The 2018 MTV VMAs showed that the pop music industry is all about women this year, as the majority of the nominations and wins saw a large list of female talent. The award show took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. There were musical performances from artists like Nicki Minaj, Travis Scott, and Ariana Grande. All three artists recently released record breaking albums in the last few weeks and have made headlines around the world.
Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj also took home a couple of VMAs themselves. Ariana Grande won the award for best pop song with “No Tears Left To Cry.” The single is off of her latest album Sweetener. She was also nominated for artist of the year and video of the year. Though both awards went to Camila Cabello. Nicki Minaj took home the award for best hip-hop song with “Chun Li.” The song is one of the first singles off of her latest album, Queen, which was released just last week.
Big Wins At The VMAs
Other winners at the VMAs this year were Beyonce & Jay Z under the name of their new project, The Carters. The duo took home two VMAs for best art direction and best cinematography on a music video. They were nominated for best hip-hop, best collaboration, and best direction as well. Jennifer Lopez featuring DJ Khaled and Cardi B won the award for best collaboration with their single “Dinero.” Childish Gambino won the award for best direction with his video for “This Is America.” Which made headlines around the world upon its release.
Childish Gambino also took home a VMA for the best video with a message for his “This Is America” video. The video showed Childish Gambino dancing around a warehouse and depicted various hot-topic issues such as gun violence and racism in America. When the single was released back in May it gained a lot of notoriety. Critics have called Childish Gambino one of the most promising artists of our time. His steady rise to fame has been in part due to his ability to depict cultural issues in his art.
Historically Shocking
The VMAs mark one of the biggest nights in pop music next to the Grammys. They have made headlines for years in the antics that celebrities and artists put on during the show. In 2009 Kanye West famously interrupted Taylor Swift. When she won the award for video of the year for her single “You Belong With Me,” Kanye said that Beyonce deserved to win the award over Taylor. Then in 2013 Miley Cyrus famously hosted the award show. She shocked audiences around the world with her drastic image change as she shed her disney-persona to twerk with Robin Thicke and a giant foam finger. To see a complete list of the 2018 nominees and winners at the VMAs check out this list.
