The MTV Video Music Awards celebrated their 40th anniversary — and for the first time, MTV sought to preserve the legacy. This year's show was filled with clips from classic VMAs moments. Madonna and Britney kissing in 2003. Beyoncé announcing her pregnancy in 2011. Michael Jackson appearing with his new bride Lisa Marie Presley in 1994 to joke, “Just think — nobody thought this would last.” (It didn't.) Madonna in her full wedding attire for “Like a Virgin” dancing on stage in 1985. Taylor Swift singing on the New York City subway in 2009.
And of course, MTV will be playing the music in 2024. Just kidding – they couldn't find any footage of that.
But this was one of those years when the VMAs felt like a giant celebration of pop music, with stellar performances from stars like Chappelle Rowan, Sabrina Carpenter, Karol G, and host Megan Thee Stallion. As Megan put it, “Tonight, the VMAs mean Megan’s sexy awards.”
Taylor was the big winner of the night, but like everyone else, she was in a party mood. She won the show's first and last award for “Fortnite,” her collaboration with Post Malone. But to everyone's surprise, Taylor didn't use the occasion to announce a new album, or even a new song. TV reputationOr a new broadway show (Female Fury: The Musical), or a new cabinet position in the Harris-Walz administration (Taylor’s version). She simply urged everyone to vote—a powerful move the day after she put her hand on the ground with her skillful endorsement of Kamala, ushering in the “kidless cat lady” era of campaign activism.
Taylor also had a priceless moment with Flavor Flav, when he handed her the award for Best Collaboration with Post Malone. A longtime fan, he shouted, “The Swifties are in the building—yeah, boy!” Which makes sense, since she’s singing his favorite tune, “Willow,” and Flav always comes back stronger than any ‘90s trend.
Chappelle Rowan was singing her Midwestern medieval princess tune all night long, making her debut at the highly anticipated VMAs. She donned armor and used a crossbow to shoot a flaming arrow at a castle while singing “Good Luck Baby!” It was great to see Chappelle in armor catch a paparazzi on the red carpet who told her to shut up and then eviscerate him on stage with her bare hands. Maybe next year?
But Chappelle was the show's biggest draw when she won Best New Artist and read from her memoir, thanking her gay fans while host Tinashe added supportive finger gestures. It was especially touching when Chappelle got to the closing lines: “To all the gay kids in the Midwest watching right now: I see you and I get you, because I'm one of you. And don't ever let anyone tell you that you can't be exactly who you want to be, you idiot!”
Sabrina Carpenter put on a subtle musical performance as she sang her hits, but she left out “Lie to Girls,” one of the best songs she or anyone has come up with all summer, while her mom, MTV’s entertainment pioneer Cyndi Lauper, performed it at her show. She also won Song of the Year for “Espresso,” accepting her award from Miranda Lambert. It was a poignant passing of the torch from the country goddess who gave us all the primal Sabrina mantra, “What doesn’t kill you makes you blonder.”
One of the best moments of the night was when nothing officially happened: Tinashe came out to present Best New Artist, where she treated herself to a powerful walk down the runway — 15 solid seconds of Tinashe showing off her walk. It seemed like her way of saying, “I know, it’s crazy that I’m not performing ‘Nasty’ tonight, right? How many people in this room can brag about a great song like that in 2024?” So here you go. for me “Special moment. Watch how the star does it, people.” Tinashe gave a masterclass in how to grab the camera and seize the moment, because that's what the MTV Video Music Awards are all about: stars being stars.
Also, you have to love the MTV show. quietly The Video Music Awards have revoked the Global Icon Award, which has nothing to do with the fact that it was given last year to someone named Sean “Diddy” Combs. Just a year ago, Diddy brought his kids to the family extravaganza, which Mary J. Blige described as “a brother and a friend.” Yeah, that time has passed. So I guess we won’t see this award again — the next time we hear about the Global Icon’s legacy will be the day Mas sees his name on a balloon.
Karol G showed everyone what true star power looks like with her room-spanning performance of “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido.” Halsey delivered some excellent garage rock, in a real garage onstage, debuting the searingly honest “Ego.” There were great performances from Gloria, Benson Bunn, and Rau Alejandro, who was introduced by model Alessandra Ambrosio. As for Lenny Kravitz, the man can show up whenever he wants, wherever he wants, and do it all, especially when Quavo is by his side.
Tayla won the Best African Song category and gave an excellent speech in which she praised the reach and diversity of African music, while charmingly insisting that a completely unwilling Lil Nas X come and carry the moon for her, because it was too heavy, while declaring, “Thank you MTV, my team, God, everyone.”
Eminem kicked off the show with “Houdini,” using the same sharing joke that comedian Sebastian Maniscalco used to start the show five years ago. Sunrise, sundown. He did a clever re-enactment of his classic 2000 VMA performance of “The Real Slim Shady,” with an army of men in identical blond wigs, except now sporting beards. Shawn Mendes sang “Nobody Knows” in a really dangerous haze of smoke, while Camila Cabello sang “Godspeed.”
Megan kept the crowd going with her charm and sense of humor, paying homage to Britney's classic snake dance from the 2001 VMAs by wearing the same outfit, except with a fake snake. Megan also got the crowd going with her renditions of “BOA,” “BAS,” “Hiss” and “Mamushi,” with a guest appearance from Yuki Chiba.
Anitta came out to perform, but unfortunately, the officials clearly felt she wasn't capable of holding her own, so they sent in a clown to interrupt her constantly by shouting “Put your hands together” over her voice. My God, what a stupid idea – and like most stupid ideas, it involved DJ Khaled. But she really shined on “Savage Funk” and “Alegria.”
There was a strange, powerful performance that was advertised as a Def Jam tribute, but was really just a mix of LL Cool J's greatest hits with a brief appearance from Public Enemy. LL put on a great performance, fully capitalizing on his new masterpiece. power. You might be wondering why this wasn’t a Video Vanguard tribute to my uncle L, but no—he actually won that honor back in 1997. (He was great that night, too.) PE rose to the occasion with the ferocious “Bring the Noise.” Clearly, the surviving Beastie Boys don’t perform without Adam Yauch. Bad luck for those of us Def Jam fans who pinned our hopes on a moment from Original Concept, Slick Rick, or even Oran “Juice” Jones. (“You’re like cornflakes without milk without me!”) But somewhere, the late Nathaniel Hornblower must have been proud.
Katy Perry won this year’s Video Vanguard Award, the first ever winner not to be presented by another music star, but by her fiancé Orlando Bloom. Katy has a long history on MTV — she’s also the first Video Vanguard winner to make her biggest fashion splash on the red carpet by parodying another Video Vanguard winner (Britney Spears) or two (Justin Timberlake), resplendent in their blue-denim ensembles from the 2001 VMAs; the first winner to meet an ex-husband at the VMAs; the first winner to host the VMAs (in 2017) in a show that ended in a disastrous duet with another Video Vanguard winner (Nicki Minaj); and the first winner whose uncle directed the film that made Neil Young fall in love with Carrie Snodgress. But despite their long-running feud, Taylor Swift was noticeably on her feet and dancing to “Teenage Dream,” right along with everyone else.
Whatever your opinion of “Woman’s World” — no one thinks Katy’s song is anything but high-quality — it was a chance to see the pop pioneer get her musical due. She delivered a string of hits, going back to “I Kissed a Girl,” but she purposefully skipped “Woman’s World.” They were joined by Doechii for a new duet, “I’m His, He’s Mine.” As Katy bragged, “I did this on the first day of my period!”
Perry gave a moving speech—perhaps the last time in history that any MySpace award winner was ever thanked. (And Warped Tour! Oh, the truth of 2007.) “There are no incidents that last a decade,” she said, speaking about misogyny and ageism in the music industry. “One of the biggest reasons I’m standing here now is because I’ve learned how to block out all the noise that every artist in this industry has to constantly battle, especially women.”
At the end of the show, MTV ran a fun list of small award winners who weren't mentioned during the show – Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, Dua Lipa. Billie won the “Video for Good” award for her song “Video for Good.” Barbie The song, six months after she won an Oscar for it, and seven months after she won a Grammy for Song of the Year (i.e. Song of the Year 2008). last Hell, this song actually got a cover version from Paul Weller, and it won a VMA. now?
We also got a bizarre Pepsi ad that recreated the classic 2004 clip starring Britney, Beyoncé and Pink as a trio of Roman gladiators singing “We Will Rock You,” except now it's about Megan and the not-at-all-controversial NFL.
It was especially funny after Jennie sang the same song in her smash hit “Rockstar.” Jennie won Best K-Pop Video for that song, and thanked Blinks — but somehow forgot to thank the creative team behind the song. idol.
One of the most emotional highlights of the night: Ladies and gentlemen, Carson Daly! TRL Kingpin made an excellent appearance as host, looking exactly as he did on Broadway in 1515. “It’s an honor to be here at the 40th anniversary of the Video Music Awards,” Carson said. “For those of you who are a little too young to know who I am, I was the host of a show on MTV called Total direct demandor TRL“That was a long time ago. It was the best show, and the kids were acting crazy in Times Square. And every day after school, I was with your mom, so please tell her I said hi.”
But Carson was humble—and much more than that. He was the moderator of the age-old national debate about the philosophical meaning of pop music, in terms of “NSync sucks, Korn dominates, wooooow!” versus “Fred Durst sucks, Britney dominates, Backstreet is back, wooooow!” To be sure, it’s a heated debate today—the names may change, but the stakes are as high as ever. That’s the essence of the Video Music Awards. TRL And Carson forever.
