The VMA’s or video music awards are annual award shows hosted by MTV. The 2023 VMA’s happened on September 12th. They were at the Prudential Center in Newmark, New Jersey. There are 24 different categories, 18 of these categories can be voted for by fans, and six of them are professional categories that can only be voted for by music insiders. 

Taylor swift won 9 VMAs this year bringing her to a total of 23, which is second to Beyoncé, who has won 30. Out of these 9 awards, a total of 6 of them were for the song “Anti-Hero’. These 6 awards

were for Video of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Pop, Best Direction, Best Cinematography, and Best Visual Effects. She also won Artist of the Year, her Eras Tour won Show of the Summer, and her album Midnights won Album of the Year. When interviewed, Olivia Frias said, “Taylor Swift is one of my favorite singers, I think she really deserved these awards.”

For Best New Artist there were 6 nominees, which included Ice Spice, Glorilla, Kaliii, Peso Pluma, PinkPantheress, Renée Rapp. Ice Spice ended up winning this award. Ice Spice became famous after posting herself doing Erica Banks buss it challenge on TikTok in 2021. Later that year, she released her first song Bully Freestyle.  Her most popular song is Boys a liar pt. 2 with PinkPantheress, and she is the seventy-first most streamed artist on Spotify right now. 

For the Push Performance of the Year TOMMOROWXTOGETHER (more commonly known as TXT), Saucy Santana, Stephen Sanchez, JVKE, Flo Milli, Renée Rapp, Sam Ryder, Armani White, Fletcher, Ice Spice, FLO, and Lauren Spencer Smith were all nominated. TXT ended up winning, for the song Sugar Rush Ride. TXT is a pretty popular K-pop group, having five No. 1 hits. This

group consists of five members, Yeonjun, Soobin, Beomgyu, Taehyun, and HueningKai. They debuted on March 4th of 2019, with the EP The dream chapter: Star.

There were 6 nominees for the award for Best Collaboration. .These nominees were Karol G and Shakira for TQG, David Guetta and Bebe Rexha for I’m Good (Blue), Diddy, tyson miller, ashanti and yung miami for Gotta Move On (Queens Remix), Metro Boomin, The Weeknd, 21 Savage, and Diddy for Creepin’ (Remix),Post Malone and Doja Cat for I Like You (A Happier Song), and Rema and Selena Gomez for Calm Down. Shakira and Karol G ended up winning. They are both very popular latin artists being 21st and 32nd in the world respectively. 

For best Hip-Hop, Nicki Minaj won for her song Super Freaky Girl. The other nominees were Diddy, Tyson miller, Ashanti, and Yung miami for Gotta Move On (Queens Remix), Dj Khaled, Drake, and Lil baby for STAYING ALIVE, Glorilla and Cardi B for Tomorrow 2, Lil Uzi Vert for Just Wanna Rock, and Lil Wayne featuring Swizz Beats and DMX for Kant Nobody. Nicki Minaj currently has thirty-seven No.1 songs and is the twenty-third most streamed artist on Spotify. Her most popular song currently is Tusa.

For Best R&B, SZA, Alicia Keys (ft. Lucky Daye), Chlöe and Chris Brown, Metro Boomin (with  The Weeknd, 21 Savage, and Diddy), Toosii, and Yung Bleu and Nicki Minaj. Sza ended up winning for her song Shirt which was part of the album SOS. SZA started out her career after meeting the rapper and producer Terrence Henderson, who signed her to Top Dawg Entertainment.

 For Best Alternative, the 6 nominees were Lana Del Rey (ft. Jon Batiste), blink-182, boygenius, Fall Out Boy, Paramore, and Thirty Seconds To Mars. Lana Del Rey won for her song Candy Necklace (ft. Jon Batiste). Her first self-titled album came out in 2010 and started her career as a singer-songwriter. 

For the category Video for Good, the nominees included Dove Cameron, Alicia Keys, Bad Bunny, Demi Lovato, Imagine Dragons, and Maluma. The winner was Dove Cameron for her song

Breakfast. Dove Cameron started as an actress, with her first starring role in Liv and Maddie as both of these lead roles. This song was the second released in preparation for her debut album, which is expected to come out in fall 2023. 

The VMAs have been a tradition for many years. They are filled with talented artists who have put incredible work into their music. With stunning outfits, wonderful performances, and the adrenaline of seeing who will win the awards, the VMAs are one of the most special events of the year for many artists.