Half of us are joking but it's true to some degree. Not even Eminem or Drake or Kanye was there either, and the major stars didn't even perform sans Bey.
The only way you could say that an artist could save it, or that it would have been different if that artist was there was if they were at a VMAs and were the only superstar there and the ratings were still massive. Coincidence doesn't make a trend. So, if your fave performed at a high rated event but there was also a lot of other stars there, it's not because of your fave.