim were asked if the part where cops tackled them was for real and Kim answers "Oh yeah, you should see the bruise the cop laid on me."  In another article, Matt openly jokes about how he got road-rash in areas where you would never want that problem to occur.

The story behind the cop incident is that people are required to have a permit to film nude in public.  "We had a permit that didn't say exactly what was going down, just two tourists dressed inappropriately for the weather," Matt said in an online interview.  The police officers didn't know they had a permit so they went after them.  Matt is seen in the video being pushed down to the ground where Kim is being restrained and then breaks free.  At this point the director yelled "we got permits!" and the police officers then backed off.  

"After the take, one cop was genuinely concerned," said Matt.  "He was like, 'Did I mess up the shot?' The cops in Times Square are really just making sure there are no sketchy vans lining up."

Accident or not, the cop-incident helped make the video what it is and assisted in its VMA victory.   If it weren't for this incident, we would have only seen Matt and Kim stripping down to nothing and then standing at a crosswalk in Times Square.  Instead we see them stripped down to nothing, standing at a crosswalk in Times Square and then being attacked by police officers.  This not only makes the video more intense but it helps carry out of the song's message.

"Lessons Learned" could be perceived as a song of defiance, challenge against the world.  When Matt and Kim were thinking of how to make a video for this song, they said in an interview that they wanted themselves to look as if they didn't care and what is a stronger message of apathy then stripping through Times Square in February's bitter-coldness and then fighting your way out of police officers' restraint?  This incident gave the video the momentum it needed to gain worldwide recognition and become a success.

"Lessons Learned" is a fantastic song to listen to you when you need a quiet pick-me-up rather than intense rock or over-synthesized beats and its video is perfect if you want to watch two musicians defying the social norm and literally not caring about what others think.

By Hillary Vandenberg

Major: Journalism: News Editorial

Minor: English

Hometown: Commerce Twp.

Year of Graduation: 2011