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Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter were among the big winners at the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) which largely celebrated female artists at New York’s UBS Arena on Sunday evening.
Gaga collected four awards on the night including artist of the year, fending off competition from Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Bad Bunny and Kendrick Lamar who were all absent from this year’s slightly muted event.
She dedicated the award to her fiancé Michael Polansky as well her her fans aka the “Little Monsters”.
Grande and Carpenter picked up three awards each. The former won the night’s big award for best video for Brighter Days Ahead while the latter’s haul included the new gong for best pop artist.
The ceremony was hosted by a largely off-screen LL Cool J who handed out only seven awards during the telecast.
Here are five of the stand-out moments and talking points from the three-hour Long Island show, which honoured the best in the music video medium over the past 12 months.

Gaga went into the show as the most nominated artist of the evening with 12 nods and she took home four “moon person” trophies taking her career total to 22.
This puts her in third place on the all-time ranking list, ahead of Madonna and behind only Swift and Beyoncé, who have 30 each.
When collecting the award for artist of the year award, she said: “I cannot begin to tell you what this means to me.
“Being an artist is an attempt to connect the souls of people all over the world.”
She left the arena after collecting the award, but the MTV cameras later followed her across the city to her live concert at Madison Square Garden where she performed Abracadabra and The Dead Dance.
Tim Burton directed the gothic music video to the latter song which also appeared on the soundtrack to the new Netflix Addams Family show, Wednesday, in which Gaga also makes a guest appearance.
She also won awards for best direction and art direction for Abracadabra, as well as best collaboration for her song Die With A Smile alongside Bruno Mars.
Another Mars collaboration, his song APT with Rosé, won song of the year while the South Korean singer’s outfit Blackpink were named best group.
“This is a really big moment for 16-year-old me and anyone else who has dreamed about being accepted equally for their hard work,” said an emotional Rosé during a lengthy speech.
2. Sabrina stands (and dances) with LGBT community

Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet was crowned album of the year, while she was also named as the inaugural best pop artist and took home the visual effects award for Manchild.
She delivered a retro-themed performance of Tears alongside a collection of drag queens and trans dancers holding signs reading slogans including “in trans we trust” and “protect the dolls”.
Grande grabbed the video of the year, long-form video and best pop video awards for Brighter Days Ahead, thanking her own dad for his cameo.
She explained in her acceptance speech that her recent work had found her focusing daily on “healing all different kinds of trauma.”
“If you’re on that journey, please continue onward, because I promise there are brighter days ahead,” she told fans with a spiffing segue.
Another US singer, Megan Moroney, became the first-ever winner in the best country category for her single, Am I Okay?