Taylor Swift’s dominance continued at the MTV Video Music Awards, where she won seven awards — including the biggest of the night, the award for best video of the year. In her speech Wednesday night, Swift thanked her “boyfriend, Travis” for coming to the set of the “Fortnite” music video and cheering her on. Fans let out loud screams at the mention of NFL star Travis Kelce.
“Everything this man touches turns into joy, fun and magic,” he said before turning his attention to the 2024 presidential election and instructing his fans over the age of 18 to register to vote.
However, Swift refrained from discussing Kamala Harris’ presidential bid on stage. On Tuesday night, Swift endorsed the vice president shortly after Harris’ debate with former President Donald Trump ended.
Swift’s award count rises to 30, tying her and Beyoncé for the title of most-awarded musician in VMA history. Eminem is now the male artist with the most VMA awards, winning 14.
Swift and Post Malone also won the VMAs’ first-ever televised award for best collaboration, which was presented to them by Flavor Flav and Olympian Jordan Chiles for “Fortnite.” Swift began that speech by remembering all the people who lost their lives and loved ones during 9/11 23 years ago.
“I was thinking about what happened 23 years ago, everybody who lost a loved one and everybody that we lost and that’s the most important thing today,” she said. “And everything that happened tonight is behind that.”
Then she went on to discuss Post Malone. “Post Malone is everybody’s favorite person to collaborate with in the music industry,” she said, turning her attention to him. “It took me a long time to get him to stop calling me ma’am.”
Chapel Roan won the MTV Video Music Award for best new artist. “I dedicate this to all the drag artists who inspire me,” she said in her speech, wearing chain mail, reading from a speech she wrote in her diary. “And I dedicate this to the queer and trans people who run pop… Thanks for listening.”
Chappelle Roan accepts the Best New Artist award from presenter Tinashe during the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards | Photo credit: Brendan McDiarmid
Women dominated the awards ceremony, as exemplified by Roan’s imaginative, medieval set. Roan appeared in armor, shooting a flaming crossbow at the castle gates behind her, causing them to burn down. Her dancers were knights, clashing with each other in incredible choreography while she sang her quirky pop hit, “Good Luck, Babe.”
Drag queen Sasha Colby introduced him to “your favorite drag queen’s favorite artist,” a reference to Roan’s now-famous Coachella performance, which in turn was inspired by Colby. Real fans undoubtedly had fun with this highly-referential information.
The other voice of 2024 pop, Sabrina Carpenter, won the trophy for best song of the year for “Espresso”. “This is really special,” she said in her speech dedicated to her fans. “And thank you to that me-espresso.”
Earlier in the night, she brought her summery-pop to the awards ceremony, performing her hit singles “Please Please Please,” “Taste” and “Espresso” and dancing with a moon man and an alien.
Sabrina Carpenter performs during the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards | Photo credit: Brendan McDermid
Katy Perry received the Video Vanguard Award, performing a medley of eight songs from across her career: “Roar”, “E.T.”, “California Girls”, “Teenage Dream”, “I Kissed a Girl”, “Firework” and “Lifetimes.”
“I did all of this on the first day of my period, can you believe it?” she joked after accepting the honor from her partner Orlando Bloom. “A lot of things have to fall into place to have a long and successful career as an artist. No accident lasts for decades.”
Previous recipients of the Video Vanguard Award include Shakira, Beyoncé, Minaj, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna and Missy Elliott.
Katy Perry performs during the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards | Photo credit: Brendan McDiarmid
An army of Slim Shady lookalikes followed Eminem around as he opened the VMAs , Featuring a broadcast feed of Jelly Roll performing a medley of his hit songs “Houdini” and “Somebody Save Me”. (The song references Jelly Roll’s huge country radio hit, “Save Me.”)
Megan Thee Stallion welcomed the crowd as her first-time host Wednesday night, joking that the VMAs now stand for the “Wayward Megan Awards.” She later performed.
Earlier in the evening, Karol G gave a passionate performance of her hit song “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido.” Rau Alejandro brought Puerto Rico to the stage through “Touching the Sky,” “Diluivo” and “Déjame Entrar.”
Blackpink’s Lisa, winner of the Best K-Pop award, made her way to the VMA stage as a solo artist for the first time, delivering powerful performances with her two new singles, “New Woman” and “Rockstar.” Shawn Mendes made his long-awaited comeback, debuting a new John Mayer-esque acoustic number, “Nobody Knows.”
Anitta performed “Paradise”, “Alegria” and “Savage Funk”, featuring DJ Khaled, Fat Joe and Tiago PZK and won the award for Best Latin. Camila Cabello performed at the Panopticon. Benson Boone looked excited as ever to perform his viral hit “Beautiful Things” on the VMA stage. Lenny Kravitz proved that rock is not over with “Are You Gonna Go My Way”, “Human” and finally “Fly”, which featured Quavo alongside him.
The 40th VMAs were held at the UBS Arena on Long Island, New York. Throughout the night, MTV showed the 40-year history of the VMAs, including Britney Spears’ performance as an albino python and Madonna singing “Like a Virgin”.
Published – September 12, 2024 11:28 am IST
