Here are the winners at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards

Cool people have spent the last 20 years or so complaining about how MTV doesn’t show music videos anymore, and yet every year the MTV Video Music Awards are full of nominees and performers who the ostensibly “cool” people haven’t heard of. Is it possible that MTV is simultaneously totally lame and totally hip? Yes, obviously it can be two things. With that out of the way, here are the winners taking home the silver Moon Person statues at the 2018 VMAs.

After a fun and brief monologue from Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish that featured the two of them dropping tongue-in-cheek burns on a somewhat disinterested audience (seriously, Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson, you guys can talk later), Nicki Minaj pulled off an early upset by beating Cardi B, Drake, Migos, and The Carters for the Best Hip Hop award. After that, things got a little more predictable, with Grande winning Best Pop (the categories all have names like that, rather than Best Pop Video or whatever, which never stops being weird).

Later, in what seemed like a very tone-deaf follow-up to last year’s decidedly political show, the Backstreet Boys—including Nick Carter, who was recently accused of rape—presented the Song Of The Year award to Post Malone. This came not long after Logic took the stage in a shirt that said “Fuck The Wall” and performed alongside a bunch of immigrant families in shirts that said “We Are All Human Beings,” so any messages MTV wanted to send with the show were kind of all over the place. At least “This Is America” won a handful of awards, including the awkwardly named Video With A Message. Donald Glover wasn’t there, but the video’s choreographer Sherrie Silver seemed psyched.

The full list of nominees is below, and we’ll update this post as more winners are announced.

VIDEO VANGUARD

Jennifer Lopez

BEST HIP HOP

Cardi B ft. 21 Savage, “Bartier Cardi”

The Carters, “APES**T”

Drake, “God’s Plan”

J. Cole, “ATM”

Migos ft. Drake, “Walk It Talk It”

Nicki Minaj, “Chun-Li”

BEST POP

Ariana Grande, “No Tears Left to Cry”

Camila Cabello ft. Young Thug,“Havana”

Demi Lovato, “Sorry Not Sorry”

Ed Sheeran, “Perfect”

P!nk, “What About Us”

Shawn Mendes, “In My Blood”

VIDEO OF THE YEAR

Ariana Grande, “No Tears Left to Cry”

Bruno Mars ft. Cardi B, “Finesse (Remix)”

Camila Cabello ft. Young Thug, “Havana”

The Carters, “APES**T”

Childish Gambino, “This Is America”

Drake, “God’s Plan”

ARTIST OF THE YEAR

Ariana Grande

Bruno Mars

Camila Cabello

Cardi B

Drake

Post Malone

SONG OF THE YEAR

Bruno Mars ft. Cardi B, “Finesse (Remix)”

Camila Cabello ft. Young Thug, “Havana”

Drake – “God’s Plan”

Dua Lipa, “New Rules”

Ed Sheeran, “Perfect”

Post Malone ft. 21 Savage, “rockstar”

BEST NEW ARTIST (Presented by Taco Bell®)

Bazzi

Cardi B

Chloe x Halle

Hayley Kiyoko

Lil Pump

Lil Uzi Vert

BEST COLLABORATION

Bebe Rexha ft. Florida Georgia Line,“Meant to Be” – Warner Bros. Records

Bruno Mars ft. Cardi B, “Finesse (Remix)”

The Carters, “APES**T”

Jennifer Lopez ft. DJ Khaled & Cardi B, “Dinero”

Logic ft. Alessia Cara & Khalid, “1-800-273-8255”

N.E.R.D & Rihanna, “Lemon”

BEST LATIN

Daddy Yankee, “Dura”

J Balvin, Willy William, “Mi Gente”

Jennifer Lopez ft. DJ Khaled & Cardi B, “Dinero”

Luis Fonsi, Demi Lovato, “Échame La Culpa”

Maluma, “Felices los 4”

Shakira ft. Maluma, “Chantaje”

BEST DANCE

Avicii ft. Rita Ora, “Lonely Together”

Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa, “One Kiss”

The Chainsmokers, “Everybody Hates Me”

David Guetta & Sia, “Flames”

Marshmello ft. Khalid, “Silence”

Zedd & Liam Payne, “Get Low (Street Video)”

BEST ROCK

Fall Out Boy, “Champion”

Foo Fighters, “The Sky Is A Neighborhood”

Imagine Dragons, “Whatever It Takes”

Linkin Park, “One More Light”

Panic! At The Disco, “Say Amen (Saturday Night)”

Thirty Seconds To Mars, “Walk On Water”

VIDEO WITH A MESSAGE

Childish Gambino, “This Is America”

Dej Loaf and Leon Bridges, “Liberated”

Drake , “God’s Plan”

Janelle Monáe, “PYNK”

Jessie Reyez, “Gatekeeper”

Logic ft. Alessia Cara & Khalid, “1-800-273-8255”

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Alessia Cara, “Growing Pains”: Cinematography by Pau Castejón

Ariana Grande, “No Tears Left to Cry”: Cinematography by Scott Cunningham

The Carters, “APES**T”: Cinematography by Benoit Debie

Childish Gambino, “This Is America”: Cinematography by Larkin Seiple

Eminem ft. Ed Sheeran, “River”: Cinematography by Frank Mobilio & Patrick Meller

Shawn Mendes, “In My Blood”: Cinematography by Jonathan Sela

BEST DIRECTION

The Carters, “APES**T”: Directed by Ricky Saix

Childish Gambino, “This Is America”: Directed by Hiro Murai

Drake, “God’s Plan”: Directed by Karena Evans

Ed Sheeran, “Perfect”: Directed by Jason Koenig

Justin Timberlake ft. Chris Stapleton, “Say Something”: Directed by Arturo Perez Jr.

Shawn Mendes, “In My Blood”: Directed by Jay Martin

BEST ART DIRECTION

The Carters, “APES**T”: Art Direction by Jan Houlevigue

Childish Gambino, “This Is America”: Art Direction by Jason Kisvarday

J. Cole, “ATM”: Art Direction by Miles Mullin

Janelle Monáe, “Make Me Feel”: Art Direction by Pepper Nguyen

SZA, “The Weekend”: Art Direction by SZA and Solange

Taylor Swift, “Look What You Made Me Do”: Art Direction by Brett Hess

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Ariana Grande, “No Tears Left to Cry”: Visual Effects by Vidal and Loris Paillier for Buf

Avicii ft. Rita Ora, “Lonely Together”: Visual Effects by KPP

Eminem ft. Beyoncé, “Walk On Water”: Visual Effects Supervisor Rich Lee for Drive Studios

Kendrick Lamar & SZA, “All The Stars”: Visual Effects by Loris Paillier for BUF Paris

Maroon 5, “Wait”: Visual Effects by TIMBER

Taylor Swift, “Look What You Made Me Do”: Visual Effects by Ingenuity Studios

BEST CHOREOGRAPHY

Bruno Mars ft. Cardi B, “Finesse (Remix)”: Choreography by Phil Tayag & Bruno Mars

Camila Cabello ft. Young Thug, “Havana”: Choreography by Calvit Hodge and Sara Bivens

The Carters, “APES**T”: Choreography by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Jaquel Knight

Childish Gambino, “This Is America”: Choreography by Sherrie Silver

Dua Lipa, “IDGAF”: Choreography by Marion Motin

Justin Timberlake, “Filthy”: Choreography by Marty Kudelka, AJ Harpold, Tracy Phillips, and Ivan Koumaev

BEST EDITING

Bruno Mars ft. Cardi B, “Finesse (Remix)”: Editing by Jacquelyn London

The Carters, “APES**T”: Taylor Ward and Sam Ostrove

Childish Gambino, “This Is America”: Editing by Ernie Gilbert

Janelle Monáe, “Make Me Feel”: Editing by Deji Laray

N.E.R.D & Rihanna, “Lemon”: Editing by Taylor Ward

Taylor Swift, “Look What You Made Me Do”: Editing by Chancler Haynes for Cosmo

 
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