Taylor Swift ascended to the top of the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) this Wednesday, equaling Beyoncé’s record of 30 statuettes, and although she was the absolute winner of the evening, she shared the spotlight with another pop star, Katy Perry.
Swift won seven awards, including artist of the year and best music video for “Fortnight,” alongside Post Malone, tying her with diva Beyoncé, who has 26 and four more shared, two with husband Jay-Z, as The Carters, and two more with Destiny’s Child.
The “Fortnight” singer, songwriter and producer spoke of the “happiness, fun and magic” her boyfriend, American football player Travis Kelce, brings her and encouraged her fans over 18 to “register and vote for something else,” in reference to the US presidential elections, scheduled for November 5.
Swift was crowned the same day she entered the campaign trail with an Instagram post in which she threw her support behind US Vice President and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, minutes after her televised debate with former President and Republican nominee Donald Trump.
The three-hour gala, held at New York’s UBS Stadium, was packed with performances, but the most spectacular was undoubtedly that of Katy Perry, who, before receiving the Vanguard Lifetime Achievement Award, gave an intense 10-minute critique of her greatest hits.
The singer flew through the air between laser beams, ran on a mound and danced non-stop, all without breaking her voice while singing “Black Horse”, “California Girls”, “I Kissed a Girl” or “Fireworks”, and, as if that were not enough, he commented at the end: “I did all this on the first day of my period”.
Perry excitedly accepted the award from her husband, actor Orlando Bloom, whom she thanked for “doing the dishes,” insisted that her two decades of success had not happened by “accident” and advised young artists to be true to themselves and “take care of your mental health.”
Best new artist was Chappell Roan, dubbed America’s “Midwestern princess,” who recreated a medieval scene to sing “Good Luck, Babe!” while dressed in armor, and dedicated her feat to trans, drag, gay and “queer” people: “I understand you, because I’m one of you,” she said.
For her part, Sabrina Carpenter, who became famous as an actress in the Disney factory with the series ‘Girl Meets World’, won her first award, that of the best song of the year, for ‘Espresso’.
The ‘flashbacks’ of the 40th anniversary of the VMAs follow one another: as in 2000, Eminem surrounds himself with imitators among whom he is ‘the Real Slim Shady’, while the young Carpenter evokes the famous kiss between Madonna and Britney Spears in 2003, planting one on an alien.
Eminem was the king of hip-hop, but the genre was very much in evidence: Megan Thee Stallion was the emcee; LL Cool J paid tribute to the Def Jam label; and GloRilla rapped between the flares.
By musical genre, the best rock artist was Lenny Kravitz, who then reinterpreted the iconic “Fly Away”, with a white feather boa and metallic pants, alongside rapper Quavo, from Migos, in a trap version.
Benson Boone, who went from TikTok to American Idol, won best alternative artist with “Beautiful Things,” and South Africa’s Tyla, winning with “Water” in the “afrobeats” category, said African music is very “diverse” and can also be “pop.”
Additionally, K-Pop’s strength transcended its own category, won by Thai Lisa, as two South Korean groups took home the awards for Best Group and Best Performance: Seventeen and Le Sserafim, respectively.
In Latin music, Brazilian Anitta took to the stage for the third consecutive year with “Mil vezes” and performed alongside Rauw Alejandro, Karol G and Camila Cabello.
