Ariana Grande won video of the year for “brighter days ahead” at Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards, which was held for the second year in a row at UBS Arena in Elmont.
The show opened with Lady Gaga winning artist of the year.
“I dedicate this award to you, the audience,” Gaga said, standing in an elaborate black dress.“I wish I could stay and watch all these amazing performances,” she explained, “but I have to go back to Madison Square Garden!” Gaga then raced to that Manhattan venue to play her headlining concert, part of her current Mayhem Ball Tour.
Gaga went into the VMAs with a leading 12 nominations, followed by Bruno Mars with 11 and Kendrick Lamar with 10. Among the other artists who took home a Moon Person, the statue inspired by MTV’s iconic ad campaign: Sabrina Carpenter won best album for “Short n’ Sweet,” Grande also won best pop for her short film “brighter days ahead” and ROSÉ & Bruno Mars won song of the year for their single “APT.” Most VMA awards are voted on by fans.
“I really don’t take for granted when you guys take the time out of your lives to listen to an album,” Carpenter told her audience while accepting her award. “I’m just the luckiest girl in the world.”
Fittingly for a ceremony held on Long Island, the VMAs gave pride of place to two locals, Busta Rhymes and Mariah Carey, both of whom hinted they’d been waiting for their awards for a while.
LL Cool J presented the Uniondale-raised Rhymes with the first-ever MTV VMA Rock the Bells Visionary Award (named in part for the host’s 1985 single, “Rock the Bells”). Joined by Glorilla and other guests, Rhymes performed a frenetic medley of his best-known songs, including “Gimme Some More,” “Pass the Courvoisier, Part II” and “Scenario,” a collaboration with A Tribe Called Quest that introduced him to wider audiences in 1991. The VMA cameramen tracked the fast-moving, fast-rapping Rhymes as best they could, while the CBS censors cut his sound repeatedly.
Accepting his award, Rhymes called LL Cool J “my hero and one of my greatest inspirations,” and even cited him as “the reason I wrote my first rhyme.” He also promised not to make a long speech, then added: “But the next time y’all take 35 years to give me one of these, they’re gonna let me talk as long as I want!”
Carey, raised in Huntington, followed in the same vein as she accepted the Video Vanguard Award. Her medley of favorites included “Sugar Sweet,” “Heartbreaker” and her recent single, “Type Dangerous.” After thanking presenter Grande for her Moon Person, she said pointedly, “I can’t believe I’m getting my first VMA tonight,” then wondered aloud: “I just have one question — what in the Sam Hill were you waiting for?”
Carey, a music-biz veteran at 56, was one of the few artists who remembered to plug her product: “And by the way,” she said, closing her speech, “my new album ‘Here for It All’ is out in two weeks, September 26th.”
Another first-time award, the Latin Icon Award, was given to Ricky Martin, the enduring Puerto Rican pop star, now 53. Introducing him, J Balvin, a Colombian singer, broke from his script for a moment. “I want to speak from the heart,” Balvin said. “If it wasn’t for artists like Ricky Martin, I wouldn’t be here talking in Spanish — hablando Español, right?” Martin then stormed onto the stage and performed an energetic string of hits, including “Livin’ La Vida Loca” and his soccer anthem “La Copa De La Vida,” proudly doffing his white tuxedo jacket to reveal a pair of well-toned pecs under his muscle tee.
A moving highlight of the ceremony was a tribute to the late Ozzy Osbourne, who as the frontman for Black Sabbath and during his successful solo career became known as one of the founding fathers of heavy metal. Osbourne died in July, aged 76.
After a prerecorded message from Osbourne’s son, Jack, and his young daughters, the British goth-metal singer YUNGBLUD belted out a trio of Osbourne/Sabbath classics, “Crazy Train,” “Changes” and “Mama, I’m Coming Home.” On the latter, YUNGBLUD was joined by Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, and the trio finished the ballad with arms draped around each other.
#Ariana #Grande #Lady #Gaga #shine #MTV #VMAs
