Red Carpet at MTV’s EMA in Milan
The MTV Europe Music Awards (EMA) blasted off in Milan last night and Red Carpet was there to watch it all unfurl. Sat Bal took to the red carpet to interview the talent before the show kicked off in Milan’s vast Mediolanum Forum. (26 Oct’15)
There’s more content to follow (and check out our Twitter feed!) but here we bring you a round-up of the night’s winners and performances…
Something like 800 million televisions switched on last night to watch host Ed Sheeran and co-host Ruby Rose present the 2015 MTV EMAs. The night belonged to multiple winner Justin Bieber but performances such as the duet between Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and Tori Kelly brought a new resonance to the EMAs this year.
Our MTV party started with a visit to EMA sponsor Tezenis Underwear’s cocktail party at their flagship Milan store. This was followed by an invitation on Saturday night to watch Duran Duran (above) and Ellie Goulding, below, perform along with Italian singer-songwriter Marco Mengoni. We’re glad we accepted!
The performers delivered a rousing party show and special guest Mark Ronson later performed with Duran on stage at the event, part of Milan Music Week World Stage at Piazza Duomo.
The cat the got the cream...Bieber and his awards haul
Next day at the main EMA show Justin Bieber raised fan noise levels to a crescendo with his performance of What Do You Mean?, and was the biggest winner of the night with five MTV EMAs. He took home Best Male for a sixth year in a row; won BestLook, Worldwide Act: North America; Best Collaboration for his work with Skrillex and Diplo on Where Are You Now?; and Beliebers came out in full effect to help him win Biggest Fans in a heated social vote, with One Direction landing in second place.
Production was typical MTV high-end and Justin Bieber opened with a cool futuristic Tron-like set
Macklemore (below) & Ryan Lewis opened the show with a high-octane performance of their award-winning song Downtown, which featured mopeds, travellators and Eric Nally flying high above the stage. Later in the night, they won Best Video for Downtown.
Host Ed Sheeran was busy throughout the night. Not only did he commandeer proceedings with co-hostRuby Rose, but he joined Rudimental atop a collection of retro radios for a funky collaboration on their hit Lay it All On Me, and took home awards for Best Live Act and Best World Stage.
Ed Sheeran accepts Best Live Act award
Pharrell Williams closed the night with a powerful performance of his hit track Freedom. Afterward, the broadcast cut to Piazza Duomo in central Milan, where thousands of fans held up a massive 23 x 16 metre ‘Freedom’ flag. Incorporating national flags from all over the world, the flag symbolized the birth of a utopian country that knows no borders and kicked off the MTV Freedom campaign, which seeks to raise awareness, activism and donations in support of the current refugee crisis. See freedom.mtvema.com. #EMAfreedom
In honour of this year’s host country, legendary Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli performed a breathtaking rendition of his classic Time To Say Goodbye, then joined powerhouse Tori Kelly for a once-in-a-lifetime duet of Pink’s hit song, Just Give Me a Reason.
Nicki Minaj won Best Hip Hop; Best Pop went to One Direction; Rihanna got Best Female; Taylor Swift won Best Song with Bad Blood featuring Kendrick Lamar; and Best Alternative went to Lana Del Rey.
Jason Derulo took over the arena with his hit Want To Want Me, as he and his dancers, below, zoomed between all three stages on SwegWays.
Ellie Goulding wowed the crowd as she emerged from a cluster of giant, mirrored crystals (see headline pic) for a glittering performance of her hit Love Me Like You Do.
A gladiatorial Ruby Rose helps Ed Sheeran out with hosting duties
MTV PUSH artists Jess Glynne and James Bay hit the MTV EMA stage with debut performances. Elsewhere, twenty one pilots and superstar DJs Martin Garrix and Afrojack entertained tens of thousands of fans in central Milan’s Piazza Duomo with a spectacular outdoor MTV EMAs concert.
Pop heroes Duran Duran were presented with the first ever MTV Video Visionary Award to celebrate their pioneering work in the music video art form.
This year’s EMAs was in partnership with Tezenis Underwear and Guitar Hero Live, and broadcast live on Sunday, 25 October at 9:00PM CET.
Where to next?
The conclusion of the show also included an exciting announcement: the 2016 MTV EMAs will be held in the Dutch city of Rotterdam. See you there!
FULL LIST OF 2015 MTV EMA Winners
BEST SONG
Taylor Swift featuring Kendrick Lamar Bad Blood
BEST POP
One Direction
BEST FEMALE
Rihanna
BEST MALE
Justin Bieber
BEST LIVE ACT IN PARTNERSHIP WITH GUITAR HERO LIVE ®
Ed Sheeran
BEST NEW ACT
Shawn Mendes
BEST VIDEO
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Downtown
BEST ROCK
Coldplay
BEST ALTERNATIVE
Lana Del Rey
BEST HIP HOP
Nicki Minaj
BEST ELECTRONIC
Martin Garrix
BEST PUSH
Shawn Mendes
BEST COLLABORATION
Justin Bieber, Skrillex, Diplo Where Are You Now?
BIGGEST FANS
Justin Bieber
BEST LOOK IN PARTNERSHIP WITH TEZENIS UNDERWEAR
Justin Bieber
BEST WORLD STAGE
Ed Sheeran V Festival, Hylands Park, UK 2014
VIDEO VISIONARY AWARD
Duran Duran
WORLDWIDE ACT: North America
Canada – Justin Bieber
WORLDWIDE ACT: LATIN America
Brazil – Anitta
WORLDWIDE ACT: Europe
Italy – Marco Mengoni
WORLDWIDE ACT: Africa / India
Africa – Diamond Platnumz
WORLDWIDE ACT: Asia
China – Jane Zhang
WORLDWIDE ACT: Australia / New Zealand
Australia – 5 Seconds of Summer