Taylor Swift Won Big, Chappell Roan Defied the Paparazzi, and Eminem Is Officially Back: The Best Moments of the MTV Video Music Awards

The awards show’s unique selling point is that the public votes for who wins what. The will of the people this year reveals a fascinating turning point in the music industry: While older, more established names like Swift, Ariana Grande, and Eminem lead the nominations, a relative newcomer like Sabrina Carpenter (whose catchy “Espresso” was the song of the summer) has tied the latter two in the nominations stakes.

That we may be witnessing a changing of the guard, even though Swift reigns supreme, is also evidenced by the fact that this year there were 29 first-time nominees, including Chappell Roan, Teddy Swims, and Benson Boone. Do they all have something in common? They all rose to fame thanks to social media.

Here are the biggest moments from the 40th annual MTV Video Music Awards, hosted by Megan Thee Stallion.

Chappell Roan, whose viral track “HOT TO GO!” has been dubbed the “YMCA” of Gen Z, appears to have gotten into a bit of a standoff with a photographer who was on his way to the show.

Wearing a Y/Projects outfit with a strong medieval vibe, Roan pointed to someone in the bank of people taking photos and said, “Shut up, b——” and then, “Don’t do that. Not me, b——.” It seems to suggest that whatever they were yelling at her didn’t go unnoticed, though it’s unclear exactly what she was responding to.

Not one, but two pop stars recycled looks worn by celebrities in the ’90s: Sabrina Carpenter wore a Bob Mackie gown that Madonna, in her Marilyn Monroe era, wore to the 1991 Oscars. Halsey, also nominated tonight, followed suit in a leopard-print Versace last worn by Elizabeth Hurley in 1996.

No stranger to virality, TikToker-turned-“Diet Pepsi” singer Addison Rae made a statement in a lingerie set that featured a tulle train. The internet either loved it or hated it, making it one of the most talked-about looks on the red carpet.

Continuing her US Open streak of corseted tops and thigh-high boots, Swift wore a plaid Dior gown from the Parisian atelier’s resort 2025 collection. Since Swift is known for hiding hints about her future plans in her outfits, it was immediately dissected for Easter eggs. The bottom line? Swift seemed to signal a return to the rock aesthetic of her Reputation era, which coincidentally is one of two remaining Taylor’s Version re-albums she has yet to release. Midway through the show, she changed into a sequined Monse mini dress with a spaceship hovering over her torso.

The show, originally scheduled for Tuesday night but moved to accommodate the presidential debate, falls on the 23rd anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Swift, who won the night’s top award for her collaboration with Post Malone on his single “Fortnight,” paused to acknowledge the moment. “Waking up this morning in New York on 9/11, I thought about what happened 23 years ago,” she said. “Everyone who lost a loved one and everyone we’ve lost, and that’s the most important thing today.”

Guess who’s back? Eminem opened the show with “Houdini,” a track from his new album. The men in identical wigs who were his backup dancers, however, were pure 2000, a nod to his iconic VMA performance of “The Real Slim Shady,” which saw him surrounded by lookalikes.

The show was filled with references to iconic moments from the show’s 40-year history: Megan Thee Stallion briefly wrapped herself in a yellow python in homage to Britney Spears’ “Slave 4 U,” and Cyndi Lauper, who won an award at the first VMAs in 1984, introduced Sabrina Carpenter’s performance.

In what seems like a genuinely impromptu surprise, rapper Flava Flav, who also sponsored the U.S. water polo team at the Paris Olympics, surprised his presenting partner, gymnast Jordan Chiles, with one of his signature watch necklaces to “replace the medal they tried to take from you.” This, of course, is a reference to the bronze Chiles lost at the Paris Olympics after his score was incorrectly adjusted. “And I also got your prize money,” the rapper added to a stunned Chiles.

Petty? Maybe, but Sabrina Carpenter’s choice to sing a song explicitly about the love triangle she found herself in with Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello while both parties were in the audience is exactly the kind of moment the VMAs were made for.

In case you’re not up to speed with your gossip: Carpenter and Mendes briefly dated, shortly before he and Cabello briefly rekindled their years-long romance. Things, it seems, got complicated. Carpenter takes a direct stab at the couple in “Taste,” a song from her new album, with lyrics like, “I heard you guys got back together and if that’s true, you’ll just have to taste me when she kisses you.”

Mendes, who debuted his new music at the show, seemed to get the joke, writing in a caption on an Instagram post before the show, “Getting to my funeral,” seemingly a nod to the funeral scene in the “Taste” music video.

If Freddie Mercury and a gymnastics champion were combined in a blender, with a dash of Harry Styles’ glittering tracksuits, you’d get a performance by indie rocker Benson Boone. Not only did he wow the crowd with some impressive vocal maneuvers while singing his hit “Beautiful Things,” he also performed numerous somersaults and backflips, leaping from platforms and a piano and landing on his feet every time. And he never missed a note!

“I did all of this on the first day of my period,” Katy Perry said after performing a medley of her biggest hits (“Teenage Dream,” “I Kissed A Girl,” “ET,” “Firework”), all of which were enthusiastically danced to by the crowd, including Taylor Swift and Suki Waterhouse, as part of her acceptance of the MTV Video Vanguard Award, the night’s lifetime achievement honor. “There are no accidents that last a decade,” she said before thanking the “village of people” who have helped support her career. She gave a special shout-out to the LGBTQ community, without whom she said she wouldn’t be here and who taught her that you can be both “nice and a badass.”

She dedicated the award to her husband, Orlando Bloom, who presented her, and to her daughter: “for my Daisy, the only flowers I’ll ever need.” She concluded with some sage advice for younger musicians: “One of the main reasons I’m here now is because I’ve learned to block out the noise,” she said, advising them to “turn off social media, hit the grass and do what you were born to do.”

The South African singer won the award for best Afrobeats for her global hit, “Water.” As she accepted the honor, she took a moment to make an important point: African music is not a monolith. “African music can also be pop music. It’s so special but also bittersweet because I know there’s a tendency to lump all African artists under Afrobeats,” she said. “African music is so diverse, it’s more than just Afrobeats.”

After giving a firework-filled, Joan of Arc-referencing performance in her hit song “Good Luck, Babe,” Roan became perhaps the first artist to accept the award for best new artist with a Moleskine notebook in hand. She read her acceptance speech from her “journal,” dedicating the award to the drag queens who inspire her and “queer kids from the Midwest. I see you, I understand you, because I am one of you.”

“Everything this man touches turns into happiness, fun and magic,” Taylor said of Travis Kelce in her acceptance speech for Video of the Year, the big award of the night. It’s also the first time she’s officially called him her boyfriend. However, she hasn’t announced Reputation (Taylor’s Version). The wait continues!