LONDON: Canadian pop singer Shawn Mendes led the pack at the MTV Europe Music Awards on Sunday night, taking home “Best Song,” “Best Artist,” and “Biggest Fans” awards, in a show that featured performances from French Montana, The Killers and Kesha.
British R&B singer Rita Ora performed the hosting duties, as well as a mashup of her 2017 hit “Your Song,” alongside her new single “Anywhere.”
The Detroit rapper also took the award for “Best Hip Hop,” an honour which he appeared to find slightly baffling.
”I‘m not really sure how I got this, ‘cause I haven’t had an album out in a few years” he quipped in his acceptance speech, adding “I got one coming through.”
“Look What You Made Me Do,” singer Taylor Swift had been the most-nominated star of the evening, with six nominations, but failed to win any awards.
Mendes performed “There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back,” the winner of “Best Song.”
Some big names from film and television were on hand to lend Hollywood sparkle to proceedings, including “Game of Thrones” star Natalie Dormer and Oscar winner Jared Leto, also the frontman of the band Thirty Seconds to Mars that took home the award for “Best Alternative” act.
Irish rockers U2 were presented with a “Global Icon” award, in recognition of their decades at the top of the music industry.
The band played a concert at an MTV event in London’s Trafalgar Square the previous evening, footage of which was shown in lieu of a performance.
Notable performances included local London grime star Stormzy, who took to the stage poking out of the sunroof of a police car, and Travis Scott, who entered standing atop what looked like a floating hawk.
Security was tight at the event, with airport-style scanners at entrances, following a series of attacks that have hit the UK this year, including a suicide bomb attack at an Arianna Grande concert in Manchester in May, which left 22 people dead.
