Swift, who won best video and long-form video of the year for All Too Well (10-minute version) from her 2021 re-recorded album Red, was the only artist to do a double-header at the televised awards. For three hours, MTV moonwalker statues went to industry veterans like Nicki Minaj (best hip-hop) and the Red Hot Chili Peppers (best rock). Non-English superstars like Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny (artist of the year) and Blackpink’s Lisa (best K-pop). and younger faces Jack Harlow (song of the summer), Lil Nas X (best collaboration, with Harlow, for Industry Baby) and Dove Cameron, former Disney child star turned actress, who surprised some to win best new artist. Swift noted that the final category of the night, video of the year, was historic, as “for the first time in VMA history, four of the directors nominated in the video of the year category are women.” The pop star said her fans had “encouraged” her to re-record her first five albums as part of a dispute with her former label, and used the speech to announce a “brand new album” to be released on October 21. Swift is the only artist to win a third video of the year trophy and the first to win for a video she directed. He previously won in 2015 for Bad Blood and in 2019 for You Need to Calm Down. LL Cool J and Nicki Minaj on stage. Photo: Charles Sykes/Invision/AP The specter of virality hung over the ceremony in Newark, New Jersey, which, after two relatively buttoned-up (and Covid-weary) years, had morphed into raucous, unpredictable, self-consciously forward-thinking territory. Snoop Dogg and Eminem performed their new song From the D 2 the LBC mainly in the metaverse, along with Bored Ape NFT. Advertisements for sponsor Doritos appeared on stage much longer than LL Cool J, one of three “emcees” along with rappers Jack Harlow and Nicki Minaj. Several performances, including Minaj and J Balvin, included holographic elements. In a controversial move ostensibly aimed at generating internet buzz, Johnny Depp pulled off several surprises with his head digitally atop the helmet of MTV’s floating astronaut mascot. His appearance came almost three months after he won a highly public defamation trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard, which prompted coverage that some criticized as encouraging “an orgy of misogyny”. The 59-year-old actor, who joked to the crowd outside the Prudential Center that he “needed the job,” later appeared on the telecast saying he is “available for birthdays, barmitzvahs, batmitzvahs, weddings, wakes, anything old you have. need”. Lizzo performs at the 2022 VMAs. Photo: John Angelillo/UPI/REX/Shutterstock The heavy-hitting TV show offered plenty of risqué moments. Lizzo, accepting the video for the good award for her song About Damn Time, called out “all the bitches that had something to say about me in the press” with “bitch I win, hoe!” The camera panned to stadium shots for seconds at a time during Måneskin’s performance as singer Damiano Damon twirled around in buttless cuts. And Red Hot Chili Pepper bassist Flea’s thank you to drummer Chad Smith was almost entirely censored. There were many nods to musical heritage. Harlow opened the show with his song First Class, a cover of Fergie’s 2006 hit Glamorous featuring the former Black Eyed Peas herself. There were not one but two lifetime achievement awards, given to the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Minaj. The Red Hot Chili Peppers at the VMAs. Photo: Guerin Charles/ABACA/REX/Shutterstock The band performed their new single Black Summer and their 2002 hit Can’t Stop before accepting the Global Icon award, celebrating almost 40 years in their career. Star Anthony Kiedis thanked “the sassy mistress known as MTV for supporting us for 1,000 years or more,” while Flea, in a rambling and damning addition, said he loved “cockroaches and dirt and trees and every human…deer and antlers, and birds, and sky.’ In a fitting pink theme, Minaj rattled off more than a decade of hits, followed by a rambling acceptance speech in which the 39-year-old Trinidadian-American rapper, visibly nervous, at one point left the podium to retrieve her phone from an assistant . “I wish Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson were here,” Minaj said in her speech. “I wish people understood what they meant and what they were going through. I wish people would take mental health seriously, even for people you think have the perfect life.” She brought the show home with ‘stay super freaky, have great vagina, I love you’ – a fitting end to a weird, profane night.
