Ariana Grande picked up Video of the Year and Lady Gaga won Artist of the Year at Sunday’s Video Music Awards, which also honored three legendary MTV icons — Mariah Carey, Ricky Martin and Busta Rhymes.
Winning the first award of the night, Lady Gaga thanked her “little monsters” for “always supporting me and always supporting the monster in me.”
“I hope as you navigate through the mayhem of daily life you are reminded of the importance of art in your life,” Lady Gaga said.
In a pre-recorded performance during a Madison Square Garden concert, Lady Gaga sang her new hits “Abracadabra” and “The Dead Dance.”
Lady Gaga had the most nominations at this year’s VMAs, including Video of the Year and Song of the Year. She won three categories announced before the live event — for Best Album (Mayhem) and Best Direction and Best Choreography for “Abracadabra.”
Lady Gaga, along with Bruno Mars, also won the Best Collaboration category for “Die with a Smile.” The song also received a nomination for Song of the Year, but that award went to Mars and another collaborator, Rosé, for the song “Apt.”
Rosé was also nominated for Best Art Direction, Best Collaboration, Best Direction, Best Pop, Best Visual Effects and Video of the Year for “Apt.” and Best K-Pop for “Toxic Till the End.”
Mars had the second-most number of nominations for the night, including two each for Video of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Collaboration, and Best Pop for his collaborations with Lady Gaga and Rosé.
Ariana Grande won the Best Pop and Video of the Year awards for “Brighter Days Ahead.”
Sabrina Carpenter won Album of the Year for Short n’ Sweet and had a total of nine nominations, including Best Pop Artist, Video of the Year and Song of the Summer. She performed her new release “Tears.”
“I really don’t take for granted when you guys take time out of your lives to listen to an album,” she said in her acceptance speech. “I’m just the luckiest girl in the world.” (UPI)
