Yearly, Music Television hosts an award show to honor musicians excelling in a variety of genres across the board. The 40th annual event was held on the 12th of September at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, and was hosted by Nicki Minaj. Guests such as Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, and iconic ‘90s boy band NSYNC all attended in style, as they all rocked different and unique outfits.
Showing up in a black dress decked out with gold jewelry, Taylor Swift hinted at a possible future Reputation album re-recording. Attached to her at the hip, Selena Gomez made an appearance wearing a red Oscar de la Renta dress that complimented her red heels. Minaj wore an all-pink lace gown designed by Dolce & Gabbana, and Olivia Rodrigo attended in a custom Ludovic de Saint Sernin mesh silver dress that featured over 150,000 Swarovski crystals which authentically replicates the late 1990s to early 2000s fashion she tends to love.
Not only did Nicki Minaj host this event, but she also won the award for best hip-hop track, followed by Sean Combs winning the Global Icon Award and Karol G who was awarded best collaboration with Shakira as well as SZA with single “Shirt” winning best R&B. These successes, however, don’t come close to all of the awards given out as there were several other nominations.
Some of the most notable performers from the night include Metro Boomin’, who took to the stage for the first time at the VMAs, Olivia Rodrigo with a creative and confusing malfunction that ended up being planned, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion giving their song “Bongos” its live debut, followed by others such as Doja Cat, Shakira, Lil Wayne, Future, and K-pop group Stray Kids.
One of the most notable moments of the night was Taylor Swift winning 9 out of the 11 awards she was nominated for, including artist of the year, song of the year, album of the year, video of the year, best pop song, show of the year, best visual effects, best cinematography, and finally best direction. All of her wins made this a very special night for her as well as VMA history as she tied the record for the most awarded person in one night, along with bypassing Madonna for the second most awarded woman at the VMAs overall with 23 awards, just below Beyoncé with 30.
Another memorable moment from the event was NSYNC’s reunion following a decades-long hiatus, with millions of fans around the world watching. Joey Fatone, one of the band’s members, announced that there would be a new song releasing soon after 25 years of no new music from the band. This sparked rumors about a possible reunion tour, even though a few members have already spoken about the situation stating that there is not a current plan for one.
Overall, the 2023 VMAs will go down as one of the most memorable musical events of the year as it kept guests and attendees entertained for the entire four hours of performances and interactions between fan-favorite celebrities.