Coming off her summer mega tour, Taylor Swift was once again a force at Tuesday's 2023 MTV Video Music Awards. The 33-year-old pop icon entered the ceremony nominated for 11 awards.
It was not much of a question on whether Swift would win any awards on Tuesday, but rather how many.
She left the VMAs claiming nine awards, bringing her lifetime total at the awards to 23.
Her hit "Anti-Hero" won for Best Pop and Song of the Year. The song's music video also won for Video of the Year, Best Direction, Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects. Swift herself won Artist of the Year and Show of the Summer.
Her "Midnights" record earned Album of the Year honors.
Arguably one of the highlights of the night was when the five members of the millennium-era boy band NSYNC took the stage. They were on hand to present the first award of the night, which went to Swift for Best Pop.
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As Swift received hugs from members of NSYNC, Lance Bass gave Swift friendship bracelets. The exchange of friendship bracelets became a practice at Swift's concerts over the summer.
Swift said she was not pivoting well from seeing NSYNC together to getting the award.
"I have your dolls, like are you doing something? What is going to happen now?" Swift asked NSYNC. "They're going to do something and I need to know what it is. You are pop personified so to receive this from you is too much."
Their joint appearance comes as NSYNC is releasing its first new song in two decades ahead of this fall's "Trolls" movie.
The VMAs also honored Shakira, who performed a medley of her hits throughout the year. She received the Video Vanguard Award.
Diddy earned a Global Icon Award.
Other major award wins included Nicki Minaj's "Super Freaky Girl" for Best Hip-Hop, Sza's "Shirt" for Best R&B, Maneskin's "The Loneliest" for Best Rock and Ice Spice for Best New Artist.
