VMA’s Dazzled; TSwift Snags Spotlight

Biggest Music Awards Event offers Surprises from Favorite Artists

Linnea Sundquist, Entertainment Section Editor

The MTV awards show premiered on Sunday August 28th 2022 and has one of the best performances to date! So many exciting announcements were announced as well as many amazing performances by our favorite music artists. The MTV Video Music Awards did not disappoint and definitely will go down in history as one of the greatest music awards of all time. 

The VMA’s were hosted by Nicki Minaj, Jack Harlow and LL Cool J. Each of these artists have won previous music awards over the years including Minaj having won five VMA’s in the previous awards shows. The show started off with Jack Harlow performing “First Class” with a special guest appearance by fellow singer songwriter, Fergie, while American rapper, LL Cool J welcomed guests to the show with an opening monologue about his first performance at the VMA’s. 

Not only did Minaj have the incredible opportunity to be a co-host, she was also nominated for the Best Hip Hop category along with her other co-host, Jack Harlow, having been nominated seven times this year tying with Kendrick Lamar and Lil Nas X. Both Minaj and Harlow won awards, Minaj winning the Best Hip Hop category for her song “Do We Have A Problem” and Harlow winning the category for Best Song of the Summer featuring his song “First Class”.There were plenty of other categories including; Best Collaboration, Best Art Direction and Best Visual Effects. Some other awards presented were given to Harry Styles in Best Album, for his album Harry’s House, as well as Bad Bunny winning Artist of the Year. 

The 2022 VMA’s had some incredible performances including Bad Bunny, Lizzo, Blackpink, Conan Gray as well as Dove Cameron. Lizzo performed “About Damn Time” and “2 Be Loved (Am I Ready)” and she amazed the crowd with her performance. She continued to dazzle with her acceptance speech for her song, “About Damn Time” for which she won in the music category for Video for Good. During her speech, Lizzo confronted her haters about a certain comedian making jokes and publicly fat shaming her online. While Lizzo doesn’t say who this comedian is, she continues to explain that no matter how much her haters try to bring her down, she will continue to win. The crowd was blown away and fans could not be more proud of her and this was truly one of the highlights of the night. 

Another award that the public wasn’t so shocked to see was Taylor Swift winning the award for Video of the Year for her music video All Too Well. What the public was shocked to hear was Swift announcing the release for her new album, Midnights, set for release on October 21. 

“Midnights, the stories of 13 sleepless nights scattered throughout my life, will be out October 21. Meet me at midnight,” Swift told Variety magazine. 

Fans were not expecting the exciting news and could not be more thrilled. Swift has released cover art on her Instagram, but as of right now it is unknown what songs will be in the album. Fans do know that they are listed as “Track One” and “Track Two”. They are anxiously counting down the days waiting for Taylor Swift’s release date of her new album. 

The VMA’s are personally my favorite award show of the year and this year did not disappoint. Everything from the performances to the actual awards. I definitely agree with the picks for the categories, especially the categories for Best Album and Best New Artist. I can’t wait to see what is in store for next year’s VMA’s