While some critics were predicting the demise of Beyonce earlier this year, the singer slapped them back with “Lemonade,” proving that she is far from over in the music industry.
Beyonce proved once again she is the contemporary rock star, and she used the MTV Video Music Awards stage to showcase her skills and outshine her peers, from Rihanna to Britney Spears.
Beyonce won eight awards, including video of the year, and performed five songs from her visual album “Lemonade” in an epic 16-minute concert Sunday that had the audience at Madison Square Garden in awe.
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She sang live, danced heavily and worked the crowd as she ran through “Pray You Catch Me,” ”Hold Up,” ”Sorry,” ”Don’t Hurt Yourself” and “Formation,” which won the top prize over Adele, Drake, Justin Bieber and Kanye West.
“First of all, I’d like to thank my beautiful daughter and my incredible husband for all of their support,” said Beyonce, who walked the carpet with daughter Blue Ivy and the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Eric Garner – who all appeared in “Lemonade” movie.
It was reminiscent of the 2014 VMAs when Beyonce also performed for 16 minutes and accepted the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard award. This year it was awarded to Rihanna, who split up her performances throughout the night, singing hits such as “Work,” ”We Found Love” and “Love on the Brain.”
But the biggest moment for Rihanna came when Drake – in a tuxedo – presented the award to his former girlfriend. He said he met Rihanna in 2005 on the set of her first music video for “Pon de Replay.”
“She’s someone I’ve been in love with her since I was 22 years old,” Drake said as Rihanna blushed and the audience cheered loudly. “She’s one of my best friends in the world. All of my adult life I’ve looked up to her even though she’s younger than me.”
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Rihanna, 28, thanked her family, friends and hometown of Saint Michael, Barbados, for helping her succeed in her 11-year-career.
“My success started as my dream, but now my success is not my own. It’s my family, my fans, my country …it’s women, it’s black women,” she said.
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Beyonce’s top-notch performance starkly contrasted with that of Spears, who returned to the VMA stage after 10 years. Not only did she lip sync, in typical fashion, but she did so badly. Spears performed her hit “Make Me…” and danced slickly, but she didn’t actually sing a word of the song live. She was joined by rapper G-Eazy – and she lip synched the hook to his hit song, “Me, Myself and I.”
In true Kanye fashion, the rapper ranted onstage, touching on subjects from music to his beef with Taylor Swift to violence in his hometown Chicago before he debuted his music video for “Fade,” which starred Teyana Taylor. He talked about his “Famous” video, which features what appear to be naked images of himself, his wife Kim Kardashian, Swift, Donald Trump and others. He even pointed to former girlfriend Amber Rose, who was in the audience and is also in the video.
Drake won best hip hop video for “Hotline Bling” and Calvin Harris won best male video for “This is What You Came For.” David Bowie – who died from cancer earlier this year – received four nominations for “Lazarus” and won best art direction. The music video, which shows him looking frail in bed with bandaged eyes, was released just days before the icon’s Jan. 10 death.
Performers included Nick Jonas, The Chainsmokers, Ty Dollar $ign and Ariana Grande, who brought spin class to the VMA stage when she sang the reggae-tinged “Side to Side” with Nicki Minaj.
In one of several odes to the recent Olympic Games, Michael Phelps said he’s been inspired by hip-hop music before introducing Future, who Phelps said he listened to before swimming and making the grimace that went viral. The rapper-singer-producer performed his hit “(Expletive) Up Some Commas.”
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Jimmy Fallon, who presented video of the year, dressed as Ryan Lochte and even sported the platinum blonde hair. As Lochte – who is dealing with trouble after filing a false robbery report over an incident during the Rio Olympics – Fallon lied onstage about writing Justin Bieber’s “Sorry” and directing the clips nominated for video of the year.
Other presenters include Alicia Keys, Puff Daddy and four of the Final Five gymnasts (Gabby Douglas was hospitalized for a mouth infection).
Adele was behind Beyonce with eight nominations, but the British singer did not attend the show and did not win any Moon Men. Beyonce’s wins included best female video, pop video, breakthrough long-form video, choreography, direction, cinematography and editing.
Full List Of MTV VMA Winners 2016:
Video of the Year
Beyoncé – “Formation” (WINNER)
Director: Melina Matsoukas
Adele – “Hello”
Director: Xavier Dolan
Drake – “Hotline Bling”
Director: Director X
Justin Bieber – “Sorry”
Director: Parris Goebel
Kanye West – “Famous”
Director: Kanye West
Best Female Video
Beyoncé – “Hold Up” (WINNER)
Director: Jonas Åkerlund, Beyoncé Knowles Carter
Adele – “Hello”
Director: Xavier Dolan
Sia – “Cheap Thrills”
Director: Lior Molcho
Ariana Grande – “Into You”
Director: Hannah Lux Davis
Rihanna ft. Drake – “Work” (short version)
Director: Director X
Best Male Video
Calvin Harris ft. Rihanna – “This Is What You Came For” (WINNER)
Director: Emil Nava
Drake – “Hotline Bling”
Director: Director X
Bryson Tiller – “Don’t”
Director: Cris
Kanye West – “Famous”
Director: Kanye West
The Weeknd – “Can’t Feel My Face”
Director: Grant Singer
Best Collaboration
Fifth Harmony ft. Ty Dolla $ign – “Work From Home” (WINNER)
Director: Director X
Beyoncé ft. Kendrick Lamar – “Freedom”
Director: Beyoncé Knowles Carter, Kahlil Joseph
Ariana Grande ft. Lil Wayne – “Let Me Love You”
Director: Grant Singer
Calvin Harris ft. Rihanna – “This Is What You Came For”
Director: Emil Nava
Rihanna ft. Drake – “Work” (short version)
Director: Director X
Best Hip Hop Video
Drake – “Hotline Bling” (WINNER)
Director: Director X
Desiigner – “Panda”
Director: Paul Geusebroek
Bryson Tiller – “Don’t”
Director: Cris
Chance The Rapper – “Angels”
Director: Austin Vesely
2 Chainz – “Watch Out”
Director: Motion Family
Best Pop Video
Beyoncé – “Formation” (WINNER)
Director: Melina Matsoukas
Adele – “Hello”
Director: Xavier Dolan
Justin Bieber – “Sorry”
Director: Parris Goebel
Alessia Cara – “Wild Things”
Director: Aaron A
Ariana Grande – “Into You”
Director: Hannah Lux Davis
Best Rock Video
twenty one pilots – “Heathens” (WINNER)
Director: Andrew Donoho
All Time Low – “Missing You”
Director: Patrick Tracy
Coldplay – “Adventure Of A Lifetime”
Director: Mat Whitecross
Fall Out Boy ft. Demi Lovato – “Irresistible”
Director: Wayne Isham
Panic! At The Disco – “Victorious”
Director: Brandon Dermer
Best Electronic Video
Calvin Harris & Disciples – “How Deep Is Your Love” (WINNER)
Director: Emil Nava
99 Souls ft. Destiny’s Child & Brandy – “The Girl Is Mine”
Director: Ludovic Zuili, Simon Bouisson
Mike Posner – “I Took A Pill In Ibiza”
Director: Jon Jon Augustavo
Afrojack – “SummerThing!”
Director: Sam Sneed
The Chainsmokers ft. Daya – “Don’t Let Me Down”
Director: Marcus Kuhne
Breakthrough Long Form Video
Beyoncé – Lemonade (WINNER)
Florence + The Machine – The Odyssey
Justin Bieber – PURPOSE: The Movement
Chris Brown – Royalty
Troye Sivan – Blue Neighbourhood Trilogy
Best New Artist
DNCE (WINNER)
Bryson Tiller
Desiigner
Zara Larsson
Lukas Graham
Best Art Direction
David Bowie – “Blackstar” (WINNER)
Production Designer: Jan Houllevigue
Beyoncé – “Hold Up”
Production Designer: Jason Hougaard
Fergie – “M.I.L.F. $”
Production Designer: Alexander Delgado
Drake – “Hotline Bling”
Production Designer: Jeremy MacFarlane
Adele – “Hello” Art
Production Designer: Colombe Raby
Best Choreography
Beyoncé – “Formation” (WINNER)
Choreographer: Chris Grant, JaQuel Knight, Dana Foglia
Missy Elliott ft. Pharrell – “WTF (Where They From)”
Choreographer: Hi-Hat
Beyoncé – “Sorry”
Choreographer: Chris Grant, JaQuel Knight, Dana Foglia, Anthony Burrell, Beyoncé Knowles Carter
FKA Twigs – “M3LL155X”
Choreographer: FKA Twigs
Florence + The Machine – “Delilah”
Choreographer: Holly Blakey
Best Direction
Beyoncé – “Formation” (WINNER)
Director: Melina Matsoukas
Coldplay – “Up&Up”
Director: Vania Heymann, Gal Muggia
Adele – “Hello”
Director: Xavier Dolan
David Bowie – “Lazarus”
Director: Johan Renck
Tame Impala – “The Less I Know The Better”
Director: Canada
Best Cinematography
Beyoncé – “Formation” (WINNER)
Cinematographer: Malik Sayeed
Adele – “Hello”
Cinematographer: André Turpin
David Bowie – “Lazarus”
Cinematographer: Crille Forsberg
Alesso – “I Wanna Know”
Cinematographer: Corey Jennings
Ariana Grande – “Into You”
Cinematographer: Paul Laufer
Best Editing
Beyoncé – “Formation” (WINNER)
Editor: Jeff Selis
Adele – “Hello”
Editor: Xavier Dolan
Fergie – “M.I.L.F. $”
Editor: Vinnie Hobbs
David Bowie – “Lazarus”
Editor: Johan Söderberg
Ariana Grande – “Into You”
Editor: Hannah Lux Davis
Best Visual Effects
Coldplay – “Up&Up” (WINNER)
VFX Editor: Vania Heymann
FKA Twigs – “M3LL155X”
VFX Editor: Lewis Saunders, Jihoon Yoo
Adele – “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)”
VFX Editor: Sam Sneade
The Weeknd – “Can’t Feel My Face”
VFX Editor: Bryan Smaller
Zayn – “PILLOWTALK”
VFX Editor: David Smith
Song of Summer
Fifth Harmony featuring Fetty Wap – “All In My Head (Flex)” (WINNER)
Calvin Harris featuring Rihanna – “This Is What You Came For”
The Chainsmokers featuring Halsey – “Closer”
Drake featuring Kyla & Wizkid – “One Dance”
Justin Timberlake – “Can’t Stop The Feeling”
Kent Jones – “Don’t Mind”
Major Lazer featuring Justin Bieber MØ– “Cold Water”
Nick Jonas featuring Ty Dolla $ign – “Bacon”
Selena Gomez – “Kill ‘Em With Kindness”
Sia – “Cheap Thrills”