Honored to take the #VMAs stage as your video #VANGUARD award recipient LIVE from NYC on August 28! pic.twitter.com/Yk0RMH2ODr
— Rihanna (@rihanna) August 11, 2016
The MTV Video Music Awards took place August 28 — generally known as one of the most creative, “jawdropping,” and exciting shows of the year — and this year continued the tradition. Powerful, badass women like Rihanna and Beyoncé ruled the stage both with their performances and words.
Here is a look at some of our favorite performances of the evening.
Read More: Rihanna Teaches Lesson on Universal Tolerance Through New Single
1. Rihanna
1 down, 3 to go! #VMAs#RiRiVanguardpic.twitter.com/rfJbQNxHdb
— Rihanna (@rihanna) August 29, 2016
After Rihanna’s four stunning performances during the VMAs, Global Citizens have even more to look forward to at this year’s Global Citizen Festival, Sept. 24. One of the biggest moments of the night took place when Rihanna was honored as the recipient of the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award — the VMA’s lifetime achievement award given to an artist who has had a profound effect on modern music culture.
“My success, it started as my dream, but now my success is not my own. It’s my family's, it’s my fans', it’s my country’s, it’s the caribbean's as whole, it’s women's, it’s black women's,” she said in her speech.
Her performances showed just how much she has accomplished. Instead performing for 15 minutes straight like other Vanguard winners, Rihanna split her time. With each of her performances — from belting out “Stay” in front of an orchestra to her dancehall medley — she proved she is one of the best when it comes to music and performing.
Read More: Rihanna Saves Students From Debt Through New Global Scholarship Program
2. Beyoncé
Beyoncé brought her album Lemonade to life during her VMA performance. She started out on fire, her eyes blazing through projected flames, then moved the audience with some of Warsan Shire’s beautiful spoken poetry.
She dedicated her award for Best Video of the Year for “Formation” to the people of New Orleans, which also won Best Editing and Best Cinematography, and more. She brought the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Oscar Grant, and Eric Garner onstage during “Forward,” an act of support for black lives matter.
👏🏽 @Beyonce bringing down the house at #MSG!! 👏🏽 #VMAs
— Alicia Keys (@aliciakeys) August 29, 2016
3. Alicia Keys
Alicia Keys, who performed at the 2013 Global Citizen Festival, took a stand for women everywhere, showing that women are strong and beautiful both with but especially without makeup. “I don't want to cover up anymore. Not my face, not my mind, not my soul, not my thoughts, not my dreams, not my struggles, not my emotional growth. Nothing,” she shared earlier this year via Lenny Letter in a brave article the role makeup has played in her life.
On stage, she took the time to acknowledge that August 28, the night of the VMAs, also happened to be the 53rd anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have Dream” speech and read a poem honoring the civil rights icon.
Read More: Alicia Keys' Video Explores How Black People Are Killed in America
By taking action on Global Citizen, you will have a chance to win tickets to this year's in New York City on Sept. 24, 2016.