Taylor Swift sweeps MTV video music awards
13 Sep 2023 02:43pm
US singer-songwriter Taylor Swift greets fans as she arrives to accept the Song of the Year award for "Anti-Hero" onstage during the MTV Video Music Awards - AFP
The win means Swift has picked up 18 VMAs, two behind the overall record held by Madonna, including the top award for Video of the Year.
She said: "This is unbelievable. The fact this is a fan-voted award means so much to me."
Swift was also nominated for several awards, including the Artist of the Year which featured an all-female shortlist for the first time, which were not handed out during the show at the Prudential Centre in Newark, New Jersey.
Some winners were announced on X, formerly known as Twitter, after the show had gone off the air.
But she did collect the Best Pop Video Award from the reunited NSYNC, as well as the Song of the Year trophy and the Best Direction Award.
The show was hosted by Nicky Minaj, who also performed and won the Best Hip-hop category for Super Freaky Girl.
Diddy picked up the Global Icon Award from his daughter Chance Combs and Mary J. Blige, and performed a collection of some of his biggest hits.
He said: "This is for 30 years. I pray to God that you would get to do what you love for 30 years."
Shakira performed a medley of hits as she collected the Video Vanguard Award, thanking her family and fans in a speech which switched between English and her native Spanish.
She said: "I want to share this award with my fans who always, always support me through thick and thin. Thank you so much for being my army and help me fight all my battles."
The Colombian star and Karol G gave their acceptance speech entirely in Spanish as they picked up the award for Best Collaboration for TQG.
Ice Spice thanked her "munchkins" after being named Best New Artist while Rema and Selena Gomez won the inaugural Best Afrobeats category with Calm Down.
Korea enjoyed a successful evening with Blackpink named Group of the Year, Stray Kids winning the Best K-pop Award for S-Class while fellow boy band Tomorrow X Together won Performance of the Year and performed with Brazilian star Anitta, who took home the Best Latin Award for the second consecutive year.
There was also success for Italy as former Eurovision winners Maneskin received the Best Rock Award for The Loneliest.
Lil Wayne opened the show, while other performers included Olivia Rodrigo, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion.
And the awards celebrated 50 years of hip-hop with a finale which included Minaj, LL Cool J, DMC of Run DMC, and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five performing The Message - BERNAMA
