Lady Gaga won four MTV VMAs, including Artist of the Year and Best Collaboration with Bruno Mars. Photo / Getty Images
Lady Gaga won four MTV VMAs, including Artist of the Year and Best Collaboration with Bruno Mars. Photo / Getty Images
Lady Gaga was the big winner at the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs).
The Poker Face hitmaker took home four prizes from 12 nominations at the ceremony in New York on Sunday, including Artist of the Year, Best Collaboration with Bruno Mars for their track Die with a Smile andboth Best Direction and Best Art Direction for the music video for her hit Abracadabra.
Gaga only attended the ceremony – hosted by LL Cool J – briefly as she was performing at Madison Square Garden, although her performances of Abracadabra and The Dead Dance at the gig were later shown at the ceremony.
Other big winners included Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter, who took home three prizes each.
Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter each won three awards. Photo / Getty Images
Grande n the Video of the Year, Best Pop and Best Long Form Video gongs for her track Brighter Days Ahead while Carpenter claimed the prizes of Best Pop Artist, Best Album for Short n’ Sweet and Best Visual Effects for the video to her hit Manchild.
Carpenter was one of the few artists to make a political statement as her performance of Tears included drag queens holding up signs including the phrases “Protect Trans Rights” and “In Trans We Trust”.
In her acceptance speech for Best Album, she said: “To my incredible cast and dancers and queens on stage with me tonight, this world as we all know can be so full of criticism and discrimination and negativity.
“So to get to be a part of something that can bring light, make you smile, make you dance and make you feel like the world is your f****** oyster, I’m so grateful to do that.”
Political statements in Sabrina Carpenter's VMA performance focused on trans rights. Photo / Getty Images
Others winners included Rosé – who won the Song of the Year prize for her track Apt with Bruno Mars – and Alex Warren in the Best New Artist category.
Established acts also took home awards with Mariah Carey winning the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, Busta Rhymes taking home the Rock the Bells Visionary prize and Ricky Martin being awarded the VMAs first Latin Icon Award.
Meanwhile, Yungblud and Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler and Joe Perry joined forces to pay tribute to Ozzy Osbourne after the Black Sabbath icon’s death at the age of 76 in July.
Yungblud, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry perform during a tribute to Ozzy Osbourne. Photo / Getty Images
