Phot courtesy of Alex Wong, via Unsplash

By Danica Rivera and Stephanie Tran

This year’s MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) premiered on September 12, electrifying the music industry with a showcase of thrilling performances and unforgettable moments. Throughout the evening, the VMAs gifted many talented musicians with their signature award “The Moonman.” Here is a recap of the noteworthy segments from this year’s show-stopping event:

K-pop boy group Tomorrow by Together (TXT), who won the “PUSH Performance of the Year” award, joined the stage with Anitta, one of the first Brazilian artists to win a Moonman in VMA history. An unreleased collaboration song titled “Back to Me,” opened with TXT dancing and singing with special effects in the background that imitated stormy weather with rain and thunder. Anitta then appeared on the stage where they performed the night away with this memorable stage collaboration. 

Taylor Swift swept this year’s VMAs by winning the most awards of the night. She won nine categories from the event, racking up a total of 23 VMA awards won throughout the years. Shockingly, one of the awards given to Swift was presented by the hit 2000s boy group, NSYNC. The reunion of the infamous boy band with Swift classifying as the second most overall award winner of the VMAs left the crowd going wild. 

Olivia Rodrigo gave the biggest fake out with her performance of “Vampire,” which later transitioned into one of her newest songs “Get Him Back” from her recently released album ‘GUTS.’. Rodrigo sits on a luscious green grass set where soon after,  hectic events appear onstage. Artificial trees are seen falling down while a large metal bar above her crashes down with sparks flying everywhere. Amidst all of this chaos, Rodrigo is “escorted” off the stage and manages to change into her Y2K outfit before she comes out with the performance of her second song. This staged performance startled several musicians and fans in the audience but they soon felt relieved when it was revealed to be all planned from the beginning. 

Shakira accepted the notorious “Video Vanguard Award,” making her the first South American artist to achieve this feat. As she crowd-surfed the audience during her 10-minute medley of her chart-topping songs, Shakira received a standing ovation in her honor. 

Cardi B walked the VMAs’ pink carpet in a head-turning statement piece that radiated the rapper’s appearance. The futuristic gown was made with hundreds of silver hair clips made by Turkish-British designer Dilara Findikoglu. The pattern showed arrangements of spiraling and stacked hair clips on top of each other. 

The show ended by celebrating 50 years of hip-hop with rappers from across the decades including Grandmaster Flash, Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick, Nicki Minaj, and LL Cool J. It was an energetic celebration of many years of music.