The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights" won video of the year at the 2020 VMAs.The Weeknd/YouTube - MTV handed out 24 awards on Monday night at the 2020 VMAs.
- Four of those awards were handed to the wrong artists, including video of the year, which went to The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights."
- Read a full list of the winners here.
MTV's annual Video Music Awards are designed to celebrate the best songs and visuals of the past year.
This year's remote ceremony doled out major awards to deserving artists like BTS, Megan Thee Stallion, and Taylor Swift. But a few categories were noticeably fumbled — even if the winners are, hypothetically, based on fans' votes.
Here are four awards that were handed to the wrong artists, in no particular order.
"Blinding Lights" didn't deserve to win video of the year.
The Weeknd also won best R&B for "Blinding Lights," left.
The Weeknd/Lady Gaga/YouTube
"Blinding Lights" is one of the best music videos of 2020, to be sure, but multiple of its fellow nomimees are better.
Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande's "Rain On Me" is the most obvious example — especially considering Gaga was honored with MTV's first-ever "tricon" award at the ceremony — but Taylor Swift's self-directed "The Man" and Billie Eilish's self-directed "Everything I Wanted" would have also been more deserving.
These women offered insightful, tender, triumphant studies of deeply personal and relevant issues: "Rain On Me" celebrated sisterhood and resilience in the face of trauma; "The Man" artfully illustrated sexist double standards; and "Everything I Wanted" meditated upon depression and familial love.
"Blinding Lights," while cinematic and thrilling, is less original than all three, and far less insightful.
"The Box" should have won song of the year instead of "Rain On Me."
"Rain On Me," left, was the second single from Lady Gaga's album "Chromatica."
Lady Gaga/Roddy Ricch/YouTube
Although Gaga and Grande created a near-perfect pop video and summer bop, it's difficult to justify its win for song of the year when "The Box" exists.
Roddy Ricch's smash hit single reigned at No. 1 on the Hot 100 for 11 consecutive weeks, becoming one of just 39 songs in history to maintain such a long streak. "Rain On Me," however, debuted at No. 1 but dropped down the chart immediately after.
It's obviously true that charts and sales don't mean everything, but the dominance of "The Box" is simply impossible to overlook.
Machine Gun Kelly's "Bloody Valentine" was only interesting because of Megan Fox.
Finneas O'Connell, right, goes by the mononym FINNEAS as a solo artist.
Machine Gun Kelly/FINNEAS/YouTube
Maluma and J Balvin's video for "Qué Pena" was fairly standard, whereas Bad Bunny's "Yo Perreo Sola" was a stroke of genius.
The video for Bad Bunny, right, features Bad Bunny performing in drag.
Maluma/Bad Bunny/YouTube
Maluma actually performed at the VMAs, so his win was fairly predictable. MTV has a habit of awarding artists who actually show up to the ceremony, despite insisting that its awards are "fan-voted."
"Qué Pena" isn't a bad music video by any means — but to anyone paying attention, Bad Bunny's "Yo Perreo Sola" was the clear choice for best Latin. Like much of Bad Bunny's work, the video skewered gender norms and reveled in the colorful delights of confidence, fluidity, and open-mindedness.
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