Taylor Swift wins big at 2024 MTV Video Music Awards

Taylor Swift took home the biggest prize at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards: Video of the Year for “Fortnight,” featuring Post Malone.

In her speech, she talked about her “boyfriend, Travis,” thanking him for being there on the set of the music video.

“Everything this man touches turns into happiness, pleasure and magic,” she said of NFL star Travis Kelce, before moving on to the 2024 presidential election and asking her fans over the age of 18 to register to vote.

Swift, however, avoided discussing Kamala Harris’ presidential candidacy on stage. On Tuesday night, Swift approved the vice presidentmoments after the debate between Harris and former President Donald Trump ended.

Swift’s tally brings her career total to 30, tying her with Beyoncé for the most-awarded female artist in VMA history. Eminem is now the male artist with the most VMA wins, with 14.

Swift and Post Malone also won the VMAs’ first televised award for best collaboration, for “Fortnight,” presented by Flavor Flav and Olympian Jordan Chiles.

Swift began her speech by paying tribute to all those who lost their lives and their loved ones in the September 11 attacks 23 years ago.

“I just thought about what happened 23 years ago, everyone who lost a loved one and everyone we lost, and that’s what matters most today,” she said. “And everything that’s happening tonight is in the background.”

She then turned to the discussion of Malone.

“There’s a reason why Post Malone is everyone’s favorite person to collaborate with in the music world,” she turned her attention back to him. “It took me forever to get him to stop calling me ma’am.”

Chappell Roan won the MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist.

“I dedicate this message to all the drag artists who inspire me,” she said in her speech, dressed in chain mail, reading from a speech she had written in her journal. “And I dedicate this message to the queer and trans people who are leading pop. … Thank you for listening.”

Women dominated the awards ceremony, and no example was more compelling than Roan’s imaginative, medieval group.

Drag queen Sasha Colby introduced her with “your favorite drag queen’s favorite artist,” a reference to Roan’s now-famous Coachella performance, which in turn was inspired by Colby. True fans were no doubt delighted by this hyper-referential information.

Roan appeared in armor, firing a lit crossbow at the castle gates behind her, burning them in the process. Her dancers were knights, battling each other in incredible choreography as she sang her queer pop hit, “Good Luck, Babe.”

The other voice of pop 2024, Sabrina Carpenter, won song of the year for “Espresso.”

“This is really special,” she said in her speech, dedicated to her fans. “And thank you for this espresso.”

Earlier in the evening, she brought her summer pop to the awards show, performing her hit singles “Please Please Please,” “Taste” and “Espresso” while dancing with a moon man and an alien.

Tyla won the award for Best Afrobeats.

Katy Perry received the Video Vanguard Award, performing a medley of eight songs spanning her career: “Roar,” “ET,” “California Gurls,” “Teenage Dream,” “I Kissed a Girl,” “Firework” and “Lifetimes.”

“I did all this on the first day of my period, can you believe it?” she joked after accepting the honor from her partner, Orlando Bloom. “There are so many things that have to align to have a long and successful career as an artist. There are no accidents that last ten years.”

She also announced a new song, “I’m His, He’s Mine,” featuring Doechii, which samples the Crystal Waters classic, “Gypsy Woman (La Da Dee La Da Da).”

Previous Video Vanguard Award winners include Shakira, Beyoncé, Minaj, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna and Missy Elliott.

An army of Slim Shady lookalikes followed Eminem as he kicked off the VMAs, belting out a medley of his hits “Houdini” and “Somebody Save Me,” accompanied by a blast of Jelly Roll. (The song references Jelly Roll’s massive country radio hit, “Save Me.”)

Megan Thee Stallion greeted the crowd Wednesday night for the first time, and joked that the VMAs are now synonymous with “the voluptuous Megan Awards.” She then performed.

Earlier in the night, Karol G took over for a fiery rendition of her hit “Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido.” Rauw Alejandro brought Puerto Rico to the stage with performances of “Touching The Sky,” “DILUIVO,” and “Déjame Entrar.”

LL COOL J celebrated 40 years of Def Jam Records with Flavor Flav and Chuck D of Public Enemy.

Halsey took her new single, “Ego,” to the suburbs in garage-band-inspired style. GloRilla’s “Yeah Glo!” and “TGIF” brought the style.

Best K-Pop Female Vocalist LISA took to the VMAs stage for the first time as a soloist, performing two of her new singles, “New Woman” and “Rockstar.” Shawn Mendes made his long-awaited return, performing a new John Mayer-esque acoustic track, “Nobody Knows.”

Anitta performed “Paradise,” “Alegria,” and “Savage Funk,” joined by DJ Khaled, Fat Joe, and Tiago PZK, and won Best Latin Song. Camilla Cabello sang in a panopticon. Benson Boone seemed more excited than ever to perform his viral hit “Beautiful Things” on the VMA stage. Lenny Kravitz proved that rock isn’t dead with “Are You Gonna Go My Way,” “Human,” and finally “Fly,” in which he was joined by Quavo.

The 40th VMAs were held at the UBS Arena on Long Island in New York.

The evening was packed with celebrities and featured Swift, who arrived at the awards show wearing a green tartan corset with a matching train and long black leather gloves.

The pop star leads the nominations with 12: eight for her music video “Fortnight,” two social categories and nominations in the pop and artist of the year categories. She is followed by her “Fortnight” collaborator Post Malone, who has 11. He is nominated with Swift 10 times and earned his 11th nomination for his country hit “I Had Some Help,” featuring Morgan Wallen.

She won nine VMAs last year, bringing her total to 23. That puts her just behind Beyoncé, who won 30, and just ahead of Madonna, who won 20. Lady Gaga, meanwhile, won 19.

Seven VMA wins would tie Beyoncé’s record, and if she wins eight, she could become the most awarded musician in VMA history.

Throughout the night, MTV reflected on historic moments from the 40th anniversary of the VMAs, including Britney Spears’ albino python and Madonna’s performance of “Like A Virgin.”

The VMAs aired on MTV and were simulcast on BET, BET Her, CMT, Comedy Central, Logo, MTV, MTV2, Nick at Nite, Paramount Network, Pop, TV Land, VH1 and in Spanish on Univision.