At the 2021 MTV European Music Awards held on Sunday, popular Korean band BTS and British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran emerged as the big winners.
As per Variety, BTS won the most awards, including Best Pop, Best Group, Best K-Pop and Biggest Fans, but were not on hand to collect the awards. Sheeran, who was present, won Best Artist and Best Song for ‘Bad Habits’. Justin Bieber, who was the frontrunner with eight nominations, didn’t win any awards.
Italian rock band Maneskin won Best Rock. After the usual round of thanks during their acceptance speech, lead singer Damiano David said, “We also want to say that people usually told us that we were not going to make it with our music – well, I guess you were wrong.”
Show host and performer Saweetie won Best New, Nicki Minaj won Best Hip-Hop and Olivia Rodrigo Best Push. Colombian singer Maluma who won Best Latin said: “Colombia is not Pablo Escobar anymore – Colombia is Maluma, baby.”
YUNGBLUD won the award for Best Alternative. “I would like to say that this award is a tribute to individualism – this is an award for the 13-year-old boy from the north of England who was absolutely terrified to be who he was. If you are out there and you feel like you cannot be who you are, you can be.
Keep fighting. Keep being brilliant,” the musician said.
The Best Collaboration award went to Doja Cat ft. SZA for ‘Kiss Me More’, while David Guetta won Best Electronic and Billie Eilish was honoured with the Video for Good award.
Among the regional local act categories, Taylor Swift won for the US and Little Mix for the UK and Ireland. The MTV EMA Generation Change Awards went to five honorees for fighting against anti-LGBTQ+ policies. MTV went ahead with the awards in Hungary, despite the country passing anti-LGBTQ+ laws in June, in solidarity with the community.
Viktoria Radvanyi, a board member of Budapest Pride, Hungary’s first feminist and anti-racist LGBTQ+ NGO appeared on stage to accept the award on behalf of the winners. She urged the community to vote together and not to be driven back into the closet.
Here’s the full list of 2021 MTV EMA winners:
BEST ARTIST Ed Sheeran BEST POP BTS BEST SONG Ed Sheeran – ‘Bad Habits’ BEST VIDEO Lil Nas X – ‘MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)’ BEST COLLABORATION Doja Cat ft. SZA – ‘Kiss Me More’ BEST NEW Saweetie Best Electronic David Guetta Best Rock Maneskin BEST ALTERNATIVE YUNGBLUD BEST LATIN Maluma BEST HIP-HOP Nicki Minaj BEST K-POP BTS BEST GROUP BTS BEST PUSH Olivia Rodrigo BIGGEST FANS BTS VIDEO FOR GOOD Billie Eilish – ‘Your Power’ MTV EMA GENERATION CHANGE AWARD Amir Ashour Matthew Blaise Sage Dolan-Sandrino Erika Hilton Viktoria Radvanyi 2021 MTV EMA LOCAL ACT WINNERS Best African Act – Wizkid (Nigeria) Best Australian Act – Ruel Best Brazilian Act – Manu Gavassi Best Canadian Act – Johnny Orlando Best Caribbean Act – Bad Bunny Best French Act – Amel Bent Best German Act – Badmomzjay Best Hungarian Act – Azahriah Best India Act – DIVINE Best Italian Act – Aka 7even Best Israeli Act – Noa Kirel Best Japan Act – Sakurazaka46 Best Korea Act – Aespa Best Latin America-North Act – Aleman Best Latin America-South Act – Tini Best Latin America-Central Act – Sebastian Yatra Best New Zealand Act – Teeks Best Nordic Act – Tessa (Denmark) Best Polish Act – Daria Zawialow Best Portuguese Act – Diogo Picarra Best MTV Russia Act – Max Barskih Best Southeast Asia Act – JJ Lin (Singapore) Best Spanish Act – Aitana Best Swiss Act – Gjon’s Tears Best UK and Ireland Act – Little Mix Best US Act – Taylor Swift
After a virtual 2020, the event was live from the Papp Laszlo Budapest Sportarena in Hungary and aired on MTV in 180 countries.
Sheeran opened the proceedings with a rendition of his latest single ‘Overpass Graffiti’ and later on performed his hit number ‘Shivers’.
The world premiere performance of Maluma’s ‘Mama Tetema’, included a segment where he and his dancers were drenched in artificial rain, in keeping with the water theme.
With a medley of two unreleased songs, ‘Coconuts’ and ‘Hit It From The Back’, Kim Petras made EMAs history as the first trans artist to perform at the show.
There were also performances by OneRepublic, Maluma, Imagine Dragons, Maneskin, Griff and Girl in Red. YUNGBLUD closed the night with a performance of his latest single ‘Fleabag’ that was replete with pyrotechnics and ended with him and his band trashing the stage.
