The MTV Video Music Awards first started in 1984 and was first performed at Radio City Music Hall. Since then it has evolved into one of the most-watched awards shows on TV. The Most recent award Ceremony was held on August 26th, 2019 at the Prudential Center in Newark New Jersey.
The 2019 Award show was hosted by Comedian Sebastian Maniscalco. The evening kicked off with a performance by Taylor Swift by first singing “You Need to Calm Down” and then breaking into “Lover”. Shawn Mendes performed “If I can’t have You” and Lizzo sang her song “Truth Hurts”. The Jonas Brothers weren’t present but still Performed the song “Sucker” live at Asbury Park. For a list of all performances please see below.
As the night moved on a special tribute was given to Missy Elliott and then she went onto perform excerpts from her songs(“Throw It Back”, “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)”, “Hot Boyz”, “Get Ur Freak On”, “Work It”, “Pass That Dutch”, “Lose Control”). After her performance, Missy was given the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.
Tylor Swift was given the award for Video of the Year for her song “You Need to Calm Down” and upon accepting her award discussed her concerns regarding the Equality Act petition for LGBTQ rights and the stance the White House was taking in response to the petition.
The following awards were given to the artists in their respective categories:
Video of the Year : Taylor Swift — “You Need to Calm Down”
Artist of the Year: Ariana Grande
Song of the Year: Lil Nas X (featuring Billy Ray Cyrus) — “Old Town Road (Remix)”
Best Group: BTS
Best New Artist: Billie Eilish
Best Collaboration: Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello – “Señorita”
Push Artist of the Year: Billie Eilish
Best Pop: Jonas Brothers — “Sucker”
Best Hip Hop: Cardi B — “Money”
Best R&B: Normani (featuring 6lack) – “Waves”
Best K-Pop: BTS (featuring Halsey) – “Boy with Luv”
Best Latin: Rosalía and J Balvin (featuring El Guincho) – “Con altura”
Best Dance: The Chainsmokers and Bebe Rexha – “Call You Mine”
Best Rock: Panic! at the Disco — “High Hopes”
Video for Good: Taylor Swift — “You Need to Calm Down”
Best Direction: Lil Nas X (featuring Billy Ray Cyrus) — “Old Town Road (Remix)” (Director: Calmatic)
Best Visual Effects: Taylor Swift (featuring Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco) – “Me!” (Visual Effects: Loris Paillier and Lucas Salton for BUF VFX)
Best Editing: Billie Eilish — “Bad Guy”
Best Art Direction: Ariana Grande – “7 Rings” (Art Director: John Richoux)
Best Choreography: Rosalía and J Balvin (featuring El Guincho) – “Con altura” (Choreographer: Charm La’Donna)
Best Cinematography: Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello – “Señorita” (Director of Photography: Scott Cunningham)
Best Power Anthem: Megan Thee Stallion (featuring Nicki Minaj and Ty Dolla Sign) — “Hot Girl Summer”
Song of Summer: Ariana Grande and Social House — “Boyfriend”
Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award: Missy Elliott
MTV Fashion Trailblazer Award: Marc Jacobs
Please also see the below list of artists and the songs they performed at the 2019 VMA Awards:
Taylor Swift — “You Need to Calm Down”, “Lover”
Shawn Mendes — “If I Can’t Have You”
Lizzo — “Truth Hurts”, “Good as Hell”
Jonas Brothers — “Sucker”, “Only Human”
Lil Nas X — “Panini”
Missy Elliott — “Throw It Back”, “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)”, “Hot Boyz”, “Get Ur Freak On”, “Work It”, “Pass That Dutch”, “Lose Control”
Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello — “Señorita”
Miley Cyrus — “Slide Away”
Rosalía & Ozuna — “A Ningún Hombre”, “Yo x Ti, Tu x Mi”, “Aute Cuture”
H.E.R. — “Anti”
Normani — “Motivation”
Big Sean & ASAP Ferg — “Bezerk”
J Balvin & Bad Bunny — “Qué Pretendes”
Fetty Wap, Redman, Queen Latifah, Naughty by Nature, and Wyclef Jean(collaborative performance) — “U.N.I.T.Y.”, “O.P.P”, “Hip Hop Hooray”, “Trap Queen”, “No Woman, No Cry”
