By: Jordan Park

Sports Editor

The 40th MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) occurred on Sept. 11 in New York. As one of the year’s most highly anticipated music award shows, it was nothing shy of entertaining, fashion-centric, and memorable; the event celebrated its fourth decade of commitment to honoring the best of the best within the music industry. 

Taylor Swift took home the night’s biggest award, Video of the Year, along with six other awards out of her 12 nominations. This brought her total VMA wins to 30, tying her with Beyoncé for the record. In her acceptance speech for Video of the Year, she made sure to thank her boyfriend, NFL tight end Travis Kelce, for cheering her on between takes. Making history yet again, Swift became the first five-time Video of the Year award winner. Though nominated for some of the event’s major awards, Beyoncé was noticeably absent from the winner’s circle and has not attended the VMAs since 2016. 

In other exciting award categories, breakout star Chappell Roan took home the award for Best New Artist as her first major career award, beating out others, including Gracie Abrams, Tyla, and Benson Boone. However, neither Tyla nor Boone left empty-handed. Tyla won the VMA for Best Afrobeats with her song Water, and Boone took home the award for Best Alternative with his song Beautiful Things. 

Song of the Year went to Sabrina Carpenter for her song Espresso. During the show, Carpenter took to the stage, performing a mashup of her newest tracks with an array of astronauts and aliens dancing around her on par with the show’s iconic Moon Person awards. Other notable acts include Boone’s captivating performance of his award-winning song Beautiful Things, accompanied by his signature acrobatic flip off of a piano. Roan dazzled the audience with a performance of her well-known hit Good Luck, Babe! while dressed in armor, combined with a crossbow and pigtails, in front of a burning castle. Additional performances came from LISA, Megan Thee Stallion, Karol G, Lenny Kravitz, GloRilla, and LL Cool J. 

The event’s red carpet showcased stunning new looks, provocative fashion, classic styles, and so much more. The host of the evening, Megan Thee Stallion, premiered a uniquely silhouetted black and sheer gown and later took the stage with a live snake wrapped around her body, paying homage to Britney Spears’s I’m a Slave 4 U performance in 2001. The event wrapped up with the final award of the night, Video of the Year, which went to Swift for her song Fortnight featuring Post Malone. Swift collected the award with Malone at her side. 

So many other iconic moments emerged that evening, along with the latest in fashion and pop culture, so make sure to check out the full event on MTV or other streaming platforms. 

(Sources: CNN, NBC, Variety)