MTV Video Music Awards Highlights and Winners
Creatives have worked overtime to keep eyes on award show durign the pandemic with viewership being unsteady and in-person attendance being restricted for many major award show productions, but after Sunday night's VMAs it is safe to say award shows are finallyback. Doja Cat hosted the 2021 VMAs and performed in a packed arena in Brooklyn, NY on Sunday. The shoe garnered the highest viewership and online, MTV Digital saw its highest VMA day ever on Sunday, with 2 million unique visitors visiting the site. The site received more than 10 million page views Sunday, up 18 percent from 2010.The Slice has a quick recap of the night and the details that you really came here to see -- who won!
Young Olivia Rodrigo, at 18 was a first-time nominee and winner of the biggest honors and she won the night on Twitter. Rodrigo became the youngest person to win "Driver's License," was named Song of the Year and she also sacked the coveted Artist of the Year title, besting veterans in the business. ONine fans defended her for winning Rodrigo was an overnight music success who gained enormous popularity on social media during the pandemic as a favorite artist whose songs were being heavily covered. When accepting the awards she said she wrote the heartbreak anthem while lying on her floor crying. The first award of the night went to Rodrigo on the red carpet for Push Performance of the Year. Earlier this year, the White House tapped Rodrigo to appeal to eligible young Americans using her song "Good for You" as the tie in to the message that the Coronavirus vaccine is good to take.
Justin Bieber led the nominations with six, competing against Megan Thee Stallion for her feature on Cardi B’s “WAP,” for video of the year. Megan follows Bieber with six nominations. Foo Fighters won the first Icon award given out this year.
Performances included Camila Cabello, Chlöe performing as a solo act, Jack Harlow, Justin Bieber, Kacey Musgraves, The Kid Laroi, Lil Nas X, Machine Gun Kelly, Olivia Rodrigo, Ozuna, Shawn Mendes, Tainy and Twenty One Pilots.
Celebs attending the event wore some of the most unique and interesting outfits from any of the Award showds of 2021. The lavender jumpsuit Nas X wore and cacoon-like dress Doja cat slipped into made a statement. Megan Fox wore a barely there dress that was reminiscent of the see-thru dress Kim Karadashian wore a few years ago. Fox's Machine Gun Kelly got into a dust up on the red carpet with MMA fighter Connor McGregor which he mentioned during his aceptnace speech. McGregor played it off like it was not a big deal. The swing he took tells a different story.
The full list of winners from the broadcast follows:
2021 Video Music Awards Winners
Video of the Year
WINNER: Lil Nas X – “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)”
Nominees
Cardi B ft. Megan Thee Stallion – “WAP”
DJ Khaled ft. Drake – “POPSTAR” (Starring Justin Bieber)
Doja Cat ft. SZA – “Kiss Me More”
Ed Sheeran – “Bad Habits”
The Weeknd – “Save Your Tears”
Best Rock
WINNER: John Mayer – “Last Train Home”
Nominees
Evanescence – “Use My Voice”
Foo Fighters – “Shame Shame”
The Killers – “My Own Soul’s Warning”
Kings Of Leon – “The Bandit”
Lenny Kravitz – “Raise Vibration”
Best R&B
WINNER: Bruno Mars, Anderson Paak, Silk Sonic – “Leave The Door Open”
Nominees
Beyoncé, Blue Ivy, SAINt JHN, WizKid – “BROWN SKIN GIRL”
Chris Brown and Young Thug – “Go Crazy”
Giveon – “HEARTBREAK ANNIVERSARY”
H.E.R. ft. Chris Brown – “Come Through”
SZA – “Good Days”
Best Choreography
WINNER: Harry Styles – “Treat People With Kindness” – Choreography by: Paul Roberts
Nominees
Ariana Grande – “34+35” – Choreography by: Brian Nicholson & Scott Nicholson
BTS – “Butter” –Choreography by: SON SUNG DEUK With BHM PERFORMANCE DIRECTING TEAM
Ed Sheeran – “Bad Habits” – Choreography by: Natricia Bernard
Foo Fighters – “Shame Shame” – Choreography by: Nina McNeely
Marshmello & Halsey – “Be Kind” – Choreography by: Dani Vitale
Best New Artist
WINNER: Olivia Rodrigo – Geffen Records
24kGoldn – RECORDS LLC / Columbia Records
Nominees
Giveon – Epic Records / Not So Fast
The Kid LAROI – Columbia Records
Polo G – Columbia Records
Saweetie – Warner Records
Best Direction
WINNER: Lil Nas X – “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” – Directed by: Lil Nas X and Tanu Muino
Billie Eilish – “Your Power” – Directed by: Billie Eilish
DJ Khaled ft. Drake – “POPSTAR (Starring Justin Bieber)” – Directed by: Julien Christian Lutz aka Director X
Taylor Swift – “willow” – Directed by: Taylor Swift
Travis Scott ft. Young Thug & M.I.A – “Franchise” – Directed by: Travis Scott
Tyler, The Creator – “LUMBERJACK” – Directed by: Wolf Haley
Best Cinematography
WINNER: Beyoncé, Blue Ivy, SAINt JHN, WizKid – “BROWN SKIN GIRL” – Cinematography by: Benoit Soler, Malik H. Sayeed, MOHAMMAED ATTA AHMED, Santiago Gonzalez, Ryan Helfant
Billie Eilish – “Therefore I Am” – Cinematography by: Rob Witt
Foo Fighters – “Shame Shame” – Cinematography by: Santiago Gonzalez
Justin Bieber ft. Chance The Rapper – “Holy” – Cinematography by: Elias Talbot
Lady Gaga – “911” – Cinematography by: Jeff Cronenweth
Lorde – “Solar Power” – Cinematography by: Andrew Stroud
Best Art Direction
WINNER: Saweetie ft. Doja Cat – “Best Friend” – Art Direction by: Art Haynes
Lil Nas X – “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” – Art Direction by: John Richoux
Beyoncé, Shatta Wale, Major Lazer – “ALREADY” – Art Direction by: Susan Linns, Gerard Santos
Ed Sheeran – “Bad Habits” – Art Direction by: Alison Dominitz
Lady Gaga – “911” – Art Direction by: Tom Foden, Peter Andrus
Taylor Swift – “willow” – Art Direction by: Ethan Tobman, Regina Fernandez
Best Alternative
WINNER: Machine Gun Kelly ft. blackbear – “my ex’s best friend”
Bleachers – “Stop Making This Hurt”
Glass Animals – “Heat Waves”
Imagine Dragons – “Follow You”artist
twenty one pilots – “Shy Away” – Fueled By Ramen
WILLOW ft. Travis Barker – “t r a n s p a r e n t s o u l”
Best K-Pop
WINNER: BTS – “Butter” – BIGHIT MUSIC Monsta X – “Gambler”
(G)I-DLE – “DUMDi DUMDi”
BLACKPINK and Selena Gomez – “Ice Cream”
SEVENTEEN – “Ready to love”
TWICE – “Alcohol-Free”
Best Collaboration
WINNER: Doja Cat ft. SZA – “Kiss Me More”
24kGoldn ft. iann dior – “Mood”
Cardi B ft. Megan Thee Stallion – “WAP”
Drake ft. Lil Durk – “Laugh Now Cry Later”
Justin Bieber ft. Daniel Caesar, Giveon – “Peaches”
Miley Cyrus ft. Dua Lipa – “Prisoner”
Best Hip-Hop
WINNER: Travis Scott ft. Young Thug & M.I.A. – “FRANCHISE”
Cardi B ft. Megan Thee Stallion – “WAP”
Drake ft. Lil Durk – “Laugh Now Cry Later”
Lil Baby ft. Megan Thee Stallion – “On Me (remix)”
Moneybagg Yo – “Said Sum”
Polo G – “RAPSTAR”
Artist of the Year
WINNER: Justin Bieber
Ariana Grandehop
Doja Cat
Megan Thee Stallion
Olivia Rodrigo
Taylor Swift
Video for Good
WINNER: Billie Eilish – “Your Power”
Demi Lovato – “Dancing With The Devil”
H.E.R. – “Fight For You”
Kane Brown – “Worldwide Beautiful”
Lil Nas X – “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)”
Pharrell Williams ft. JAY-Z – “Entrepreneur”
Best Pop
WINNER: Justin Bieber ft. Daniel Caesar, Giveon – “Peaches”
Ariana Grande – “positions”
Billie Eilish – “Therefore I Am”
BTS – “Butter” – BIGHIT MUSIC
Harry Styles – “Treat People With Kindness”
Olivia Rodrigo – “good 4 u”
Shawn Mendes – “Wonder”
Taylor Swift – “willow”
Song of the Year
WINNER: Olivia Rodrigo – “drivers license”
24kGoldn ft. iann dior – “Mood”
Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak, Silk Sonic – “Leave The Door Open”
BTS – “Dynamite”
Cardi B ft. Megan Thee Stallion – “WAP”
Dua Lipa – “Levitating”
Group of the Year
WINNER: BTS
Blackpink
CNCO
Foo Fighters
Jonas Brothers
Maroon 5
Silk Sonic
Twenty One Pilots
Push Performance of the Year
WINNER: May 2021: Olivia Rodrigo – “drivers license”
September 2020: Wallows – “Are You Bored Yet?”
October 2020: Ashnikko – “Daisy”
November 2020: SAINt JHN – “Gorgeous”
December 2020: 24kGoldn – “Coco”
January 2021: JC Stewart – “Break My Heart”
February 2021: Latto – “Sex Lies” – RCA Records
March 2021: Madison Beer – “Selfish”
April 2021: The Kid LAROI – “WITHOUT YOU”
June 2021: girl in red “Serotonin”
July 2021: Fousheé – “my slime”
August 2021: jxdn – “Think About Me”
Best Latin
WINNER: Billie Eilish & ROSALÍA – “Lo Vas A Olvidar”
Bad Bunny x Jhay Cortez – “Dákiti”
Black Eyed Peas and Shakira – “GIRL LIKE ME”
J. Balvin, Dua Lipa, Bad Bunny, Tainy – “UN DIA (ONE DAY)”
Karol G – “Bichota”
Maluma – “Hawái”
Best Visual Effects
WINNER: Lil Nas X – “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)” – Visual Effects by: Mathematic
Bella Poarch – “Build A Bitch” – Visual Effects by: Andrew Donoho, Denhov Visuals, Denis Strahhov, Rein Jakobson, Vahur Kuusk, Tatjana Pavlik, Yekaterina Vetrova
Coldplay – “Higher Power” – Visual Effects by: Mathematic
Doja Cat & The Weeknd – “You Right” – Visual Effects by: La Pac, Anthony Lestremau, Julien Missaire, Petr Shkolniy, Alexi Bailla, Micha Sher, Antoine Hache, Mikros MPC, Nicolas Huget, Guillaume Ho Tsong Fang, Benjamin Lenfant, Stephane Pivron, MPC Bangalore, Chanakya Chander, Raju Ganesh, David Rouxel
Glass Animals – “Tangerine” – Visual Effects by: Ronan Fourreau
P!NK – “All I Know So Far” – Visual Effects by: Dave Meyers, Freenjoy Inc
Best Editing
WINNER: Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak, Silk Sonic – “Leave The Door Open” – Editing by: Troy Charbonnet
BTS – “Butter” – Editing by: Yong Seok Choi from Lumpens
Drake – “What’s Next” – Editing by: Noah Kendal
Harry Styles – “Treat People With Kindness” – Editing by: Claudia Wass
Justin Bieber ft. Daniel Caesar, Giveon – “Peaches” – Editing by: Mark Mayr, Vinnie Hobbs
Miley Cyrus ft. Dua Lipa – “Prisoner”
