Taylor Swift won four awards at this year’s MTV Europe Music Awards, including Best Video for her hit All Too Well.
Key points:
- Swift won Best Artist, Best Pop, Best Video and Best Long Form Video
- Nicki Minaj won Best Song and Best Hip-Hop
- Newlyweds Rita Ora and Taika Waititi hosted the awards ceremony
Dual winners included Nicki Minaj for Best Song and Best Hip-Hop, while French DJ and record producer David Guetta won the Best Electronic and Best Collaboration categories.
The event, broadcast on MTV from Düsseldorf in western Germany, honored musicians from Brazil to South Korea.
It was an appearance by the Ukrainian Kalush Orchestra, winners of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, who performed Stefania in an arena in the blue and yellow national colors of Ukraine.
American pop singer Swift – in a bejeweled mesh dress – won Best Artist, Best Pop, Best Video and Best Long Form Video.
“I felt like I learned a lot about how filmmaking can be a natural extension of my storytelling,” Swift said as she accepted the long-form video award.
In All Too Well, Swift takes inspiration from 1970s Hollywood and recounts a frayed love relationship that disintegrates, leaving behind only a scarf and memories.
“It was rare, I was there, I remember it too well,” Swift sings.
British pop star Harry Styles won best live category and Thai-born Lalisa ‘Lisa’ Manoban won best K-pop.
South Korea’s BTS, the global K-pop sensation, won the biggest fan category.
The show’s hosts were British pop star Rita Ora and director Taika Waititi, who got married this year. Ora herself won the best look award.
Düsseldorf has a musical heritage as home to pioneering German electronic band Kraftwerk, who influenced generations of pop and dance musicians with compelling tracks such as Autobahn.
The city also hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 2011.
Screaming teenagers watched the stars parade down a red carpet before the event was broadcast from the PSD Bank Dome.
Julian Lennon, son of John Lennon of the Beatles, said as he walked in that he hadn’t seen a concert in years and was looking forward to it.
Rock band Muse, which won the award for best rock, said they dedicate their victory to the people of Ukraine and Iran.
Kalush Orchestra leader Oleh Psiuk, wearing a pink hat, said before the concert that he hoped more Ukrainian bands would perform next year.
Reuters
