Unlike last year, the 2023 VMAs were definitely worth watching, with an incredible lineup of artists and a celebration of hip-hop’s 50th anniversary. The night’s excitement began with Lil Wayne returning for the first time since 2012. Performing his classic, “Uproar,” and a live debut of his new single called “Kat Food,” he had the entire crowd singing and dancing along. However, this didn’t last long when everyone believed disaster struck during Olivia Rodrigo’s set. As she opened with her new single “Vampire,” fireworks began to ruin the trees on set, curtains started to fall, and she was immediately rushed off stage. The entire crowd seemed concerned and confused, yet this was a deliberate malfunction to replicate her “Vampire” music video. Rodrigo immediately came back onstage and closed out with another hit song from her new album GUTS, “Get him back.”
Everyone went insane when NSYNC made history at the VMAs with their reunion. The last time they were all together was 20 years ago when Justin Timberlake won the Video Vanguard Award and they all performed. Taylor Swift had an emotional reaction when NSYNC announced the winner of Best Pop, and it was her. Taylor Swift also made history this year yet again, winning nine different categories, tying for the most wins in one night, she has now surpassed Madonna’s 20 VMAs with 23, and sits at the second most overall wins behind Beyoncé, with 30. Swift won the Video of the Year award for Anti-Hero, which marks her fourth time taking it home, and the first time in history. Her other wins last night were: Song of the Year, Artist of the Year, Best Cinematography, Best Direction, Best Visual Effects, Show of the Summer, and Album of the Year.
Demi Lovato rocked out to a medley of her revamped biggest hits like “Sorry Not Sorry,” and “Cool for the Summer,” promoting her new album, which is dropping this Friday. This was her first appearance in six years and it was special to see her in a new light with heavy percussion, electric guitars, and of course her vocals. Lovato looked astonishing with her slicked-back hair and black leather dress, matching the vibe of the flames and smoke bursting throughout the stage. She had artists like Kelsea Ballerina and Taylor Swift rocking along with her the whole time.
The 2023 VMAs was also the year of K-Pop truly breaking through and making ground. There were a lot of amazing bands such as Blackpink who won Group of the Year. Seventeen, Aespa, Fifty Fifty, Tomorrow x Together, and Stray Kids. Tomorrow x Together made their first appearance at the VMAs last night, won Push Performance of the Year (Sugar Rush Ride), and debuted a song with Anitta. K-Pop star and BTS member Jungkook won Song of the Summer with “Seven.” Stray Kids sold over 5 million records, three #1 albums, and won the Best K-Pop award. The group gave an epic performance that could’ve won an award of its own with intense graphics/visuals, and incredible choreography. Perhaps the most beautiful aspect of the awards show was seeing artists talk about the effects music has had on them. When presenting Best R&B with Ashanti, French Montana said, “I fell in love with R&B because of its many stories about love, pain, happiness, and joy. Then proceeded to mention the earthquakes in Morocco and the benefit of donating. Steven Sanchez who has his debut album dropping on September 22nd said, “Everything is a gift man.” Shakira the Latina legend said, “To me performing at the VMAs means freedom, means that you really have your chance to do whatever you want on stage.” Shakira made history last night by becoming the first South American artist to win the Video Vanguard Award that Michael Jackson once won. She is the best-selling female artist of all time, selling 95 million records worldwide. Shakira showed up with an electric 10-minute medley of all of her biggest hits, like “Hips Don’t Lie.” The crowd was at volume 100, she crowd surfed, broke out in guitar, and had a stage full of fire. Shakira’s performance was easily the best one of the night.
Another Latina legend worth mentioning is Anitta, who won Best Latin last night and was also nominated during the 2022 awards show. She made history by being the first Brazilian artist to win and performed an energetic medley surrounded by neon outfits and colors. Shakira’s performance was amazing and not many came close besides Diddy’s historic one last night. Diddy, also known as Puff Daddy, or Sean Love Combs, is a rapper, record producer, record executive, and actor. He has won three Grammys, two VMAs, had 11 #1 hit songs, sold more than 500 million records worldwide, and has shaped artists’ careers. There was no way he didn’t deserve to win the MTV Global Icon Award because this man is an icon in every way. Diddy opened with his unreleased collaboration with The Weekend, transitioning into other hits before bringing out Yung Miami, and then Keyshia Cole to close out with. His performance was incredible as he truly owned the stage and was smiling from ear to ear. Diddy even had his twin daughters dancing with him and his eldest daughter, Chance, announced his award along with his good friend. His acceptance speech was by far the most emotional because he said things like, “I grew up watching MTV and wished one day I would be up here. I started out as a paperboy, I didn’t know I would be here.” He thanked God above all else and called him his secret weapon.
There were many talented and special artists among all of these mentioned, however, one of the greatest aspects above all else from the night, was the hip-hop 50th-anniversary tribute. “Hip-hop has taken over, and pretty soon there’s going to be no genre that’s not hip-hop related,” said Timbaland. Hip-hop gives a voice to the voiceless. This was celebrated by great hip-hop artists like Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne, Grandmaster Flash, and others closing the show with an epic performance and celebration. The 2023 VMAs were a breath of fresh compared to last year’s and it was wonderful to see all of these artists showing up and showing out. Mark your calendars, who will be making epic reunions and history at the 2024 Video Music Awards?
Photo by: tstheerastour
