The MTV VMAs returned to Brooklyn with performances by some of the big stars, both old and new, with Lil Nas X the main video of the year award. Justin Bieber and Olivia Rodrigo were the other big winners of the night.
“First I want to thank the gay agenda,” Lil Nas X shouted during his acceptance speech. “Let’s go to the gay agenda!”
Lil Nas X also had a prominent performance, adopting a band motif for “Industry Baby” before continuing on to “Montero: Call Me By Your Name.”
Doja Cat organized and performed “Been Like This” and “You Right,” flying around the stage held by cables in an aerial act.
To celebrate MTV’s 40th anniversary, there were callbacks in the early days, with the iconic “Video Killed the Radio Star,” the first music video MTV showed, which was played over the last few credits. Madonna opened the show with a voiceover about her arrival in New York and the beginning of MTV. “That’s why there’s only one place tonight,” he said.
“And they say we wouldn’t last, but we’re still here, mother mother,” he said on stage.
Justin Bieber and The Kid Laori took to the stage to perform, followed by Rodrigo, who won Best New Artist.
Cyndi Lauper, who reminded the crowd that she won a Moon at the first VMAs, said that “girls still want to have fun, but we also want to have funds, equal pay and control over our bodies, you know, fundamental rights. ”
The Foo Fighters won the Global Icon Award, with Dave Grohl remembering 26 years as a band. “There are 26 more years here,” Grohl said.
Alicia Keys performed “Lala” with Swae Lee and then honored the location with a few bars from “Empire State of Mind.”
MTV is a division of ViacomCBS.
Mario Anzuoni / Reuters