MTV VMAs
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With the 2023 MTV VMAs in the rearview mirror, the time has come to reflect on one of the most important questions from Tuesday evening’s ceremony (Sept. 12): Which performers really brought it to the main stage of the annual awards show? Throughout the nearly four-hour show on Tuesday, viewers were treated to all kinds […]
Megan Thee Stallion wants to make it very clear that she has no beef with Justin Timberlake. On Wednesday morning (Sept. 13), the Grammy-winning “Savage” rapper took to TikTok clear up any confusion stemming from a widely misinterpreted video from backstage at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards on Tuesday night (Sept. 12). In a […]
Taylor Swift had a record-setting night on Tuesday (Sept. 12) at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards, where she won nine moonpeople, just one short of the all-time single-night record of 10 held by Peter Gabriel from 1987. The hardware was great, but judging by the videos and photos from the night, the real highlight […]
A lot of things happened during MTV’s mini-series-length 2023 Video Music Awards on Tuesday night (Sept. 12). But one of the the buzziest moments from the show at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ didn’t even take place on camera during the official feed, it was a blink-and-you-missed-it event backstage when Megan met Justin. As […]
Some of the awards at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards, which were presented on Tuesday (Sept. 12) at Prudential Center in Newark. N.J., were entirely predictable. Taylor Swift’s sweep, including video of the year, song of the year, album of the year and artist of the year, was hardly a surprise, given the year […]
09/13/2023
What soared and what bored.
09/13/2023
Around 9:30 ET on Tuesday night (Sept. 12), you might have been ready to declare that the Video Music Awards were back. The awards thus far had been elevated by show-stopping performances from Olivia Rodrigo (cleverly pivoting from a dramatic “Vampire” to a captivatingly choreographed and thrillingly energetic “Get Him Back!”) and Doja Cat (executing at the highest level on a three-song run through her upcoming Scarlet era). Further star power was provided by winners Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez, performers Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion and nominal “emcee” Nicki Minaj. By the time Shakira blazed her way through her typically ass-kicking Video Vanguard resumé performance, the show was feeling fuller and more satisfying than any VMAs so far this decade.
Unfortunately, there were still two hours to go. Maybe more like two and a half.
Complaining about award show length in 2023 is, of course, about as scintillating as griping about there being too many previews before a movie, or too many TV timeouts during a football game — at this point, you should probably just accept it as part of the bargain going in or not even bother in the first place. Still, there’s a difference between an award show going a little bit over its scheduled 11:00 ET end-time and damn near crossing the border to midnight. Three hours would’ve certainly already been more than enough of these VMAs, but getting up to the precipice of hour four was Pearl Harbor Director’s Cut territory.
It also doesn’t help that the VMAs have clearly begun subscribing to the increasingly common data-dump approach to award shows, pacing their action like a streaming act’s new album: front-loaded with hits and fairly merciless on the back end. The biggest-name performers — at least domestically — were mostly out of the way in the first couple hours, leaving a hodgepodge of VMA first-timers and unexciting return guests to fill out the many remaining minutes.
That’s not to fault MTV for scheduling game late-evening performances from K-pop sensations Stray Kids and Tomorrow x Together — they were fine, and it was still late morning in Korea at that time, anyway. But Fall Out Boy, rocking through a sweaty and uncomfortable-looking outdoor-stage performance of their absurd “We Didn’t Start the Fire” redo? A Måneskin performance for the second straight year — without so much as a wardrobe malfunction this time? This is what we’re pushing into Seinfeld-rerun hours for? By the time the show got to veteran country hitmaker Kelsea Ballerini’s hard-earned VMAs debut, her legitimately arresting “Penthouse” was totally undercut by coming over three and a half hours in, its penultimate performance slot doing the intimate ballad zero favors.
And it was doubly unfortunate, in this year of 50th anniversary hip-hop celebrations, to find the show floundering a little when it came to representing rap from either a contemporary or legacy standpoint. Doja’s performance was a home run, and Cardi and Megan are always reliable, but the Metro Boomin-led performance of “Superhero (Heroes and Villains)” and “Calling” could not have been much lower-energy, with guests like Nav and A Boogie wit da Hoodie seemingly competing for who could be drowned out by their backing track the most. Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne are both all-time legends, but we didn’t need them both on solo performances of relatively unconvincing new tracks (Minaj’s “Last Time I Saw You” is actually a bit of a grower, but this wasn’t the stage for it) and as part of the obligatory show-closing medley. Meanwhile, still-rising MCs Ice Spice and GloRilla presented but didn’t perform; the show really could’ve used a little of their zip — or more than 30 seconds at a time of Extended Stage performer Kaliii.
And speaking of that show-closing medley: It wasn’t quite the disaster of Madonna’s Aretha Franklin tribute in 2018, but it was yet another fine example of how the next time MTV has internal “we have to do something for it, right?” discussions about a timely topic for the VMAs to cover, some intern really needs to pipe up, “Well…. do we, really?” Hip-hop’s 50th anniversary has been exhaustively covered by this point in 2023, and there was no way the VMAs were going to be able to compete with either the Questlove-curated history lesson at the Grammys in February, or the cavalcade of decades-spanning performers popping up throughout the BET Awards in June. So what could the VMAs even do?
If you guessed, “Basically use it as an excuse to have one of Run-D.M.C. perform ‘Walk This Way’ at the VMAs for the 25th time,” you would of course be absolutely correct. The closing hip-hop tribute was poorly organized, unhelpfully introduced — here’s hoping all the kids watching at home are already well-schooled in their Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick, because no IDs were given — and ultimately purposeless, featuring six disjointed performers (two of whom had already been heard from) giving no remotely coherent representation of hip-hop history. With MTV already locking themselves into two extended medleys every year now via their Video Vanguard and Global Icon awards (the latter went to Diddy for 2023), they should maybe start rejecting any further pitches that involve squeezing a half-dozen songs and/or artists into the same flailing performance. We promise, no one will miss them — or be upset at MTV for not trying to elbow its way into a cultural moment nobody really needs its take on.
The reason all of this is even worth moaning about in the first place is because for the first half, these awards did seem like they were going to be MTV’s best in some years. Getting Olivia Rodrigo and Doja Cat — two legitimate pop A-listers, within a week of the former releasing a new album and the latter hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 — was a huge win for the show, and both artists met the moment with the kind of thoughtful, artful and unforgettable performances that illustrated why the VMAs’ stage is still a meaningful one. Peso Pluma and Karol G are undeniably two of the most exciting artists in popular music in 2023; getting both of them for their first big English-language award show looks further demonstrated how the VMAs have actually been a little ahead of the game in recent years when it comes to going international. And of course, even without her performing, nothing makes an event feel like The Place to Be in 2023 like the attendance of Taylor Swift — especially when she’s reduced to a babbling pre-teen in the presence of a reunited *NSYNC, presenting her the best pop award, in the kind of indelible cross-generational moment of pop connection that was once commonplace at the VMAs.
By the fourth award she picked up for the evening, though — best video (for “Anti-Hero”), making her a winner in the VMAs’ premier category for the second year in a row and fourth time total — it even got to be a little too much Taylor, as it started feeling less like an artist in their peak moment of dominance and more like a channel in its peak moment of desperation. Indeed, as Swift ascends to a pop echelon only a handful of other artists in the VMAs’ now-40-year history have ever visited, her investment in the show as an institution worthy of her time and attention is perhaps the greatest reason the VMAs still has whatever cultural credibility it does. But when the show lasts a half-hour longer than an Eras Tour date and burns through all its biggest crowd-pleasers early in the setlist, the Swifties — like all other pop fans watching — are gonna end up wanting to skip the encore to beat the traffic.
Taylor Swift won nine awards at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards, which were held at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. on Tuesday (Sept. 12). That’s just one award off the single-night record. Peter Gabriel won 10 awards in 1987.
This brings Swift’s career VMAs tally to 23, second only to Beyoncé on the all-time VMAs leaderboard. Beyoncé has won 30 VMAs, counting two with Destiny’s Child and two as half of The Carters.
Swift’s “Anti-Hero,” which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for eight weeks, a new personal-best for the superstar, won video of the year. This was her fourth win in the category, extending her record for the most wins in the category. She previously won for “Bad Blood” (with Kendrick Lamar, 2015), “You Need to Calm Down” (2019) and “All Too Well: The Short Film” (2022).
In addition to extending her record for most wins – no one else has won more than two – Swift is the first artist in VMA history to win back-to-back awards in this category.
Swift also extended her record as the artist with the most video of the year wins for videos that she directed or co-directed. She co-directed “You Need to Calm Down” with Drew Kirsch and was the sole director of both “All Too Well: The Short Film” and “Anti-Hero.”
Swift also won in a separate category – best direction – for “Anti-Hero.” It’s her third win in that category in the past four years, following wins for “The Man” (2019) and “All Too Well: The Short Film” (2022). Swift is the third director to win three times in this category, following David Fincher and Spike Jonze. Swift and Fincher are the only directors to win back-to-back awards in this category. Fincher’s back-to-back awards were for directing Madonna’s “Express Yourself” (1989) and “Vogue” (1990).
Swift won song of the year for “Anti-Hero.” None of the previous five winners in this category have gone on to win the Grammy in that category, but “Anti-Hero” (which Swift co-wrote with Jack Antonoff) has a very good chance of doing just that. Swift has yet to win in that Grammy category, and a lot of people think it’s about time.
And Swift won best pop for the second time for “Anti-Hero,” having won eight years ago for “Blank Space.” Only Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake have won more times (three) in the category. (Timberlake’s tally includes two awards with NSYNC.) NSYNC presented the award to Swift.
Swift’s other wins on the night were artist of the year, album of the year (for Midnights), show of the summer, best cinematography and best visual effects. (Swift didn’t personally work in the latter two capacities on her “Anti-Hero” video, but the VMAs give all artists credit for technical awards their videos win.)
Swift wasn’t the only artist who set records at the 2023 VMAs. Take a look:
Nicki Minaj won a record fifth award for best hip-hop for “Super Freaky Girl.” She previously won for “Super Bass” (2011), “Anaconda” (2015), “Chun-Li” (2018) and “Do We Have a Problem” (featuring Lil Baby, 2022). Minaj, who also emceed this year’s show, is pulling away from Drake, who is in second place with three wins in the category.
Ice Spice won best new artist. (She, of course, also has a Swift connection, having been featured on a remix of Swift’s “Karma,” a No. 2 Hot 100 hit.) This is the sixth consecutive year that a female artist has won in this category. Ice Spice follows Cardi B (2018), Billie Eilish (2019), Doja Cat (2019), Olivia Rodrigo (2021) and Dove Cameron (2022). Of those artists, all but Cardi and Cameron went on to land Grammy nominations for best new artist. Ice Spice is expected to follow suit.
Shakira won two awards – the Video Vanguard Award and best collaboration for “TQG,” on which she teamed with Karol G. This is the second year in a row that the Video Vanguard recipient has also won in a competitive category that same year. Last year, Nicki Minaj won best hip-hop for “Do We Have a Problem” (featuring Lil Baby).
This is the third time in the past four years that a pairing of two women has won in the collaboration category. “Rain on Me” by Lady Gaga with Ariana Grande won in 2020. “Kiss Me More” by Doja Cat featuring SZA won in 2021. In addition, two previous category winners were pairings of two women – “Beautiful Liar” by Beyoncé and Shakira won in 2007, followed by “Telephone” by Lady Gaga featuring Beyoncé in 2010.
Blackpink also won two awards – group of the year and best choreography for “Pink Venom.”
“Seven” by Jungkook featuring Latto won song of summer. Jungkook won in the same category two years ago as a member of BTS for their smash “Butter.” Both songs reached No. 1 on the Hot 100.
“Calm Down” by Rema and Selena Gomez was the inaugural winner in the new best Afrobeats category. The versatile Gomez won best pop 10 years ago for “Come and Get It.”
Anitta won best Latin for the second year in a row. She won this year for “Funk Rave” and won last year for “Envolver.” Anitta is the second artist to win back-to-back awards in this category. J Balvin won three years running (2018-20).
Stray Kids won best K-pop for “S-Class.” They were nominated last year but lost to Lisa for “Lalisa.” Lisa was nominated this year as a member of Blackpink.
Tomorrow X Together won Push performance of the year. It’s the second year in a row that a South Korean band has won in that category. Seventeen won last year.
Måneskin won best rock for “The Loneliest,” one year after winning best alternative for “I Wanna Be Your Slave.” Måneskin is just the second act, following Green Day, to win in both categories. The award for rock has been presented in every year but one since 1989. The award for best alternative originated in 1991, but went on hiatus from 1999 to 2019.
Dove Cameron, last year’s winner for best new artist, won video for good for “Breakfast.”
Lana Del Rey’s “Candy Necklace” (featuring Jon Batiste) won for best alternative, making her the first female solo artist to win in the category. Note: The category was on hiatus between 1999 and 2019.
When it came time to make their MTV Video Music Awards debut on Tuesday night (Sept. 12), TOMORROW X TOGETHER made sure to deliver the goods. Taking to the stage late in the program, the K-pop superstars debuted their brand new single “Back for More” with a splash. Appearing onstage, all five members — Yeonjun, […]
The final performance of the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards toasted hip-hop on its 50th anniversary, with a star-studded medley featuring Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, DMC, Doug E. Fresh, Slick Rick, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five and LL Cool J to honor five decades of the groundbreaking genre. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts […]