CNN
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The 2024 MTV Video Music Awards had been held on Wednesday and it was an evening of feminine pop powerhouses, nostalgia and… aliens.
The reigning women of the charts owned the evening with Taylor Swift’s joyful award present dance strikes making a return, Chappell Roan making her fiery VMA debut, Sabrina Carpenter showing to make out with an alien and Katy Perry hovering by the air whereas performing a medley of her biggest hits.
There have been some males there, too, with Eminem opening the present with a efficiency of “Houdini” and “Someone Save Me” and Lenny Kravitz in his signature black leather-based and revealing shirt performing a brand new model of his basic hit “Fly Away,” amongst different songs.
Hosted by Grammy-winning rapper Megan Thee Stallion, there was no scarcity of notable moments. Listed here are a number of the greatest.
Taylor Swift’s 9/11 tribute and name to motion
Taylor Swift took a second to honor victims of the September 11 assaults of 2001 whereas accepting the primary award of the night.
“I needed to say waking up this morning in New York on September eleventh, I’ve simply been fascinated about what occurred 23 years in the past, everybody who misplaced a beloved one,” she stated. “Everybody that we misplaced and that’s the most vital factor about right now. And all the pieces that occurs tonight falls behind that.”
Swift and Put up Malone gained finest collaboration for his or her hit tune “Fortnight,” a observe off Swift’s newest album “The Tortured Poets Division.” Additionally they took house the final award of the night for video of the yr, directed by Swift.
She thanked her boyfriend Travis Kelce for his encouragement whereas on set for the mission.
“The whole lot this man touches flip to happiness and enjoyable and magic,” she stated.
Swift concluded her speech by thanking her followers for voting for her and calling on her supporters over 18 to “please register to vote for one thing else that’s crucial,” the 2024 presidential election. Swift’s message to younger voters comes after she made a splash on Tuesday when she endorsed Kamala Harris’ presidential run.
Sure, you learn that accurately. Pop singer Sabrina Carpenter kissed an alien onstage throughout her hotly-anticipated efficiency. (Okay, tremendous, it wasn’t an actual alien.) Carpenter carried out a mash-up of “Espresso” and “Please Please Please,” amongst different songs. Along with the alien, she was accompanied on stage by a number of backup dancers dressed up as Moon Folks in a nod to the VMA trophies.
Carpenter’s efficiency was launched by pop legend Cyndi Lauper, who stated that Carpenter – who wore a classic Bob Mackie robe beforehand worn by Madonna – is among the many girls who “have continued to dominate the panorama” this yr in music. “This performer positively is aware of easy methods to have some enjoyable, proper?” Lauper stated, referencing her iconic 1983 hit “Ladies Simply Wish to Have Enjoyable.”
Orlando Bloom supported Katy Perry
Katy Perry’s husband, actor Orlando Bloom, launched Perry and acknowledged her because the recipient of the VMA Video Vanguard Award. Bloom stated all through her profession, Perry has “introduced a way of pleasure and laughter, inspiring generations of individuals from everywhere in the world.”
Perry sang a mixture of her hits, together with “California Gurls,” “Teenage Dream” and “Firework” as she soared on a harness. She ended her set on the bottom along with her new tune “Lifetimes.” Perry accepted her honor and thanked Bloom, their daughter Daisy, her group and her supporters, generally known as Katycats, who she stated have “stood by me for a lifetime.”
Name her Chappell Roan of Arc. Roan lit it up the stage throughout her efficiency. Actually. The “Scorching To Go!” singer shot a crossbow with a burning arrow to mild the backdrop of her set on fireplace whereas performing her hit tune “Good Luck, Babe!”
The stunt shouldn’t come as a shock to Roan loyalists, who know the most recent sensation in pop music has an affinity for leaning arduous right into a themed aesthetic throughout her exhibits. On stage Wednesday, she channeled the warrior power of patron saint Joan of Arc, clad in medieval armor and accompanied by her backup dancers who used swords as props.
Roan later gained the award for finest new artist on the heels of her hit debut album “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.” In her speech, Roan spoke to “all of the queer children within the midwest watching proper now.”
“I see you, I perceive you, as a result of I’m certainly one of you,” she stated. “And don’t ever let anybody let you know you can’t be precisely who you wish to be.”
Carson Daly – who famously hosted MTV’s “Complete Request Reside” in New York Metropolis between 1998 and 2003 – took a second to introduce himself earlier than presenting the award for finest Okay-Pop to Lisa for her tune “Rockstar.”
“For these of you who’re too younger to know who I’m, I used to be the host of a present on MTV known as Complete Request Reside or TRL,” Daly stated. “It was the perfect, finest present. Children going loopy in Instances Sq. and day-after-day after faculty, I used to be along with your mom. So please, inform her I stated hello.”