Sept. 12, 2023, was MTV’s biggest night of the year: the 39th annual Video Music Awards (VMAs). The VMAs are a music awards show, presented by the cable channel MTV, to honor people in the video music industry. This year’s show appeared relatively drama-free compared to those in years past, such as the 2003 VMAs where Madonna kissed Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera during the show’s opening performance, or the 2009 VMAs where Kanye West walked up on stage when Taylor Swift won Best Female Video. There was even the 2013 VMAs where the former boy band One Direction got booed for winning the award Viewer-Voted. However, the night still saw many surprises, from Nsync’s reunion, to Olivia Rodrigo’s stage “accidently” falling apart and Taylor Swift winning nine awards. Additionally, numerous guests performed during this big event, such as Doja Cat, Demi Lovato, Renee Rapp, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion.

Pop Singer Taylor Swift was nominated for 11 and took home nine out of the 26 awards at the VMAs. Swift’s awards included Video Of The Year, Song Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Best Pop, Best Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects and Show Of The Summer. Swift even tied with Beyonce to win the most awards in one night. This was a big experience for Swift because, as I mentioned earlier, she was publicly humiliated by famous rapper Kanye West at the 2009 VMAs. Swift had won the award for Best Female Video, and when Swift came up to get the award, West came up on stage and said “Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’mma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!” However, this year Swift fans were screaming with joy when she made a comeback from that comment West made by winning all of those awards.

Pop Singer Olivia Rodrigo was one of the most notable Of the many performers at the VMAs. Rodrigo performed her two songs “Vampire” and “Get Him Back” from her sophomore album “Guts.” During “Vampire,” the stage had unexpectedly started to fall apart which caused the audience to see what was going on, even a staff member working backstage walked Rodrigo off stage. However, people later found out it was just all a jest that was planned and part of her performance. According to Rordrigo, she did this to show that the malfunctions paralleled her “Vampire” music video. When Rodrigo started singing “Get him back,” everyone was relieved and excited that the show continued on like normal. There were also many other winners, such as Ice Spice for Best New Artist, Nicki Minaj for Best Hip Hop, SZA For Best R&B, Lana Del Rey for Best Alternative and many more.

Fans from St. Charles East High School had many reactions to the award show. Maddy Spaeth, a senior at St. Charles East High School, said, “I very much enjoyed the VMAs. From the outfits to the performances it was all very fun.”
Although many students enjoyed the show, there were some things people thought could’ve been better. One of these people included Parker Moran, a senior at St. Charles East High School who said, “Giving out the awards was really drawn out and long and I wanted them to move the pace along faster.” The VMAs are a great show to watch one night a year and fans can not wait to see the award show next year.