MTV EMA Winners: Eminem, Shawn Mendes with global icons U2

While Taylor Swift was expected to lead the pack at the 2017 MTV EMA’s the tide shifted to Canadian pop singer Shawn Mendes with “Best Song,” “Best Artist,” and “Biggest Fans” awards.

Shawn Mendes even beat Ed Sheeran to win the best-artist prize Sunday at the MTV EMAs, while U2 were proclaimed global icons in a show that celebrated London’s diverse culture, from pubs to pirate radio.

Mendes, the 19-year-old Canadian star, also won the best-song trophy for “There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back,” to the delight of fans standing in a polite onstage mosh-pit at the city’s SSE Arena. Fittingly, he also took the prize for best fans.

The show, formerly known as the MTV Europe Music Awards, opened with a clip of Eminem performing his new single “Walk on Water” in a London pub. He then emerged onstage in jeans and a black hoodie to perform the slow-burning number live, with Skylar Gray filling in on the duet duties Beyoncé performed on the recording.

eminem wins 2017 mtv ema

Eminem was also named best hip-hop artist and proclaimed surprise.

“I don’t know how I got this because I haven’t had an album out in a few years,” he said.

Sunday marked the awards’ return to London for the first time since 1996, and locally bred singer Rita Ora was a suitably chipper host. Taking the stage clad in a bathrobe and towel, she kept things moving, changed outfits every few minutes and gamely joshed in video clips with the stars of pirate-radio sitcom “People Just Do Nothing.”

The show featured plenty of visual spectacle, from the 50 dancers accompanying Demi Lovato on “Sorry Not Sorry” and “Tell me You Love Me” to the giant animatronic bird carrying Travis Scott onto the stage.

Singer Camila Cabello, who won the best-pop prize, performed “Havana” with a troupe of dancers dressed as bathing beauties around a realistic projection of a pool. London grime artist Stormzy arrived in a police car and left in a blaze of fireworks after performing the rousing “Big For Your Boots.”

Performers ranged across genres and generations and included singer-songwriter Kesha, electronic act Clean Bandit, rapper French Montana, rockers The Killers and former One Direction heartthrob Liam Payne.

Kendrick Lamar won best video for “Humble,” a lavish clip laced with religious and art-history imagery.

Coldplay was named best rock act, while the best-alternative prize went to Thirty Seconds to Mars. Frontman Jared Leto thanked Europe, adding that the U.S. is a land of immigrants and “we welcome you with open arms.”

British singer-songwriter Dua Lipa was named best new artist.

Apart from the occasional hint of marijuana smoke wafting across the arena, there were few of the unscripted-feeling moments that made past shows stick in the memory. There was no equivalent of Kanye West crashing the stage after losing in 2006 or Miley Cyrus smoking a joint in Amsterdam in 2013.

U2, who played an MTV-sponsored concert in London’s Trafalgar Square on Saturday, received the Global Icon award from Leto, who said: “U2 changed my life.”

“Their songs are prayers, their concerts a church,” he said. “They challenge us; they inspire us.”

The Irish band dedicated the award to label boss Chris Blackwell of Island records, who signed them almost 40 years ago. And in a nod to a new generation of artists, Bono crooned an a capella version of Stormzy’s “Blinded by Your Grace.”

The awards are held in a different European city each year, with winners selected by fans across the continent. Next year’s ceremony will be held in Bilbao, Spain.

2017 mtv ema name u2 gloabl icons

Complete List Of 2017 MTV EMA Winners:

BEST SONG
Clean Bandit – “Rockabye” ft. Sean Paul & Anne-Marie
DJ Khaled – “Wild Thoughts” ft. Rihanna, Bryson Tiller
Ed Sheeran – “Shape of You”
Luis Fonsi & Daddy Yankee – “Despacito” (Remix) ft. Justin Bieber
Shawn Mendes – “There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back” — WINNER

BEST ARTIST
Ariana Grande
Ed Sheeran
Kendrick Lamar
Miley Cyrus
Shawn Mendes — WINNER
Taylor Swift

BEST LOOK
Dua Lipa
Harry Styles
Rita Ora
Taylor Swift
Zayn — WINNER

BEST NEW
Dua Lipa — WINNER
Julia Michaels
Khalid
Kyle
Rag‘n’Bone Man

BEST POP
Camila Cabello — WINNER
Demi Lovato
Miley Cyrus
Shawn Mendes
Taylor Swift

BEST VIDEO
Foo Fighters – “Run”
Katy Perry – “Bon Appetit” ft. Migos
Kendrick Lamar – “Humble” — WINNER
Kyle – “iSpy” ft. Lil Yachty
Taylor Swift – “Look What You Made Me Do”

BEST LIVE
Bruno Mars
Coldplay
Ed Sheeran — WINNER
Eminem
U2

BEST ELECTRONIC
Calvin Harris
David Guetta — WINNER
Major Lazer
Martin Garrix
The Chainsmokers

BEST ROCK
Coldplay — WINNER
Foo Fighters
Royal Blood
The Killers
U2

BEST HIP HOP
Drake
Eminem — WINNER
Future
Kendrick Lamar
Post Malone

BEST ALTERNATIVE
Imagine Dragons
Lana Del Rey
Lorde
The xx
Thirty Seconds To Mars — WINNER

BIGGEST FANS
Ariana Grande
Justin Bieber
Katy Perry
Shawn Mendes — WINNER
Taylor Swift

BEST PUSH
Hailee Steinfeld — WINNER
Jon Bellion
Julia Michaels
Kacy Hill
Khalid
Kyle
Noah Cyrus
Petite Meller
Rag’n’Bone Man
SZA
The Head And The Heart

BEST WORLD STAGE
Steve Aoki – Live from Isle of MTV Malta 2016
Kings of Leon – Live from Oude Luxor Theatre, Rotterdam, The Netherlands 2016
Tomorrowland 2017
DNCE – Live from Isle of MTV Malta 2017
The Chainsmokers – Live from Isle of MTV Malta 2017 — WINNER
Foo Fighters – Live from Barcelona, Spain 2017

BEST LOCAL ACT
Bruno Mars (U.S.), Little Mix (U.K. & Ireland), Drake (Canada), Justin Bieber (Canada) and Kygo (Norway) are among those nominated for their respective home regions. In the Best U.S. Act voting category, wildcard nominee Fifth Harmony has been chosen by fans via social vote. Similarly, Louis Tomlinson has been chosen by fans via social vote for Best U.K. & Ireland Act.

GLOBAL ICON
U2 — WINNER