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When Ashanti and French Montana presented best R&B at Tuesday night’s MTV Video Music Awards, the category’s winner, SZA, was not present to pick up her Moon Person for “Shirt” — but she didn’t just skip the show for no reason, her manager revealed.
SZA entered the Sept. 12 ceremony as one of the night’s most-nominated artists, with eight nods total, including video of the year (“Kill Bill”), best art direction (“Shirt”) and album of the year (SOS). Despite being one of the most omnipresent artists of the past year, however, SZA’s name was left off the list of nominees for artist of the year.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter published Friday (Sept. 15), Terrence “Punch” Henderson, SZA’s longtime manager, said, “Obviously, she had one of the best years, if not the best year, of any artist at this point. I don’t see why she wouldn’t be nominated for artist of the year. It just really didn’t make any sense to me. It’s disrespectful.”
SZA released SOS in December, and her critically lauded sophomore studio album has dominated 2023. The record has been present in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 nearly every week this year, spending 10 nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 and ranking at No. 2 on Luminate’s 2023 Midyear Music Report. “Kill Bill,” the record’s breakout hit, topped the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 and spent months in the chart’s top 10. On Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, “Kill Bill” broke the record for most weeks spent at No. 1 (21 weeks).
SOS also yielded the Hot 100 top 10 singles “Nobody Gets Me” (No. 10) and “Snooze” (No. 7), which reached the top 10 in its 35th week on the chart. Prior to the album’s release, two other singles hit the top 10: “Good Days” (No. 9) and “I Hate U” (No. 7). The VMA-winning “Shirt” peaked at No. 11 and topped both the Rhythmic and R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay charts.
During a call about a potential SZA performance at the show, Punch says MTV “couldn’t give a clear answer as to why she wasn’t [nominated for artist of the year]. It was just, ‘Well, she’s nominated for all these other [awards].’” The nominees for artist of the year at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards were Beyoncé, Karol G, Shakira, Doja Cat, Nicki Minaj and eventual winner Taylor Swift.
The nearly four-hour-long 2023 VMAs ceremony featured an overwhelming amount of performances, none of which included SZA — despite the initial efforts to have her grace the show’s stage. During one of those negotiations, “because there were people on [the call] about logistics for the show who didn’t have anything to do with [the nominations],” Punch said, “they ended up saying, ‘OK, well we could do another call.’” Nonetheless, MTV “didn’t want to discuss artist of the year, which to me was really a slap in the face,” he remarked.
“Why wouldn’t she be nominated for artist of the year? Even with the other artists that were nominated for artist of the year, some of them were even off-cycle. They didn’t have an album out. I mean, no disrespect to them or anybody else; everybody’s great and all of that, but still, you can’t discredit what SOS has done and is currently doing,” Punch added.
Three of the nominees — Doja Cat, Minaj and Shakira — had not released albums since the 2022 VMAs ceremony.
Ultimately, MTV’s failure to provide an explanation for the snub and reach a resolution spurred Punch to pull SZA’s performance. “I figured, why go perform and do this if she’s not going to be respected to the highest level? So it was my call to actually pull out of the performance,” he explained. However, the Top Dawg Entertainment president noted that SZA is “a very sweet person and she’s not for all of the nonsense and the politics and the back-and-forth and all of that. So, our feelings might be a little different.
“Ultimately, I felt it was disrespectful and I was very stern on that and influencing that,” Punch concluded. “If there’s any issues or backlash and all of that, I’m taking all of that.”
Despite the VMAs kerfuffle, SZA is currently powering through the final leg of her SOS headlining arena tour. According to Billboard Boxscore, the tour has grossed $34.5 million and sold 238,000 tickets. On Friday (Sept. 15), the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter released two singles: a Justin Bieber-assisted acoustic reboot of “Snooze” and a highly anticipated Drake collaboration titled “Slime You Out.”
Last week (Sept. 8), SZA announced a deluxe edition of SOS titled LANA at a surprise event at New York’s Brooklyn Navy Yard. The expanded version of her triple-platinum album will arrive “this fall.”
SZA, an Academy Award-nominated songwriter, has earned eight top 10 hits on the Hot 100 from 40 career entries. On the Billboard 200, she has earned two top five albums: 2017’s Ctrl (No. 3) — which has spent a whopping 326 weeks on the ranking — and 2022’s SOS (No. 1).
The revelation of SZA’s situation comes after another R&B artist — Grammy-nominated “On My Mama” singer Victoria Monét — revealed to fans that MTV told her team that it was “too early in [her] story” to perform at the VMAs. Monét is a three-time Grammy nominee with writing credits for a range of artists including Ariana Grande and BLACKPINK. She has also charted a pair of albums on the Billboard 200 and two songs on the Hot 100; Monét made her recording debut in 2014.
The annual MTV Video Music Awards have been one of pop culture’s biggest nights for decades. Good, bad or ugly, the show has had more than its fair share of headline-making moments since its debut in 1984. Remember when Drake professed his love for Rihanna on stage in 2016? Or Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie […]
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The 2023 MTV VMAs took place last night at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. on Wednesday (September 12) and the live show was the grand spectacle most hoped for. While not everything went smoothly as expected during a live event, Hip-Hop Wired takes a look at the biggest and Blackest moments of the 2023 MTV VMAs.
The VMAs, short for MTV Video Music Awards, is now in its 39th year. Given that this year the 50th anniversary of Hip-Hop is being widely celebrated, many fixtures of the culture had their big moment during the awards ceremony.
Opening the show was Lil Wayne, who came out to a portion of Juvenile’s “Back That Azz Up” before launching into a two-song medley of “Uproar” with live drums behind him, and a new track “Kat Food,” both appearing to be crowdpleasers. On social media and via the MTV cameras, celebrities and attendees alike were off their feet.
While Weezy F. Baby had the crowd in the palm of his hand, the screams from the crowd for Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion were so loud that they bled into the performance of Bardi’s new single, “Bongos,” and there were indeed bongo players to complete the stage look.
Doja Cat ran through a medley of “Attention,” “Paint The Town Red,” and her latest single, “Demons” and if the reaction from social media is any indication, it may have been the performance of the night.
Diddy, who won the Global Icon VMA last night, also performed a medley of familiar Bad Boy hits with assistance from Yung Miami, Keyshia Cole, and Diddy’s son, King Combs. Diddy’s energy was infectious and had the entire venue rocking.
Metro Boomin looked through his stacked Rolodex for his medley performance of “Superhero” and “Calling” with Future, Swae Lee, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, and NAV on the assist for a vibed-out affair.
Nicki Minaj, who stepped away from emceeing the event to deliver a quick two-song performance got the crowd going with a rendition of “Last Time I Saw You” and an unnamed track from her upcoming Pink Friday 2 project.
Last but certainly not least, Hip-Hop’s 50th anniversary couldn’t be ignored and an epic 10-minute performance still barely scratched the surface but Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, Slick Rick, Doug E. Fresh, Nicki Minaj, Lil Watyyne LL COOL J, and Daryl “D.M.C.” Daniels all turned in a performance that was arguably the best of the night.
The 2023 MTV VMAs was a spectacular night for the culture and impressive as it was all live so mistakes couldn’t be avoided but the professionalism and passion were still a sight to see. Keep scrolling to see the aforementioned moments we wrote about above.
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Photo: MTV/Getty
It’s gonna be them. Chart-topping boy band *NSYNC is set to reunite onstage at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards on Tuesday (Sept. 12), a source confirms to Billboard.
The Grammy-nominated vocal group — which consists of Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Joey Fatone, Chris Kirkpatrick and Lance Bass — “will be onstage together,” the insider says.
The group has been rumored to have recorded new music for the upcoming film Trolls Band Together after posters spotted in NYC appear to tease *NSYNC’s logo. Timberlake is reprising his role as Branch in the animated movie — the third in the Trolls franchise — alongside Camila Cabello, Troye Sivan, Kid Cudi and more.
If the rumors of the new song from *NSYNC are true, it would mark the group’s first musical release together since 2002. That year, the band covered “When You Wish Upon a Star” for the Disneymania compilation album, and released the Nelly-assisted “Girlfriend” — which peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 — as the final single from their 2001 Billboard 200-topping Celebrity album, their last studio LP.
Due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, *NSYNC will not mention Trolls Band Together. Members of the labor unions are currently on strike, demanding a larger share of streaming residuals, increased job security for writers, larger writers’ rooms and a limit on the use of A.I. in screenwriting and background acting, among other negotiating points.
A reunion at the VMAs on Tuesday night would also mark 10 years since their last reunion on the awards show’s stage in 2013, for Timberlake’s Video Vanguard Award medley. In 2019, Chasez, Kirkpatrick, Fatone and Bass joined Ariana Grande onstage during her headlining Coachella set to perform “Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored” and “Tearin’ Up My Heart” without Timberlake.
A new song from *NSYNC would follow several recent releases and performances from the band members. On Monday, Sept. 10, Fatone joined forces with Bow Wow for an adorable performance of The Jackson 5’s “ABC” for the launch of Season 10 of The Masked Singer. Earlier this year, Timberlake guested on Coco Jones’ “ICU” remix and appeared alongside Timbaland and Nelly Furtado on “Keep Going Up.”
*NSYNC has earned six top 10 hits on the Hot 100, including “Bye Bye Bye” (No. 4), “This I Promise You” (No. 5) and “It’s Gonna Be Me” (No. 1, two weeks). On the Billboard 200, the boy band has notched four top 10 titles, including the No. 1 albums No Strings Attached (eight weeks) and Celebrity (one week).
The 2023 MTV Video Music Awards will close with a salute to hip-hop’s 50th anniversary. Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, Doug E. Fresh, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five and LL Cool J will join previously announced performers Lil Wayne and show emcee Nicki Minaj for the segment. The VMAs are set to air live from Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on Tuesday, Sept. 12, at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
This will be McDaniels’ first VMAs performance since Run-DMC’s historic pairing with Aerosmith’s Joe Perry and Steven Tyler to close the 1987 VMAs, where they performed their genre-blending smash “Walk This Way.” Run-DMC was the first rap group on MTV and was also the first to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone. The trio was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009.
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five was the first rap group to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2007), and also the first to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy (2021).
LL Cool J was one of three emcees of last year’s VMAs, along with Minaj and Jack Harlow, but this will be his first VMAs performance in more than 25 years. LL won a VMA for best rap in 1991 for “Mama Said Knock You Out.” In 1997, he became the first hip-hop artist to receive the Video Vanguard Award. He was also the first rapper to receive the Kennedy Center Honor (2017).
In addition to his role in the 50th anniversary of hip-hop spot, Lil Wayne will perform his new single, “Kat Food.” This will be his first VMAs appearance in more than a decade. Minaj will perform her latest single, “Last Time I Saw You.” Last year, she dominated the event as emcee, performer, winner of best hip hop, plus recipient of the coveted Video Vanguard Award.
BACARDÍ Rum is partnering with the VMAs for the 50th anniversary of hip-hop tribute performance, along with the debut of custom BACARDÍ content featuring Don Toliver and DJ Premier. BACARDÍ is the first spirits brand to sponsor the VMAs.
On Friday (Sept. 8), BACARDÍ launched the BACARDÍ Vintage pop-up in New York City: a shoppable retrospective of hip-hop fashion, featuring exclusive BACARDÍ and VMA merch.
Many award shows have saluted the 50th anniversary of hip-hop since the Grammys kick-started this anniversary year on Feb. 5 with a massive 24-song segment that included The Roots, Black Thought, LL Cool J and Lil Uzi Vert.
Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion will give the debut performance of their just-released single “Bongos” during the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards, which are set to air live from Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on Tuesday, Sept. 12, at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
The single, which was released Friday (Sept. 8), is the rap icons’ second pairing, following “WAP,” which became the first female rap collaboration to enter the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 1.
This will be the first performance on the VMAs’ main show for both artists. Both made their VMAs’ performance debut on the pre-show – Cardi in 2017 performing “Bodak Yellow”; Megan two years later performing “Big Ole Freak,” “Hot Girl Summer” and “Cash Sh–.”
Many future main-show performers made their VMAs performance debut on the pre-show. Here’s a complete list.
Cardi has appeared on the main telecast in the past – she just hasn’t performed. In 2018, she garnered global headlines when she teased fans with a first glimpse of her daughter Kulture only to reveal a Moon Person trophy hidden in a baby blanket instead. The following year, she presented Missy Elliott with the MTV Video Vanguard Award.
This year’s VMAs are going heavy on hip-hop. Nicki Minaj is set to “emcee” and perform at the show. Diddy is set to receive the Global Icon Award and perform. Lil Wayne and Metro Boomin are also on the performance lineup. Metro Boomin will be joined by Future, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, Swae Lee and NAV.
And the show is set to have a 50th-anniversary salute to hip-hop, following the lead of many other awards shows in the past year.
Megan and Cardi are both VMA nominees this year. Megan is nominated for best direction, best choreography and best art direction, all for “Her.” Cardi is nominated for best hip-hop in tandem with GloRilla for “Tomorrow 2.”
Megan has won two VMAs – best power anthem in 2019 for “Hot Girl Summer” (featuring Nicki Minaj and Ty Dolla Sign) and best hip-hop in 2020 for her solo version of “Savage.”
Cardi has won four VMAs, three of them in 2018 – best new artist, best collaboration (as a featured artist on Jennifer Lopez’s “Dinero,” along with DJ Khaled) and song of the summer (for “I Like It” with Bad Bunny and J Balvin). She won best hip-hop for “Money” in 2019.
Hip-hop fans aren’t the only audience being served by this year’s VMAs. Latin music fans can look forward to performances by Shakira, this year’s Video Vanguard award recipient, as well as Anitta, Karol G and Peso Pluma.
Pop fans may tune in for Doja Cat, Olivia Rodrigo and Demi Lovato.
Rock fans can look forward to Fall Out Boy and Måneskin.
K-pop fans will have Stray Kids and TOMORROW X TOGETHER.
Kelsea Ballerini is on the bill for fans of country music.
Next week, Sabrina Carpenter and NLE Choppa are set to perform on the MTV VMAs’ pre-show. And if their goal is to perform on the main telecast in future years, they’re in good company: A booking on the pre-show has often served as a steppingstone to bigger bookings down the line.
Many future A-listers made their first VMAs performances on the pre-show. Nicki Minaj, last year’s recipient of the Video Vanguard Award (and this year’s “emcee,” when the show goes live Tuesday, Sept. 12, at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.), performed on the pre-show in 2010. And she’s not the only Video Vanguard winner who started out on the pre-show: Rihanna, who performed on the pre-show in 2010, got the Video Vanguard honor in 2016. Foo Fighters, who received a Global Icon Award in 2021 – and may very well be Video Vanguard winners one day — performed on the pre-show in 1997.
In all, 16 acts who first performed on the VMAs’ pre-show later stepped up to performing on the main show. The list also includes such heavy hitters as Usher, Ariana Grande and Demi Lovato.
Dozens more stars who first performed on the pre-show have yet to step onto the MTV main stage, for whatever reason:. They include No Doubt (who performed on the pre-show in 1996), Barenaked Ladies (1998), Smash Mouth (1999), Papa Roach (2000), Avril Lavigne (2002), Sean Paul (2003), Jadakiss (2004), Fergie (2006), My Chemical Romance (2006), Charli XCX (2014), Cardi B (2017), Ava Max (2019), Megan Thee Stallion (2019), Tate McRae (2020), Machine Gun Kelly (2020), Polo G (2021) and Swedish House Mafia (2021).
So, why didn’t the VMA producers book some of these acts for the main show instead of the pre-show? The show is pretty packed every year. Also, sometimes, their most timely hits broke big after the VMAs’ line-up was set. The VMAs usually air in late August or early September, but the bookings are generally made and announced weeks before that.
In some cases, the hits were helped along in their chart climbs by the VMAs exposure. Barenaked Ladies’ “One Week,” which they performed on the pre-show in September 1998, hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 the following month. Cardi B’s “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves),” which she performed on the pre-show in August 2017, hit No. 1 in October 2017.
Performances on the pre-show may have helped a few artists land key Grammy nominations. Many Grammy voters watch the VMAs, just as thoughts are turning to that other, longer-established show. Avril Lavigne performed “Complicated” on the pre-show in 2002, and went on to receive a song of the year nomination for that song at the Grammys. The Black Eyed Peas performed “Where Is the Love?” on the pre-show in 2003 and went on to receive a record of the year nomination at the Grammys.
Here are the 16 acts who performed on the pre-show on their way to the main telecast. You’ll be amazed at some of the big stars who had wait their turn to get invited to the main event.
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Image Credit: Ke.Mazur/WireImage
Fall Out Boy will perform at the MTV Video Music Awards for the first time since 2007 on Tuesday (Sept. 12), while Peso Pluma and Metro Boomin will make their performance debuts on the show.
The show will air live from Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. on Sept. 12 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
Pluma is one of a record four Latin artists performing on this year’s VMAs. He joins Shakira, who is set to receive the Video Vanguard Award, Anitta and Karol G.
Likewise, Metro Boomin is one of four hip-hop stars set to perform on the show. He joins Nicki Minaj, is set to emcee the show; Diddy, who is set to receive the Global Icon Award, and Lil Wayne. In addition, the show will include a 50th anniversary salute to hip-hop, something that has been all but mandatory on awards shows this year. And it will include a performance by pop star Doja Cat, whose music incorporates hip-hop.
Fall Out Boy first performed on the VMAs in 2005, singing “Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down.” They returned two years later to perform “Shut Up and Drive” featuring Rihanna and “Thnks Fr Th Mmrs.” The band has two nominations this year – best alternative for “Hold It Like a Grudge” and best visual effects for “Love From the Other Side.”
Fall Out Boy has won four VMAs, including three wins in a row in 2005 (an MTV 2 award for “Sugar, We’re Goin Down), 2006 (the viewers choice award for “Dance, Dance”) and 2007 (best group). The group won best rock video in 2015 for “Uma Thurman.”
Metro Boomin and Pluma are both first-time VMA nominees as well as first-time VMA performers.
Metro Boomin will perform two songs, both with big-name assists – “Superhero (Heroes & Villains)” with Future and “Calling” with A Boogie Wit da Hoodie, Swae Lee and NAV. According to MTV, they will appear “on stage together for the first time ever.”
“Superhero (Heroes and Villains)” is nominated for best hip-hop, one of four nominations for Metro Boomin. He is also up for album of the year for Heroes & Villains and two awards (best collaboration and best R&B) for the “Creepin’” remix which featured The Weeknd, 21 Savage and Diddy.
Pluma is contending in three categories — best new artist, best Latin for “Ella Baila Sola,” a collab with Eslabon Armado, and song of the summer for “La Bebe (Remix),” a collab with Yng Lvcas.
With the addition of social categories, Taylor Swift leads all nominees for the 2023 VMAs with 11 nods, followed by SZA (eight); BLACKPINK, Doja Cat, Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj and Rodrigo (six each); Kim Petras and Sam Smith (five each); and Beyoncé, Diddy, Drake, Ice Spice, Karol G, Metro Boomin, Shakira and TOMORROW X TOGETHER (four each).
General fan voting is now closed; voting remains open for social categories and best new artist.
Bruce Gillmer and Den of Thieves co-founder Jesse Ignjatovic are executive producers of the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards. Barb Bialkowski is co-executive producer. Alicia Portugal and Jackie Barba serve as executives in charge of production. Wendy Plaut is executive in charge of celebrity talent. Lisa Lauricella is music talent executive.
Nicki Minaj is set to reprise her dual role from last year as emcee and performer for 2023 MTV Video Music Awards. The VMAs will air live from Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. on Tuesday, Sept. 12 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
Last year, Minaj emceed the show with LL Cool J and Jack Harlow. She also performed a nine-song medley keyed to her receiving the Video Vanguard Award. This year, she’s flying solo as emcee and is performing her new single, “Last Time I Saw You.”
MTV’s announcement of Minaj’s booking never once mentions the h-word – host. It instead refers to her as the “emcee” several times. But it sure makes it sound like she’s hosting: “Minaj will announce the show’s star-studded lineup of performers, presenters and winners.”
This marks the first time someone has fronted the show two years running since comedian Russell Brand did the honors in 2008-09.
Last year, in addition to serving as emcee and performer, Minaj won best hip-hop and received the Video Vanguard Award, which this year is set to go to Shakira.
Minaj has won six VMAs from 25 nominations. She has six nominations this year – artist of the year; video of the year, best hip-hop and best visual effects, all for “Super Freaky Girl”; best R&B for “Love in the Way”; and song of summer for “Barbie World” (a collab with Ice Spice that features Aqua).
Minaj has won best hip-hop four times, more than anyone else in the show’s history. (Drake is in second place with three wins.) She won for “Super Bass” (2011), “Anaconda” (2015), “Chun-Li” (2018) and “Do We Have a Problem,” a collab with Lil Baby (2022).
Minaj has also won twice in other categories. She won best female video in 2012 for “Starships” and best power anthem in 2019 for Megan Thee Stallion’s “Hot Girl Summer” (on which she was featured, along with Ty Dolla Sign).
It’s hard to imagine, but Minaj was booked on the VMAs’ pre-show in 2010. She teamed with will.i.am to perform “Your Love” and “Check It Out.” She graduated to the main telecast in 2012, delivering an unexpected rap verse on Alicia Keys’ “Girl on Fire.” In 2014, she staged a trifecta, first taking fans to the Amazonian jungle with “Anaconda,” then teaming up with Ariana Grande and Jessie J for “Bang Bang,” and finally offering “She Came to Give It to U” with Usher.
In 2015, Minaj’s performance again formed a trio of songs, starting with “Trini Dem Girls,” before bringing Taylor Swift on stage for “The Night Is Still Young” and “Bad Blood.” She reunited with Grande in 2016 for “Side to Side,” and shared the stage with host Katy Perry in 2017 for a performance of “Swish Swish.”
Her 2018 performance featured a rap medley from her album Queen, featuring “Majesty,” “Ganga Burn,” “FEFE” and “Barbie Dreams.”
With the addition of social categories, Taylor Swift leads all nominees for the 2023 VMAs with 11 nods, followed by SZA (eight); BLACKPINK, Doja Cat, Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj and Rodrigo (six each); Kim Petras and Sam Smith (five each); and Beyoncé, Diddy, Drake, Ice Spice, Karol G, Metro Boomin, Shakira and TOMORROW X TOGETHER (four each).
General fan voting is now closed; voting remains open for social categories and best new artist.
Bruce Gillmer and Den of Thieves co-founder Jesse Ignjatovic are executive producers of the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards. Barb Bialkowski is co-executive producer. Alicia Portugal and Jackie Barba serve as executives in charge of production. Wendy Plaut is executive in charge of celebrity talent. Lisa Lauricella is music talent executive.
Olivia Rodrigo is set to perform at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards, live from Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on Tuesday, Sept. 12 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
Rodrigo had a memorable night at the VMAs two years ago. She performed “Good 4 U” and won three awards, which enabled her to tie BTS and Lil Nas X for the most awards of the night. She won best new artist as well as two awards for “Drivers License” – song of the year and PUSH performance of the year.
Rodrigo has six VMA nominations this year – all for “Vampire,” which in July became her third single (following “Drivers License” and “Good 4 U”) to enter the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 1. “Vampire” is up for video of the year, song of the year, best pop, song of summer, best cinematography and best editing.
Rodrigo was precisely the kind of mainstream pop superstar booking this year’s VMAs needed. She and Doja Cat may be the Sept. 12 show’s best “gets” to date, in terms of serving the show’s target audience. The performer lineup also includes Anitta, Demi Lovato, Karol G, Kelsea Ballerini, Lil Wayne, Måneskin, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Shakira, Stray Kids and TOMORROW X TOGETHER. Though the show is almost upon us, MTV says additional performers are still to be announced.
Shakira will receive MTV’s Video Vanguard Award and perform live on the show for the first time since 2006. Diddy will accept the Global Icon Award and perform live on the show for the first time since 2005.
Rodrigo’s sophomore album, Guts, is set for release on Friday (Sept. 8), just four days before the VMAs. Her debut album, Sour, logged five weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in 2021.
Rodrigo, just 20, is the youngest artist in Hot 100 history to have three singles enter the chart at No. 1. She is also the first artist ever to debut atop the Hot 100 with the lead singles from two career-opening albums.
With the addition of social categories, Taylor Swift leads all nominees for the 2023 VMAs with 11 nods, followed by SZA (eight); BLACKPINK, Doja Cat, Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj and Rodrigo (six each); Kim Petras and Sam Smith (five each); and Beyoncé, Diddy, Drake, Ice Spice, Karol G, Metro Boomin, Shakira and TOMORROW X TOGETHER (four each).
General fan voting is now closed; voting remains open for social categories and best new artist.
Bruce Gillmer and Den of Thieves co-founder Jesse Ignjatovic are executive producers of the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards. Barb Bialkowski is co-executive producer. Alicia Portugal and Jackie Barba serve as executives in charge of production. Wendy Plaut is executive in charge of celebrity talent. Lisa Lauricella is music talent executive.
