The most iconic VMAs moments
Back in the golden age of television, not being able to watch the annual MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) meant missing out on the hottest topics of conversation between your friends at school or work. Held at the end of each summer since 1984, the VMAs have become a pop culture staple, highly anticipated by audiences for their extravagant performances and shocking moments.
But in the era of social media, missing the show on TV isn’t a problem anymore, not when the VMAs have now become an online spectacle.
On the heels of this year’s VMAs, check out some of the awards show’s defining moments documenting the highs and lows in recent pop culture history.
2024: When Sabrina Carpenter made out with an alien
Known for her retro-inspired and coquettish stage performances, pop star Sabrina Carpenter’s three-part VMAs performance could definitely be considered not only out of the box but also out of this world.
While singing her chart-topping hit “Taste” alongside a pastel blue alien in a sheer dress and a kitschy-looking astronaut in a metallic space suit, Carpenter got up close and personal with the alien by pushing the astronaut out of her way and going in for a deep kiss.
The outlandish display was met with resounding cheers from the crowd, who only got even louder as she finished her performance with the internet’s song of the summer, “Espresso.”
2015: When Ye announced he was running for US president
Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, accepted his award for Video Vanguard with as much swagger as one would expect from the rapper. After standing in silence for more than a minute onstage, listening to the crowd’s applause, he launched into a 10-minute-long speech.
His lengthy address went on multiple tangents, from his interruption of Taylor Swift at the 2009 VMAs and how he “rolled up a little something” to smoke prior to the show to finally, his plans to run for president in 2020.
“I don’t know what I finna lose after this. It don’t matter, though, because it’s not about me. It’s about ideas, bro,” Ye says of his candidacy in the speech.
Audiences were so shocked by Ye’s announcement that both he and his speech trended at #1 on X globally, according to the X Blog in 2015.
2011: When Beyoncé announced her pregnancy
Following an energetic performance of “Love on Top,” pop superstar Beyoncé pleasantly surprised viewers across the world as she announced her pregnancy by unbuttoning her tuxedo suit, revealing her baby bump.
The live audience was alight with happiness, including her husband Jay-Z, who was standing in front of the stage with a joyful expression that was caught on camera.
Beyoncé would eventually give birth in 2012 to Blue Ivy Carter, who is now 13 years old and dancing alongside her mother at the Renaissance and Cowboy Carter tours.
2010: When Lady Gaga wore a raw meat dress
While it’s no surprise that Lady Gaga—a performer dedicated to theatrics and fashion—made it on this list, it wasn’t on anybody’s bingo card in 2010 that she would step onto the VMA stage wearing a dress made entirely of raw beef.
The cowl-necked meat dress, designed by Argentinian artist Franc Fernandez, was meant to be a political statement against the US armed forces’ “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, which prohibited LGBTQIA+ men and women in service from disclosing their sexual orientation.
“We decided to do the meat dress because I thought to myself, if you were willing you die for your country, what does it matter how you identify?” Gaga states in an episode of “Life in Looks.”
Now a literal piece of VMAs history, the dress is currently preserved as beef jerky and is open to the public for viewing at the Haus of Gaga museum in Las Vegas, Nevada.
2009: When Ye cut off Taylor Swift’s awards moment
As mentioned previously, Ye has gone viral for his behavior at awards shows, long before he announced his presidential run. Among the most infamous is his interruption of Taylor Swift in the middle of her VMAs acceptance speech.
The singer-songwriter, who won Best Female Video for “You Belong With Me,” was cut off after Ye abruptly made his way on stage and said, “I’mma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time.”
Taylor would eventually make her full circle moment in 2015, when she presented Ye with the Video Vanguard Award and jokingly referred to the incident by telling his fellow nominees, “I’mma let you finish, but Kanye West has had one of the greatest careers of all time.”
2003: When Madonna and Britney Spears kissed
Is it really a look back on the VMAs without a shared moment from the respective Queen and Princess of Pop?
A sudden change made two minutes before their performance of “Like A Virgin” with Christina Aguilera, Spears, and Madonna went from a simple air kiss to real lip-locking onstage.
“I thought to myself: I want a moment like that again this year. With the kiss, should I just go for it?” Britney writes of the scene in her memoir, “The Woman in Me.”
The last-minute decision would clearly work in the two stars’ favor, as it became a defining moment not only for the VMAs, but even in early 2000s culture.
