The North American won nine awards with her ‘Anti-Hero’ at a gala that awarded Shakira, Karol G and Anitta, among others
Pop star Taylor Swift triumphed this Tuesday with his song ‘Anti-Hero’ in a long gala of the Music Video Awards (VMA) of the music channel MTV, which was dominated by women, hip-hop anniversary celebrations, and a last-minute mix-up.
Taylor Swift, who is sweeping her ‘The Eras’ tour, was the most nominated and met expectations by taking home the most coveted awards: artist of the year, music video of the year, song of the year and pop song, as well as direction, since it was she herself who stood behind – and in front – of the camera. Swift, who was up for eleven “astronaut” statuettes, finally won nine: she also won album of the year, best summer show, cinematography and visual effects.
However, MTV sowed confusion when, after four hours, the gala at the Prudential Center (New Jersey, USA) ended without announcing the winners of several categories, which it later updated on X (formerly Twitter ) and on its website without answering questions from the media.
In general, and despite the unforeseen, it was a special award for women, who won all the candidates for the first time for artist of the year, and especially for Latin women, who monopolized the stage collecting awards, such as Shakira, Karol G and Anitta, and giving exciting and colorful performances.
The VMAs are the oldest music awards on the MTV network: they have been awarded since 1984, so practically every protagonist of the night had an anecdote to tell about how they grew up watching the music television channel, creating an atmosphere of nostalgia. Meetings such as the pop boy-band NSYNC or the emo-style rock band Fall Out Boy also contributed to this atmosphere, which contrasted with more current names, such as Doja Cat, Peso Pluma, the Mexicans The Warning or the Korean Stray Kids.
Latin Power
The Colombian Shakira won an award in tribute to her career, the Video Vanguard Award, which she dedicated to her “Latin American people”, and later she collected another with her countrywoman Karol G for their collaboration ‘TGQ’, in which they remembered Barranquilla and Medellín, its cities. Shakira starred in one of the great moments of the gala: she compressed her hits into a fast-paced 10-minute medley in which she had time to dance, move her famous hips, surf over the audience and climb onto a podium that rose into the air.
Also notable were the shows by Anitta, who first offered Brazilian funk and then a curious collaboration with the K-pop group Tomorrow x Together; Cardi B, who reunited with Meghan Thee Stallion; and Karol G, who made reggaeton resonate in the room.
Separately, Fat Joe and Thalía presented the Latin category award, in which Anitta repeated for the second year with ‘Funk rave’, and noted that “Latin music reached 1 billion dollars” in 2022, a growing popularity clearly reflected in this MTV gala.
hip-hop anniversary
He hip hop was another of the protagonists coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the genre, with a closing concert featuring pioneers such as Grandmaster Flash, LL Cool J, Lil Wayne and Nicki Minaj, who won the award for best video clip in this genre for ‘Super Freaky Girl’.
A while before, P. Diddy, who received the Global Icon award, reviewed his most popular songs, such as ‘I’ll be missing you’ and ‘Last night’, in which he was accompanied by Keyshia Cole; and there were also other notable names such as the young rapper Ice Spice, best new artist.
MTV gave out several awards by musical genre and this year it premiered the ‘afrobeats’ award, which went to the Nigerian singer Rema for his song ‘Calm Down’ with the American of Mexican origin Selena Gomez and which he dedicated to Africa.