Taylor Swift was the big winner at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards, taking home prizes for Video of the Year, Artist of the Year, Song of the Year and Album of the Year.
Swift has had a dominant 12 months, scoring huge successes with her Midnights and Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) albums. Her ongoing Eras tour, meanwhile, continues to break records.
In fact, such is Swift’s current status in popular culture that a US media outlet is hiring a ‘Taylor Swift Reporter’ whose sole responsibility is to generate content related to the star. It was also reported that MTV had a camera operator at the VMAs dedicated to filming Swift’s reactions during the ceremony.
And there was certainly plenty to see. The show was opened by Lil Wayne, who performed Uproar and Kat Food, before Olivia Rodrigo took to the stage to deliver a theatrical medley of Vampire and Get Him Back!, both taken from her new album, Guts.
Fall Out Boy, meanwhile, defied critical opinion and gave their reworked version of Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start The Fire an airing.
Other highlights included performances from Doja Cat and Shakira, who was given The Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award and served-up a career-spanning medley.
Another ‘special award’ recipient was Diddy, who was named a Global Icon. He celebrated by reminding viewers of some of his biggest hits.
However, the big hip-hop moment of the night was a medley to celebrate the genre’s 50th anniversary. This featured DMC, Doug E Fresh, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Lil Wayne, LL Cool J and Nicki Minaj, who also hosted the show.
You can check out the full list of winners on the MTV website.
