2021 MTV Video Music Awards | |
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Date | Sunday, September 12, 2021 |
Venue | Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York City |
Country | United States |
Hosted by | Doja Cat |
Most awards |
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Most nominations | Justin Bieber (9) |
Website | mtv |
Television/radio coverage | |
Network | |
Produced by | Bruce Gillmer Jesse Ignjatovic |
Directed by | Joe DeMaio |
The 2021 MTV Video Music Awards were held on September 12, 2021, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York City. This marked the first time in eight years that the venue hosted the show. [1] [2] The show was hosted by hip-hop rapper and singer Doja Cat. [3] It was the first time in history a Video of the Year nominee hosted the ceremony the same year. [4]
The ceremony was simulcast on The CW, a free over-the-air broadcaster, with Mountain and Pacific time zones airing it live and others delayed for primetime, and on various ViacomCBS networks and platforms. [5] Lil Nas X, Olivia Rodrigo and BTS were the most awarded artists of the night with three awards each, followed by Billie Eilish, and Justin Bieber with two each; the latter was also the most nominated artist with nine nominations. Beyoncé extended her lead as the most-awarded artist in the show's history, collecting her 29th trophy. Her daughter Blue Ivy Carter also became the youngest winner in the show's history. [6]
On August 1, a new iteration of the MTV Video Music Awards "moon person" trophy was unveiled at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, in honor of MTV's 40th anniversary. Designed by Kehinde Wiley, it features vines and flowers symbolizing "the ethnic histories that surround America", with the network stating that "each intertwined vine or leaf" holds a "different historical relevance, such as the seeds from African slaves, that are woven into the American tapestry". [7] [8]
MTV collaborated with 9/11 Day for a week of activities to "promote awareness and positive action" in honor of the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, which fell on the eve of the ceremony. [1] [9]
The show received 3.7 million viewers across all networks, [10] including 900,000 viewers on MTV, representing a 31% drop from last year's 1.3 million. However, the show garnered 38 million interactions across all U.S. platforms, beating the Super Bowl for the first time and becoming 2021's top telecast in social media buzz. Internationally, the VMAs increased 43% in Brazil and 25% in the U.K. [11] [12] [13]
Lorde was initially announced as a performer for the main show on August 18, 2021, but later pulled out of the event on September 3 "due to a change in production elements". [14] Ed Sheeran additionally performed his new single "Bad Habits", [15] but the clip was uploaded to MTV's YouTube channel instead of being shown during the live broadcast. Anitta made a clip for the song "Girl from Rio" uploaded to MTV's YouTube channel as an advertisement for Burger King, but it was deleted.
Presenters for the ceremony were announced on September 8, 2021. [20] Nessa Diab and Jamila Mustafa hosted the 90-minute pre-show event, while Tinashe served as a special celebrity correspondent. [16]
Nominations were announced on August 11, 2021. [22] [23] Justin Bieber was the most-nominated artist with nine, followed by Megan Thee Stallion and BTS with seven. [23] [24] Voting for select categories began on the same day and took place on the VMA website until September 3. Voting for Best New Artist continued until during showtime. [25] Social category nominations, including Group of the Year and Song of Summer, were announced on September 3, 2021. Voting for the former opened on September 4, while voting for the latter opened on September 7—both took place via MTV's Instagram stories. [26] BTS, Olivia Rodrigo and Lil Nas X won the most awards of the night with three each, followed by Billie Eilish, Doja Cat, Silk Sonic and Bieber with two each.
Winners are listed first and in bold. [27]
The MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist has been given out since the first annual MTV Video Music Awards in 1984. Until 2006, the award was named Best New Artist in a Video. In 2007 its name was changed to Best New Artist, as the category underwent a format change to recognize the artist's body of work for the full year rather than a specific video. For the 2008 ceremony, the award retained its 2007 name but returned to the format of awarding a specific video rather than the artist's full body of work.
The MTV Video Music Award for Best Collaboration was first introduced to the MTV Video Music Awards in 2007 under the name Most Earthshattering Collaboration, as the VMAs were revamped and a few new categories were added to the show. When MTV brought the VMAs back to their old format in 2008, this category did not return. It was not until 2010 that the category was reintroduced under the name Best Collaboration.
The MTV Video Music Award for Video for Good is an award handed out at the yearly MTV Video Music Awards, first introduced at the 2011 ceremony. Originally named Best Video with a Message, the word "Social" was added to its name in 2013.
The 2015 MTV Video Music Awards were held on August 30, 2015. The 32nd installment of the event was held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California, and hosted by Miley Cyrus. Taylor Swift led the nominations with a total of ten, followed by Ed Sheeran, who had six, bringing his total number of mentions to 13. Swift's "Wildest Dreams" music video premiered during the pre-show. Cyrus also announced and released her studio album Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz, right after her performance at the end of the show. During his acceptance speech, Kanye West announced that he would be running in the 2020 United States presidential election. Taylor Swift won the most awards with four, including Video of the Year and Best Female Video. The VMA trophies were redesigned by Jeremy Scott.
Vinnie Hobbs is an American film editor known for working with artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Britney Spears, Future, Nicki Minaj, Big Sean, Drake, Kanye West, and Skrillex. He was nominated for MTV's Video Music Award for Best Editing in 2016, 2017 and 2019.
The 2017 MTV Video Music Awards were held on August 27, 2017 at The Forum in Inglewood, California, honoring music videos released between June 25, 2016 and June 23, 2017. It was hosted by Katy Perry. The 34th annual award show aired live from the venue for the second time in its history. The music video for Taylor Swift's song "Look What You Made Me Do" premiered during the broadcast. Lil Yachty co-hosted the pre-show with Terrence J, Charlamagne Tha God, and MTV News' Gaby Wilson, while Gabbie Hanna hosted backstage for the show. It was broadcast across various Viacom networks and their related apps.
Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini, known professionally as Doja Cat, is an American rapper and singer. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she began making and releasing music on SoundCloud as a teenager. Her song "So High" caught the attention of Kemosabe and RCA Records, with whom she signed a recording contract prior to the release of her debut extended play, Purrr! in 2014.
The MTV Video Music Award for Artist of the Year is one of the biggest awards given at the annual MTV Video Music Awards. It was first introduced at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards, replacing both the MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video and Best Female Video as MTV want to eliminate gender-specific awards.
The 2020 MTV Video Music Awards were held on August 30, 2020. Keke Palmer hosted the 37th annual ceremony, which was presented primarily from New York City, but with a virtual ceremony due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This was the first VMA ceremony to be broadcast on The CW.
MTV Hits is a 24-hour pop music television channel from Paramount Networks EMEAA launched on 27 May 2014. The channel is widely available throughout Europe, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.
The MTV Video Music Award for Song of the Year is one of the biggest awards given at the annual MTV Video Music Awards. It was first introduced at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards.
The 2021 MTV Europe Music Awards were held on 14 November 2021 at the László Papp Budapest Sports Arena in Budapest, Hungary. This marked the first time that Hungary hosted the awards show and as well the first event has been held in a former communist country. The show was presented by American rapper Saweetie.
The 2022 Billboard Music Awards were held on May 15, 2022, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Hosted by Sean "Diddy" Combs, the show aired live on NBC and was also available for streaming on Peacock. Nominations across 62 categories—for releases during the period dated April 10, 2021 to March 26, 2022—were announced online through Twitter on April 8, 2022. The Weeknd received the most nominations of any artist, with 17; Doja Cat was the most-nominated female act with 14; BTS was the most-nominated group with seven.
The 2023 MTV Video Music Awards were held at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on September 12, 2023. The show was hosted by Nicki Minaj, marking her second consecutive year in the role. This was the first time the ceremony was held on a Tuesday. A new award category, "Show of the Summer", was awarded this year through fan votes. Shakira was honored with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. Diddy was honored with the Global Icon Award. Taylor Swift was the most nominated and awarded artist of the night, winning nine out of her eleven nominations.