VMA Spotlight Shines on Nashville-Raised Stars

Nashville-raised pop sensations Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus were front and center at last night’s (Aug. 30) Video Music Awards (VMA) on MTV, live from the Microsoft Theater in downtown Los Angeles, Calif. Both stars revealed new material: Swift, a music video for “Wildest Dreams,” and a 23-track free-to-stream album for Cyrus.

Swift received the evening’s top honor, Video of the Year, for “Bad Blood (feat. Kendrick Lamar), which also won Best Collaboration. Swift’s “Blank Space” video additionally took home Best Female Video and Best Pop Video.

“I know there’s been a lot of discussion about this video and what it means but I’m just happy that in 2015 we live in a world where boys can play princesses and girls can play soldiers,” said Swift in her “Blank Space” acceptance speech.

The Big Machine Records pop sensation opened the broadcast with a collaboration with Nicki Minaj (“The Night Is Still Young,” “Bad Blood”). She later presented the Video Vanguard Award to Kanye West, who infamously crashed her 2009 VMA acceptance. Six years since the offense, Swift used that same lingo in her introduction, “…I’ma let you finish…but Kanye West has had one of the greatest careers of all time!”

Ever-provocative hostess, Miley Cyrus, exposed her left breast in an on-air wardrobe malfunction and was the recipient of criticism during a speech by Minaj.

Additional Nashville members on the red carpet included Kelsea Ballerini, the entire Cyrus family; Victoria Secret angel, “Bad Blood” star and wife of Kings of Leon’s Caleb Followill, Lily Aldridge.