Newark’s Prudential Center rang with applause as the biggest names in music took to the stage to celebrate their chart-topping endeavours. This year, a string of K-pop bagged a glitzy Moon Person — with Stray Kids, TXT, BLACKPINK, and BTS’ Jungkook nabbing an award each. Here’s a look at what went down at the MTV VMAS 2023.
The past few years have brought with them a series of firsts for the K-pop industry. Despite the widespread impact of Hallyu and the wild popularity of acts like BTS and BLACKPINK, it was only last year that a K-pop category made an appearance in a major US music award show (AMAs). That’s not all, on 28 October 2022 Billboard played host to a first-of-its-kind THE-K Billboard Awards and girl group TWICE was named the first Korean winner of a Billboard Women in Music Award in February this year. Riding high on this wave of international recognition is MTV’s Video Music Awards (VMAs) 2023, which has several idols on its list of nominees. Many have won big.
Five K-pop acts win big at the MTV VMAS 2023
Group of the Year Winner: BLACKPINK #VMAs
— Video Music Awards (@vmas) September 13, 2023
Leading the pack of Korean winners is Stray Kids — who won the Best K-pop VMA for their hip-hop-boom-bap-pop track S-Class. They later set the stage on fire with the song. Other nominees in the category included aespa (Girls), BLACKPINK (Pink Venom), Fifty Fifty (Cupid), TOMORROW X TOGETHER (Sugar Rush Ride) and Seventeen (Super).
“We’ve been making our music ever since the start of our career, but to receive this award just really means a lot to us,” Chan shared. Felix added, “We just want to thank our label, JYP Division 1, and we want to thank Republic Records. And also we want to thank our fans, our STAYs, for being so supportive. Please. We have so much to show you guys so please look forward to the future.”
The collaboration we all needed!!!!
Trust me, you’ll be back for more after watching @TXT_members and @Anitta’s #VMA performance pic.twitter.com/BQTWkaxXQG
— Video Music Awards (@vmas) September 13, 2023
TOMORROW X TOGETHER, meanwhile, picked up the Push Performance of the Year title — ahead of the likes of nominees and fellow artists Saucy Santana (Booty), Stephen Sanchez (Until I Found You), Armani White (Goated), and JVKE (golden hour), amongst others.
“We wanted to share who we are and our music with lots of people. This award means that we did that,” Hueningkai stated. Beomgyu expressed that they’d remember the night forever. The group then teased their performance of Back For More with Anitta. Here’s a look at the official winners of the Moon Person:
- Best Choreography: Winners, BLACKPINK
- Song Of The Summer: Winner, Jungkook (Seven)
- Group Of The Year: Winners, BLACKPINK
- Push performance of the year: Winners, TOMORROW X TOGETHER (TXT)
- Best K-pop: Stray Kids
Besides these artists, Taylor Swift, Shakira, Ice Spice, and SZA rode high at the awards.
All images: Courtesy BLACKPINK/Jungkook
Eshita Srinivas
Senior Digital Writer - Entertainment and Food & Drinks
Eshita is a food, alcohol, travel, and entertainment writer who spends her days zeroing in on the next big trend to write about. She’s a communication graduate with bylines in Conde Nast Traveller India, GQ India, Deccan Herald, and Girls Buzz. When not at work, you’re likely to find her hunting for a good read or charting out the perfect itinerary for a solo trip across Asia.
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