The VMAs Go Global

The Video Music Awards has been a long-standing tradition in the United States to honor the top icons of the music industry. The first award ceremony took place 38 years ago in 1984 and featured artists like Michael Jackson and Cyndi Lauper. Ever since, artists have aspired to be nominated for their contributions to pop culture and entertainment. This year, the show headed to the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, where fans gathered to watch their favorite artists perform and take home coveted silver “Moon Person” awards.

The VMAs put an emphasis on representing different cultures and music genres from around the world, especially since 2023 excitingly marks the 50-year Anniversary of Hip-Hop. We saw performances from artists such as LL Cool J, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, Grandmaster Flash and so much more.

While certain American artists swept the floor across several award categories (cough cough Taylor Swift with a total of NINE awards), it is important to recognize the cultural icons that took home the gold in their respective categories. So with that, here are the winners from the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards that proudly represented their home countries and cultures.

Best Latin

You’ve heard of Bad Bunny. You’ve heard of Shakira. But you probably haven’t heard of Anitta, a Brazilian artist who has quickly risen to the top of the Latinx music genre. She took home the award for Best Latin for her song “Funk Rave,” rising above some of the greats mentioned earlier.

Latin music icons also swept in other categories this year — Shakira proudly represented her home country of Columbia. She stepped up to claim the MTV Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award after she performed a medley of her greatest hits, which is a longstanding tradition for the award’s recipient. The award is presented “in recognition of an artist's overall achievements in music and film but is sometimes handed out as a lifetime achievement award,” according to MTV.

Shakira, who performed at the VMAs for the first time in 14 years, is the first South American and the second Latina to win the award.

Best K-Pop

Make way for South Korea! The K-Pop category was first introduced at the 2019 VMAs, but as K-Pop has become a more globally recognized genre, a series of firsts have followed for the industry. In previous years, BTS took home the award, and the group currently holds three VMAs. But this year, a new group called Stray Kids took the gold for their song “S-Class.”

The popular all-female group BLACKPINK also represented South Korea in the Best Choreography and Group of the Year categories, making 2023 the biggest year yet in the representation of Asian artists. Another group, Tomorrow X Together (better known as TXT), took home the Performance of The Year award for their new single “Back For More” alongside featured artist Aniita, who won in her respective category.

Best Afrobeats

Afrobeats is a relatively new category for the VMAs, beginning at last year’s ceremony. This year, Nigerian singer and rapper Rema took home the award for his song “Calm Down” featuring Selena Gomez. The song was the first Afrobeats jam to hit a billion Billboard Top 100 Chart streams. It also spent a record-setting 45 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard U.S. Afrobeats Songs chart and became Rema's first-ever top-10 single in the United States. Rema even shared with People Magazine that he and Selena have become close friends amid their success.

It’s incredible to see how MTV has evolved over the years to start embracing artists of different cultural backgrounds. The station has given these individuals the opportunity to express themselves in their own language during performances without translations, sending the message that each of these cultural groups deserves a seat at the table of stardom. We at The Edge look forward to seeing what the next year brings for the music industry.

Click here to see the complete list of 2023 VMAs winners.

Have a favorite VMAs performance? Let us know @theedgemag!