The MTV Video Music Awards took place again on Tuesday evening (September 12th) in Newark, New Jersey. This year too, the best clips that flickered across screens and all types of screens in the past twelve months were honored. The big winner of the event was clearly Taylor Swift, who made VMA history with nine awards in one evening.
Taylor Swift and K-Pop dominate the VMAs
All in all, it was an award show in which the female artists were the main focus. In the majority of categories, women and bands with at least one woman in them went home as prize winners. Taylor Swift was at the forefront. The singer, who is currently filling halls worldwide with her “The Eras” tour, was nominated eleven times and won a total of nine awards.
Swift took home the categories “Video of the Year,” “Aritst of the Year,” “Song of the Year,” “Best Pop,” “Best Direction,” “Best Cinematography,” “Best Visual Effects,” “Show of the Summer” and “Album of the Year”. This means that she holds the record for the most prizes in one evening among the winners. Only prog-pop singer Peter Gabriel, who won ten awards in a ceremony in 1987 with “Sledgehammer,” is ahead of her.
But that’s not all: Swift now has a total of 23 VMAs in her trophy collection, which means she has overtaken Madonna (20 VMAs). Only Beyoncé is ahead of her with 26 of the so-called “moon men”. Additionally, Taylor Swift shattered her own record from last year by winning Video of the Year for the fourth time in a row. At the end of the event, the musician seemed overwhelmed by her success: “OK. “This is incredible,” Swift began her speech upon her final win. “I just want to say: The fact that this award is determined by the fans means so much to me based on the memories we’ve made over the past time.”
The second big winners of the evening were the group Blackpink and K-Pop as a whole. Blackpink won “Group of the Year” and “Best Choreography”. Her compatriots from Tomorrow X Together won “Push Performance of the Year”. In the specially created “Best K-Pop” category, the award went to Stray Kids.
Other winners of the evening included Shakira, Olivia Rodrigo and Ice Spice, who was named “Best New Artist”.
All winners at a glance
Video of the Year
Taylor Swift – “Anti Hero”
Achievement of the Year
Taylor Swift
Song of the Year
Taylor Swift – “Anti Hero”
Best New Artist
Ice Spice
Push Performance of The Year
Tomorrow X Together – “Sugar Rush Ride”
Best Collaboration
Karol G & Shakira – “TQG”
Best Pop
Taylor Swift – “Anti Hero”
Best hip hop
Nicki Minaj – “Super Freaky Girl”
Best R&B
SZA – “Shirt”
Best alternative
Lana Del Rey feat. Jon Batiste – “Candy Necklace”
Best Rock
Måneskin – “The Lonliest”
Best Latin
Anitta – “Funk Rave”
Best K Pop
Stray Kids – “S-Class”
Best Afrobeats
Rema & Selena Gomez – “Calm Down”
Video For Good
Dove Cameron – “Breakfast”
Best direction
Taylor Swift – “Anti-Hero” (Director: Taylor Swift)
Best Cinematography
Taylor Swift – “Anti-Hero” (Camera: Rina Yang)
Best Visual Effects
Taylor Swift – “Anti-Hero” (Special Effects: Parliament)
Best Choreography
Blackpink – “Pink Venom”
Best Art Direction
Doja Cat – “Attention” (Art Direction: Spencer Graves)
Best editing
Olivia Rodrigo – “Vampire” (Editor: Sofia Kerpan & David Checel)
Show of The Summer
Taylor Swift
Group of the Year
Blackpink
Song Of The Summer
Jung Kook feat. Latto – “Seven”
Album of the year
Taylor Swift – MIDNIGHTS