VMAs 2023; Making History

Over the past few months women have been taking a big step forward in the entertainment industry. A great example of this is the VMAs this year.

The 2023 VMAs, on Tuesday the 16th of September saw wins for many influential women artists of the decades, including, Shakira, Taylor Swift, Ice Spice, and SZA. The night was packed with performance after performance, award after award. Tons of artists attended the ceremony in their best outfits.

In short it was an incredible night but there was something that made it even more powerful. The VMAs this year made history.

The nominees for the best artist of the year were comprised of all female artists, Beyonce, Karol G, Shakira, Doja Cat, Nicki Minaj, and Taylor Swift.

This was a gigantic leap of the representation of women in music winning awards. The award was ultimately won by Taylor Swift later that night.

Over the years women have not had it easy in the music industry however they are slowly climbing to claim their own validity in this industry. The 2022 Billboard Top 100 included a percentage of 30% female artists. This is less than half. It has always been a slow climb in the music industry for women because of the lack of equal opportunity. This does not only apply to artists, but this also applies to songwriters and producers as well.

The VMAs were quite exciting with performances from many artists, most noticeably Shakira performed at the VMAs after a 17-year hiatus. It included a mashup of her biggest hits, Whenever Wherever and Hips Don’t Lie. But also included some of her newer songs including BZRP music sessions Vol, 48 and her hit with Karol G TQD. Her performance was super dynamic and very exciting that included some incredible feats, juggling knives and crowd surfing while singing. She then won the Vanguard award later that night.

Megan Thee Stallion also performed at the VMAs. And the young pop star Olivia Rodrigo performed songs from her new album Guts. In her performance, however, there was a stage malfunction.

Taylor Swift was nominated for 11 VMA awards of which she won 9. Including the coveted Artist of the Year. And her incredible Eras Tour was voted the Show of the Summer. Her hit single Anti – Hero won her the song of the year award.

Ice Spice the new up and coming rapper, who has already collaborated with Taylor Swift, won the award for Best New Artist.

All in all, the VMAs were filled with performances and awards that really highlighted women in the music industry.

*If you wish to know more about minorities in the entertainment industry feel free to look up the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative is provided by USC Annenberg and it’s a think tank studying diversity and inclusion in entertainment. They provide lots of insight on women in creative jobs for example, women in acting, designing, singing, songwriting, writing, directing, etc…*