On Sunday, August 28, 2016, the 31st annual MTV Video Music Awards was held at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. The award show featured performances from worldwide megastars such as Beyoncé, Rihanna, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj, and many more. With 17 awards up for grabs, the nominee’s attended the award show in hopes of walking away with a coveted MTV Video Music Award.

The show opened with a killer performance by none other than Rihanna with a medley featuring 4 of her iconic hits of the 2000’s. The audience went wild during the entirety of her performance as she let loose some feel-good, reggae vibes to set the mood for the rest of the exciting night. Following this performance was Ariana Grande singing the song, “Side to Side” from her new album, Dangerous Woman. This performance also featured the controversial, female rap superstar, Nicki Minaj. As the night went on, there were performances from many other big names in the music industry such as Nick Jonas, Future, Ty Dolla $ign, and even a second performance by Rihanna. But, the performance that completely stole the show was executed by the living legend herself, Beyoncé.

Earlier in 2016, Beyoncé released a full album titled Lemonade, which she performed in its entirety during her time on the VMA stage. Demonstrating why she is the “Queen Bey”, Beyoncé completely wiped viewers’ memories of all previous performances, making it almost impossible for anyone to take the stage after her. Bey even went as far as cracking one of the camera lenses with a baseball bat…  The world loved every second of it. Beyoncé is often held at a high standard for her performances, and this single 15-minute demonstration of her talent may have exceeded anything she’s ever done before. But her take-over didn’t stop there.

Beyoncé left the show with 8 awards out of her 11 nominations, contributing to a career total of 24 VMA wins. This surpasses Madonna’s previously held record of 20 awards. Other winners included Calvin Harris, Drake, Fifth Harmony, and David Bowie. The coveted Best New Artist Award, was won by DNCE, a band headed by Joe Jonas. All of the artists that won an award did a remarkable job, but Beyoncé definitely took the cake with her astounding performance and record breaking award wins.

“Beyoncé is my idol,” says Caitlyn Magee, Junior at BAHS, “She did amazing at the VMAs and deserves ever award she received.”

Over all, the VMAs featured many high-concept performances and well-deserved wins that left the viewing community with nothing but satisfaction at the closing of the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards.