Taylor Swift cleans up, Shakira honored, hip hop rules at 40th MTV Video Music Awards
NEWARK, N.J. -- The MTV Video Music Awards is all about celebrating the fans and on Tuesday night the artists truly put on a show that no one will forget.
Taylor Swift won nine of the 11 awards she was up for, including Video of the Year for Anti-Hero and Artist of the Year.
Before the stars took the stage and the moon men were handed out, CBS New York's Ali Bauman caught up with the guests, performers and nominees on the pink carpet at the Prudential Center in Newark.
"It's a new generation. It's a new world. It's MTV. I'm just seeing whose gonna perform, so it should be good," producer and rapper Timbaland said.
Shakira brought her sons to see her become the first South American to receive the Video Vanguard Award.
"It's such an important moment, I guess. Those moments are the ones that you have to share with the people you love the most," Shakira said.
King Combs came to see his dad, Diddy, receive the honorary Global Icon Award, and even perform alongside him.
"Bad boys, Puff Daddy, King Combs, it's lit," Combs said.
The queen, Nicki Minaj, hosted the 40th annual awards show.
In an unexpected moment, NSYNC reunited on the VMA stage.
"Thank you, MTV, and especially all of you guys, each and every one of you for always supporting your favorite musical artists," Joey Fatone said.
Even before Anitta won the award for "Best Latin Video." she was feeling good about her chances.
"I think we wake up feeling ourselves. C'mon, we wake up feeling like, 'Ah ha, there's nobody but me.' I love that," Anitta said.
Tuesday night marked the third time the VMAs were held in Newark. The night wrapped up with a show-stopping 50th anniversary salute to hip hop.
"It gives me a chance to see m brothers and sisters, especially our classic hip-hop artists, get on the stage and be able to perform and do the things on special nights like this," said Roxanne Shanté.
They couldn't end the night without a tease from musician-turned-actor-turned-musician again, Jared Leto.
"We love you guys. We miss you. Thirty Seconds to Mars is putting a brand new album out in three days," Leto said.