Wizkid wins MTV VMA for Beyoncé’s Brown Skin Girl

The award makes the Afrobeats star Africa’s sole winner at this year’s ceremony, which also saw Ghana’s Shatta Wale in contention for the Best Art Direction accolade. It also arrives amid Wizkid’s international tour in support of his 2020 album Made in Lagos. The tour is scheduled for the US throughout September and October, after which Wizkid will travel to the UK and Canada to perform for his fans in those countries. 

‘Brown Skin Girl’, which also feautres Beyoncé’s daughter Blue Ivy Carter and R&B singer SAINt JHN, beat off competition from Billie Eilish, Foo Fighters, Chance The Rapper, Lady Gaga and Lorde.

The award adds to an impressive list of victories for ‘Brown Skin Girl’, which is off Beyoncé’s 2020 musical film and visual album Black Is King. Earlier this year, ‘Brown Skin Girl’ won the Grammy Award for Best Music Video and earned the Nigerian a second consecutive NAACP Image Award in March. The song also won the Ashford & Simpson Songwriter’s Award at the 2019 Soul Train Music Awards and the Music Video of the Year Award at the same awards ceremony a year later.

It was also nominated in the Best R&B category at the 2021 MTV VMAs but lost out to ‘Leave the Door Open’ by Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak and Silk Sonic.

Meanwhile, Video of the Year, the night’s biggest award, went to Lil Nas X’s ‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’, while Justin Bieber was named Artist of the Year. 

Below is the full list of winners:

Video of the Year

• ‘WAP’ by Cardi B ft. Megan Thee Stallion 
• ‘Popstar’ by DJ Khaled ft. Drake (starring Justin Bieber)
• ‘Kiss Me More’ Doja Cat ft. SZA 
• ‘Bad Habits’ by Ed Sheeran 
• ‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’ by Lil Nas X
• ‘Save Your Tears’ by The Weeknd

Artist of the Year

• Ariana Grande
• Doja Cat
• Justin Bieber 
• Megan Thee Stallion
• Olivia Rodrigo
• Taylor Swift

Song of the Year

• ‘Mood’ by 24kGoldn ft. Iann Dior 
• ‘Leave the Door Open’ by Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak, Silk Sonic
• ‘Dynamite’ by BTS
• ‘WAP’ by Cardi B ft. Megan Thee Stallion 
• ‘Levitating’ by Dua Lipa
• ‘Drivers License’ by Olivia Rodrigo

Best New Artist

• 24kGoldn
• Giveon
• The Kid LAROI
• Olivia Rodrigo 
• Polo G
• Saweetie

Push Performance of the Year

• ‘Are You Bored Yet?’ by Wallows (September 2020)
• ‘Daisy’ by Ashnikko (October 2020)
• ‘Gorgeous’ by SAINt JHN (November 2020)
• ‘Coco’ by 24kGoldn (December 2020)
• ‘Break My Heart’ by JC Stewart (January 2021)
• ‘Sex Lies’ by Latto ( February 2021)
• ‘Selfish’ by Madison Beer (March 2021)
• ‘Without You’ by The Kid LAROI (April 2021)
• ‘Drivers License’ by Olivia Rodrigo (May 2021)
• ‘Serotonin’ by Girl In Red (June 2021)
• ‘My Slime’ by Fousheé (July 2021)
• ‘Think About Me’ by Jxdn (August 2021)

Best R&B

• ‘Brown Skin Girl’ by Beyoncé, Blue Ivy, SAINt JHN and Wizkid
• ‘Leave the Door Open’ by Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak, Silk Sonic
• ‘Go Crazy’ by Chris Brown and Young Thug
• ‘Heartbreak Anniversary’ by Giveon
• ‘Come Through’ by H.E.R. ft. Chris Brown
• ‘Good Days’ by SZA 

Best K-Pop

• ‘DUMDi DUMDi’ by (G)I-DLE
• ‘Ice Cream’ by BLACKPINK and Selena Gomez 
• ‘Butter’ by BTS
• ‘Gambler’ by Monsta X
• ‘Ready to Love’ by SEVENTEEN 
• ‘Alcohol-Free’ by Twice

Video for Good

• ‘Your Power’ by Billie Eilish 
• ‘Dancing With the Devil’ by Demi Lovato 
• ‘Fight For You’ by H.E.R.
• ‘Worldwide Beautiful’ by Kane Brown
• ‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’ by Lil Nas X
• ‘Entrepreneur’ by Pharrell Williams ft. Jay-Z

Best Direction 

• ‘Your Power’ by Billie Eilish. Directed by: Billie Eilish
• ‘Popstar’ by DJ Khaled ft. Drake (starring Justin Bieber). Directed by: Julien Christian Lutz aka Director X
• ‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’ by Lil Nas X. Directed by: Lil Nas X and Tanu Muino
• ‘Willow’ by Taylor Swift. Directed by: Taylor Swift
• ‘Franchise’ by Travis Scott ft. Young Thug & M.I.A. Directed by: Travis Scott
• ‘Lumberjack’ by Tyler, The Creator. Directed by: Wolf Haley

Best Cinematography 

• ‘Brown Skin Girl’ by Beyoncé, Blue Ivy, SAINt JHN and Wizkid. Cinematography by: Benoit Soler, Malik H. Sayeed, Mohammed Atta Ahmed, Santiago Gonzalez, Ryan Helfant 
• ‘Therefore I Am’ by Billie Eilish. Cinematography by: Rob Witt
• ‘Shame Shame’ by Foo Fighters. Cinematography by: Santiago Gonzalez
• ‘Holy’ by Justin Bieber ft. Chance The Rapper. Cinematography by: Elias Talbot
• ‘911’ by Lady Gaga. Cinematography by: Jeff Cronenweth
• ‘Solar Power’ by Lorde. Cinematography by: Andrew Stroud

Best Art Direction 

• ‘Already’ by Beyoncé, Shatta Wale, Major Lazer. Art Direction by: Susan Linns, Gerard Santos
• ‘Bad Habits’ by Ed Sheeran. Art Direction by: Alison Dominitz
• ‘911’ by Lady Gaga. Art Direction by: Tom Foden, Peter Andrus
• ‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’ by Lil Nas X. Art Direction by: John Richoux
• ‘Best Friend’ by Saweetie ft. Doja Cat. Art Direction by: Art Haynes
• ‘Willow’ by Taylor Swift. Art Direction by: Ethan Tobman, Regina Fernandez

Best Visual Effects

• ‘Build a Bitch’ by Bella Poarch. Visual Effects by: Andrew Donoho, Denhov Visuals, Denis Strahhov, Rein Jakobson, Vahur Kuusk, Tatjana Pavlik, Yekaterina Vetrova
• ‘Higher Power’ by Coldplay. Visual Effects by: Mathematic
• ‘You Right’ by Doja Cat & The Weeknd. Visual Effects by: La Pac, Anthony Lestremau, Julien Missaire, Petr Shkolniy, Alexi Bailla, Micha Sher, Antoine Hache, Mikros MPC, Nicolas Huget, Guillaume Ho Tsong Fang, Benjamin Lenfant, Stephane Pivron, MPC Bangalore, Chanakya Chander, Raju Ganesh, David Rouxel
• ‘Tangerine’ by Glass Animals. Visual Effects by: Ronan Fourreau
• ‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’ by Lil Nas X. Visual Effects by: Mathematic 
• ‘All I Know So Far’ by P!NK. Visual Effects by: Dave Meyers, Freenjoy Inc

Best Choreeography

• ‘34+35’ by Ariana Grande. Choreography by: Brian Nicholson & Scott Nicholson
• ‘Butter’ by BTS. Choreography by: Son Sung Deuk with BHM Performance Directing Team
• ‘Bad Habits’ by Ed Sheeran. Choreography by: Natricia Bernard
• ‘Shame Shame’ by Foo Fighters. Choreography by: Nina McNeely
• Harry Styles — “Treat People With Kindness” — Choreography by: Paul Roberts 
• ‘Be Kind’ by Marshmello & Halsey. Choreography by: Dani Vitale

Best Editing 

• ‘Leave the Door Open’ by Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak, Silk Sonic. Editing by: Troy Charbonnet 
• ‘Butter’ by BTS. Editing by: Yong Seok Choi from Lumpens
• ‘What’s Next’ by Drake. Editing by: Noah Kendal
• ‘Treat People With Kindness’ by Harry Styles. Editing by: Claudia Wass
• ‘Peaches’ by Justin Bieber ft. Daniel Caesar, Giveon. Editing by: Mark Mayr, Vinnie Hobbs
• ‘Prisoner’ by Miley Cyrus ft. Dua Lipa 

Group of the Year

• Blackpink
• BTS 
• CNCO
• Foo Fighters
• Jonas Brothers
• Maroon 5
• Silk Sonic
• Twenty One Pilots

Song of the Summer

• ‘Happier Than Ever’ by Billie Eilish
• ‘Butter’ by BTS
• ‘Don’t Go Yet’ by Camila Cabello
• ‘Every Chance I Get’ by DJ Khaled feat. Lil Baby and Lil Durk
• ‘Need To Know’ by Doja Cat
• ‘Levitating’ by Dua Lipa
• ‘Bad Habits’ by Ed Sheeran
• ‘Heartbreak Anniversary’ by Giveon
• ‘Peaches’ by Justin Bieber ft. Daniel Caesar and Giveon
• ‘Stay’ by The Kid LAROI with Justin Bieber
• ‘Industry Baby’ by Lil Nas X ft. Jack Harlow
• ‘Rumors’ by Lizzo ft. Cardi B
• ‘Thot Shit’ by Megan Thee Stallion
• ‘Wild Side’ by Normani ft. Cardi B
• ‘Good 4 U’ by Olivia Rodrigo
• ‘Summer Of Love’ by Shawn Mendes and Tainy