By Chiara Piacentini
Staff Writer
To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the MTV Video Music Awards, this year’s ceremony was all about nostalgia. Megan Thee Stallion, who had hosted the Sept. 11 event at 8 p.m. in New York’s UBS Arena, appeared with a snake coiled around her costume in reference to Britney Spears’ 2001 appearance with a python.
Clips shown throughout the show featured Spears’ python, along with a younger Justin Bieber, smatterings of Michael Jackson and Madonna’s 1984 performance of “Like a Virgin.”
Taylor Swift made it into the VMAs history books for pushing her overall total VMA awards up to 30, which ties her with Beyoncé. For this year’s VMAs alone, Swift took home seven awards, one of which was for “Fortnight,” which she sang in collaboration with Post Malone.
It seems that Sabrina Carpenter will also go down in VMAs history herself for her medley performance of her 2024 singles. During a rendition of her ear-worm hit “Taste,” an astronaut and a blue alien graced the stage in an artistic embrace. Carpenter proceeded to break up the pair and make out with the alien before pushing them away as well.
That wasn’t the only kiss we saw that night. Katy Perry embraced her fiancé, Orlando Bloom, after he presented her with her Video Vanguard Award. Perry went on to perform her major hits, including “Dark Horse,” “Teenage Dream” and “Firework,” while pulling some airborne stunts and later sporting huge butterfly wings.
And if that wasn’t enough excitement, Chappell Roan made a fiery debut of her own to the tune of her most recent single, “Good Luck, Babe.” Clad in armor and equipped with a crossbow and fake sword, Roan fired a blazing arrow at a medieval castle backdrop, epitomizing the song’s plot of a relationship that could never be.
To top off the explosive performance, Roan received her first ever VMA for Best New Artist. Her acceptance speech, which she read straight from the pages of her own journal, credited her win to her own queer icons and her fan base. Before she signed off, she made a point to let queer kids know they’re not alone.
“And for all the queer kids in the Midwest watching right now, I see you,” she said. “I understand you because I’m one of you. And don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t be exactly who you want to be, bitch.”
Near the end of the night, LL Cool J returned to the anniversary theme that embodied this year’s VMAs by celebrating the 40th anniversary of his record label, Def Jam Recordings. Together with two of the most renowned rappers from Public Enemy, Chuck D and Flavor Flav, the trio runs through some of their top hits from “Going Back to Cali” to “Bring the Noise.”
From its quirks to its creativity, the 40th VMAs left me feeling more nostalgic than I already was before it started.
