There were high hopes for some of the British stars nominated for awards – including Adele, Ed Sheeran and Harry Styles, who led the nominations, however – Swift proved to be the queen of the MTV EMAs. The 32-year-old megastar – who recently re-recorded some of her early hits to regain control of her work – praised her legion of fans (known as Swifties) as she accepted each award, thanking them for their unwavering support. Pictured: Power couple Taika Waititi (L) and Rita Ora hosted the evening When presented with the best artist gong from Baywatch star David Hasselhoff, Swift told the auditorium of cheering fans: “You have no idea how much this means to me to do this as a career… “There’s not a single moment where I take it for granted. I love you so much, I can’t believe I get to do this as a job, and it’s all because of you. Thank you so much.” The annual international music awards, which took place in Dusseldorf, Germany and were hosted by celebrity power couple Rita Ora and Taika Waititi, also saw stars including Nicki Minaj, Muse and Gorillaz pick up gongs from 20 gender-neutral categories. Read more: See the full list of MTV EMA winners here The night’s performances included Stormzy – who in a departure from his usual style performed his ballad Fire Babe on TV for the first time – as well as live music from Lewis Capaldi, Bebe Rexha and Eurovision winners Kalush Orchestra. British TikTok star and Eurovision runner-up Sam Ryder also bought some Eurovision glam into the night, presenting the award for best collaboration to French DJ David Guetta and American star Bebe Rexha. Guetta also took home best electronic act. There was even a surprise message recorded by Hollywood A-lister Tom Cruise, introducing OneRepublic’s hit song Top Gun: Maverick I Ain’t Worried. As her night of wins continued, Swift was presented with the award for best long-form video — one of two new categories this year — from singer/songwriter Julian Lennon, son of the late John Lennon. Image: Swift accepts yet another award As she took the stage, Swift again praised her fans for their continued support, telling them, “You’re the reason everything has happened to me.” She explained: “I’ve been writing and directing my own music videos for a long time, but this was the first short film I made and I felt like I learned so much about myself about how filmmaking can be a natural extension of storytelling my. like writing songs.” Stranger Things star Sadie Sink and Teen Wolf actor Dylan O’Brien starred in the music video that went viral earlier this year after fans speculated the song was based on Swift’s breakup with actor Jake Gyllenhaal. In addition to the long-running award, it was also up for best video, with Swift telling fans, “That almost never happened,” then explaining that when the song was first released 10 years ago, it wasn’t a single. I don’t have a video. He continued: “I can only explain it by saying that the fans wanted this to happen. I will never stop thanking you for that.” Image: Eurovision winners Kalush Orchestra performed The video also picked up the prestigious video of the year gong at the MTV Video Music Awards earlier this year. When presented with the award for best pop, Swift joked: “You have to wear a lot of sequins and learn choreography and it’s really hard.” She’s been dominating the charts around the world for the past few weeks following the release of her new album Midnights – the biggest selling album of the year. Nicki Minaj took home the award for Best Song with Super Freaky Girl, along with Best Hip Hop. Despite having the most nominations (seven), former One Direction star Harry Styles picked up just one award on the night – best live performance. He was not there to receive his award. Image: Muse took home Best Rock Performance, dedicating their album to ‘the people of Ukraine and the women of Iran’ Best Rock Performance went to Muse, who opened the ceremony with their new track Will Of The People. Refusing to shy away from hard political truths amid the glamor of the showbiz night, singer Matt Bellamy told the MTV audience: “We would like to dedicate this entire album to the people of Ukraine and the women in Iran who are fighting for freedom as we celebrate tonight”. Gorillaz – fronted by Blur star Damon Albarn – took best alternative band, while Sam Smith took video for good measure. It was also a good night for K-pop, with South Korean boy band Seventeen taking best new act and best push, Blackpink taking best metaverse act (the second new category of the night) and one of the band members , Lisa, to get the best. K-pop act and BTS gets the biggest fans. Best Latin artist was won by Anitta and best R&B by the American star Chloe. The 2022 MTV EMAs aired live on MTV on Sunday, November 13. You can watch the full 2022 MTV EMA broadcast from November 14 on Paramount+ UK
