The 2023 MTV Video Music Awards brought us nearly four hours worth of musical performances, celebrity-spotting, and oh yes, a few moon man awards! Here are the highlights everyone is talking about today!
- Fans were speculating and as predicted, *NSYNC did reunite, appearing onstage together for the first time in ten years. They did not perform, sadly, but they did present an award to Taylor Swift for Best Pop Video for “Anti-Hero.” She seemed genuinely starstruck, saying “I had your dolls! Like, are you doing something? What’s going to happen now … They’re going to do something and I need to know what it is. You’re pop personified, so to receive this from your golden pop hands is really … it’s too much. Thank you for the friendship bracelets.” The group did indeed hand her friendship bracelets when she took the stage and gave them all hugs.
- Speaking of Taylor Swift, she was the night’s biggest winner, winning nine categories. In addition to Pop Video of the Year, “Anti-Hero” also won for Video of the Year and Song of the Year. Swift now has the second most overall wins in VMA history.
- Olivia Rodrigo psyched out her fans (and Selena Gomez) by faking a stage malfunction. She was singing her hit “Vampire” when she appeared to be quickly ushered offstage… only to reappear on a different stage to sing her new hit “get him back!”
- Shakira became the first South American artist to win the Video Vanguard Award. She performed a 10-minute medley of her hits, performing in a box, with knives, and even crowdsurfing at one point. She thanked her two sons in her acceptance speech.
- The VMAs also had a strong focus on Latin music from artists like the Brazilian Anitta, who won best Latin for Funk Rave, and Colombian singer Karol G, who became the first female artist to score a #1 Spanish-language album.
- Sean “Diddy” Combs received the Global Icon Award, introduced by Mary J. Blige and his daughter Chance. He performed several songs from “Mo Money Mo Problems” to “Last Night.”
- The show closed with an epic celebration of the 50th anniversary of hip-hop, with performances by Grandmaster Flash, Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, and LL Cool J.
You can watch the full show, performances, speeches, or just see a list of the winners at MTV.com!
