Cool people have spent the last 20 years or so complaining about how MTV doesn’t show music videos anymore, and yet every year the MTV Video Music Awards are full of nominees and performers who the ostensibly “cool” people haven’t heard of. Is it possible that MTV is simultaneously totally lame and totally hip? Yes, obviously it can be two things. With that out of the way, here are the winners taking home the silver Moon Person statues at the 2018 VMAs.
After a fun and brief monologue from Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish that featured the two of them dropping tongue-in-cheek burns on a somewhat disinterested audience (seriously, Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson, you guys can talk later), Nicki Minaj pulled off an early upset by beating Cardi B, Drake, Migos, and The Carters for the Best Hip Hop award. After that, things got a little more predictable, with Grande winning Best Pop (the categories all have names like that, rather than Best Pop Video or whatever, which never stops being weird).
Later, in what seemed like a very tone-deaf follow-up to last year’s decidedly political show, the Backstreet Boys—including Nick Carter, who was recently accused of rape—presented the Song Of The Year award to Post Malone. This came not long after Logic took the stage in a shirt that said “Fuck The Wall” and performed alongside a bunch of immigrant families in shirts that said “We Are All Human Beings,” so any messages MTV wanted to send with the show were kind of all over the place. At least “This Is America” won a handful of awards, including the awkwardly named Video With A Message. Donald Glover wasn’t there, but the video’s choreographer Sherrie Silver seemed psyched.
The full list of nominees is below, and we’ll update this post as more winners are announced.
VIDEO VANGUARD
Jennifer Lopez
BEST HIP HOP
Cardi B ft. 21 Savage, “Bartier Cardi”
The Carters, “APES**T”
Drake, “God’s Plan”
J. Cole, “ATM”
Migos ft. Drake, “Walk It Talk It”
Nicki Minaj, “Chun-Li”
BEST POP
Ariana Grande, “No Tears Left to Cry”
Camila Cabello ft. Young Thug,“Havana”
Demi Lovato, “Sorry Not Sorry”
Ed Sheeran, “Perfect”
P!nk, “What About Us”
Shawn Mendes, “In My Blood”
VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Ariana Grande, “No Tears Left to Cry”
Bruno Mars ft. Cardi B, “Finesse (Remix)”
Camila Cabello ft. Young Thug, “Havana”
The Carters, “APES**T”
Childish Gambino, “This Is America”
Drake, “God’s Plan”
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Ariana Grande
Bruno Mars
Camila Cabello
Cardi B
Drake
Post Malone
SONG OF THE YEAR
Bruno Mars ft. Cardi B, “Finesse (Remix)”
Camila Cabello ft. Young Thug, “Havana”
Drake – “God’s Plan”
Dua Lipa, “New Rules”
Ed Sheeran, “Perfect”
Post Malone ft. 21 Savage, “rockstar”
BEST NEW ARTIST (Presented by Taco Bell®)
Bazzi
Cardi B
Chloe x Halle
Hayley Kiyoko
Lil Pump
Lil Uzi Vert
BEST COLLABORATION
Bebe Rexha ft. Florida Georgia Line,“Meant to Be” – Warner Bros. Records
Bruno Mars ft. Cardi B, “Finesse (Remix)”
The Carters, “APES**T”
Jennifer Lopez ft. DJ Khaled & Cardi B, “Dinero”
Logic ft. Alessia Cara & Khalid, “1-800-273-8255”
N.E.R.D & Rihanna, “Lemon”
BEST LATIN
Daddy Yankee, “Dura”
J Balvin, Willy William, “Mi Gente”
Jennifer Lopez ft. DJ Khaled & Cardi B, “Dinero”
Luis Fonsi, Demi Lovato, “Échame La Culpa”
Maluma, “Felices los 4”
Shakira ft. Maluma, “Chantaje”
BEST DANCE
Avicii ft. Rita Ora, “Lonely Together”
Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa, “One Kiss”
The Chainsmokers, “Everybody Hates Me”
David Guetta & Sia, “Flames”
Marshmello ft. Khalid, “Silence”
Zedd & Liam Payne, “Get Low (Street Video)”
BEST ROCK
Fall Out Boy, “Champion”
Foo Fighters, “The Sky Is A Neighborhood”
Imagine Dragons, “Whatever It Takes”
Linkin Park, “One More Light”
Panic! At The Disco, “Say Amen (Saturday Night)”
Thirty Seconds To Mars, “Walk On Water”
VIDEO WITH A MESSAGE
Childish Gambino, “This Is America”
Dej Loaf and Leon Bridges, “Liberated”
Drake , “God’s Plan”
Janelle Monáe, “PYNK”
Jessie Reyez, “Gatekeeper”
Logic ft. Alessia Cara & Khalid, “1-800-273-8255”
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Alessia Cara, “Growing Pains”: Cinematography by Pau Castejón
Ariana Grande, “No Tears Left to Cry”: Cinematography by Scott Cunningham
The Carters, “APES**T”: Cinematography by Benoit Debie
Childish Gambino, “This Is America”: Cinematography by Larkin Seiple
Eminem ft. Ed Sheeran, “River”: Cinematography by Frank Mobilio & Patrick Meller
Shawn Mendes, “In My Blood”: Cinematography by Jonathan Sela
BEST DIRECTION
The Carters, “APES**T”: Directed by Ricky Saix
Childish Gambino, “This Is America”: Directed by Hiro Murai
Drake, “God’s Plan”: Directed by Karena Evans
Ed Sheeran, “Perfect”: Directed by Jason Koenig
Justin Timberlake ft. Chris Stapleton, “Say Something”: Directed by Arturo Perez Jr.
Shawn Mendes, “In My Blood”: Directed by Jay Martin
BEST ART DIRECTION
The Carters, “APES**T”: Art Direction by Jan Houlevigue
Childish Gambino, “This Is America”: Art Direction by Jason Kisvarday
J. Cole, “ATM”: Art Direction by Miles Mullin
Janelle Monáe, “Make Me Feel”: Art Direction by Pepper Nguyen
SZA, “The Weekend”: Art Direction by SZA and Solange
Taylor Swift, “Look What You Made Me Do”: Art Direction by Brett Hess
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Ariana Grande, “No Tears Left to Cry”: Visual Effects by Vidal and Loris Paillier for Buf
Avicii ft. Rita Ora, “Lonely Together”: Visual Effects by KPP
Eminem ft. Beyoncé, “Walk On Water”: Visual Effects Supervisor Rich Lee for Drive Studios
Kendrick Lamar & SZA, “All The Stars”: Visual Effects by Loris Paillier for BUF Paris
Maroon 5, “Wait”: Visual Effects by TIMBER
Taylor Swift, “Look What You Made Me Do”: Visual Effects by Ingenuity Studios
BEST CHOREOGRAPHY
Bruno Mars ft. Cardi B, “Finesse (Remix)”: Choreography by Phil Tayag & Bruno Mars
Camila Cabello ft. Young Thug, “Havana”: Choreography by Calvit Hodge and Sara Bivens
The Carters, “APES**T”: Choreography by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Jaquel Knight
Childish Gambino, “This Is America”: Choreography by Sherrie Silver
Dua Lipa, “IDGAF”: Choreography by Marion Motin
Justin Timberlake, “Filthy”: Choreography by Marty Kudelka, AJ Harpold, Tracy Phillips, and Ivan Koumaev
BEST EDITING
Bruno Mars ft. Cardi B, “Finesse (Remix)”: Editing by Jacquelyn London
The Carters, “APES**T”: Taylor Ward and Sam Ostrove
Childish Gambino, “This Is America”: Editing by Ernie Gilbert
Janelle Monáe, “Make Me Feel”: Editing by Deji Laray
N.E.R.D & Rihanna, “Lemon”: Editing by Taylor Ward
Taylor Swift, “Look What You Made Me Do”: Editing by Chancler Haynes for Cosmo