Music’s biggest party! Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, Olivia Rodrigo and more fan-favorite artists were nominated for the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards.
LL Cool J, Nicki Minaj and Jack Harlow cohosted the ceremony at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, on Sunday, August 28. Along with emceeing the event, the “Starships” rapper, 39, was honored with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.
“Nicki has broken barriers for women in hip-hop with her versatility and creative artistry,” Bruce Gillmer, president of music, music talent, programming and events at Paramount+ said in a statement ahead of the awards show. “She has shifted the music industry and cemented her status as a global superstar with her crossover appeal, genre-defying style and continuing to be unapologetically ‘Nicki.'”
Minaj went on to celebrate her accomplishment via social media. “I’m receiving the Video Vanguard Award at the 2022 #VMAs!” she wrote via Instagram after the news was announced. “You DO NOT !!!! I REPEAT!!!! You do NOTTTTTT want to miss my performance.”
Harlow, 24, also had a big night. The “First Class” rapper was tied with Styles, 28, for the highest number of nominations at the 2022 ceremony. The musicians each had eight opportunities to take home a coveted Moonperson trophy and went head to head in the Artist of the Year category. Billie Eilish, Drake, Dua Lipa, Ed Sheeran, The Weeknd and Swift, 32, followed closely behind with five nominations each.
The “Fearless” songstress, who dropped her new and improved version of 2012’s Red last year, had the chance to win Best Longform Video, Best Direction and Best Cinematography for All Too Well: The Short Film. The video accompanied the 10-minute version of the beloved breakup song and starred Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien as a couple whose relationship ultimately falls apart.
“There is one very tense scene between the two of them — they were so electric and [improvising] a lot of what they were doing that we just couldn’t take the camera off them, we couldn’t cut, we couldn’t edit,” Swift told Jimmy Fallon in November 2021 of directing the Not Okay actor, 30, and the Stranger Things star, 20. “So there’s a very long one-take, one-camera shot that lasts for a very long time, and when you’re watching it you don’t note that; you don’t realize that because they are so magnetic.”
Swift’s 15-minute film was also in the running for Video of the Year, which she won. During her acceptance speech, the “Exile” singer revealed she has a “brand new album” on the way this fall. She previously won the same award in 2019 for “You Need to Calm Down” and in 2015 for her “Bad Blood” video.
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Scroll down for the complete list of 2022 MTV VMAs nominees — and look for the bold names to see who won:
