By Mylie Norton
Long Island local venue, UBS Arena in Elmont, NY was packed with several of today’s biggest artists. Performances from artists such as Benson Boone, Sabrina Carpenter and Katy Perry had the crowd on their feet. Taylor Swift walked away with the most awards at the end of the night with a total of seven.
With the event being hosted on Sept. 11, a significant day in American and New York City history, many were expecting a recognition for those who had lost their lives 23 years ago.
Junior medical imaging major Jules Segreto had some opinions on the event being held on this day.
“I just felt like it was a little insensitive especially because it was held in the city on the same day and I know Taylor (Swift) mentioned something about it but I think they should have at least done it the day after or something,” said Segreto.
When pop icon Taylor Swift won her first award, she also delivered a speech honoring and remembering the events 23 years ago.
“Guys, I wanted to say, waking up this morning in New York on Sept. 11, I’ve just been thinking about what happened 23 years ago,” Swift said. “Everyone who lost a loved one and everyone that we lost, and that is the most important thing about today — and everything that happens tonight falls behind that. But it is so amazing to have the opportunity to thank and honor the people who worked so hard with me on this video.”
Following this moving speech and moment, Swift was nominated for 12 awards and walked away with a total of seven MTV “Moonman” trophies. The most coveted award at the show is “Video Of The Year,” which went to Swift and collaborator Post Malone for the music video “Fortnight.” Alongside the greatest award of the night, Swift earned six other trophies:
- Best collaboration- “Fortnight”
- Song of summer- “Fortnight”
- Best direction- “Fortnight”
- Best editing- “Fortnight”
- Artist of the year
- Best pop
Thanks to fans’ votes across the nation, Swift left the show with the most trophies and broke the record for any solo artist in history. Her VMA trophy collection now sits at 30, tied with singer Beyonce.
Katy Perry, who is working on reinserting herself to the pop music industry, earned a significant award for Video Vanguard.
The Video Vanguard Award is MTV’s lifetime achievement award and is one of the highest honors an artist can receive.
Prior to Perry winning the award she performed a 10-minute long show, highlighting her oldest and most recent hits. The performance included songs such as “Dark Horse,” “California Girls” and her new hit, “I’m His, He’s Mine,” featuring Doechii. The energy in the crowd was thrilling and everyone was excited to see their favorite 2000’s pop sensation back on stage.
Perry’s husband, Orlando Bloom delivered the Video Vanguard Award to his wife after her performance where she honored her label, Capitol Records, family, friends and the LGBTQ+ community for all standing by her. Finally, Perry closed with the announcement of her new album “143” coming out Sept. 20.
Alongside Taylor Swift and Katy Perry there were plenty of other artists who were recognized for their musical accomplishments this year.
Chappell Roan earned the award of Best New Artist and gave a stellar performance of her hit song “Good Luck, Babe!” Sabrina Carpenter gave her first live performance of her new album “Short ‘n Sweet” including songs “Taste,” “Espresso” and “Please, Please, Please.” Carpenter also earned a VMA with her song “Espresso” being named song of the year.
Junior accounting major, Selia Lyons was thrilled to see hot new artists making their debut at the VMA’s.
“My favorite performance was definitely Sabrina Carpenter and the best part was when she made out with an alien, it was really funny,” Lyons said.
The VMA’s were filled with a ton of fun new artists who everyone loved. Although the event was held on the day of the tragic event of 9/11, MTV was able to highlight the significance of the day as well as recognize popular artists from the past year.
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