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Madonna to Open MTV Video Music Awards With First Show Performance in 23 Years
Confirmed
In Short: Madonna will make a highly anticipated return to the MTV Video Music Awards stage, marking her first live performance since 2003.
Madonna is set to open the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards, a moment that will break her tie with Rihanna as the artist with the most VMAs opening performances. Her appearance will be her first at the show since 2003, when she performed with Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Missy Elliott. The performance is expected to extend beyond the live broadcast, with Spotify partnering to offer exclusive content and archival footage from past VMAs.
The VMAs will also be available globally the next day on Paramount+ and MTV, and Spotify has partnered with the VMAs as the official audio streaming partner for Madonna's performance. This collaboration will extend the event beyond the live broadcast, connecting fans directly with Madonna's music post-performance and featuring exclusive content.
What's confirmed
- Madonna is set to open the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards, a moment that will break her tie with Rihanna as the artist with the most VMAs opening performances. Her appearance will be her first at the show since 2003, when she performed with Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Missy Elliott. The performance is expected to extend beyond the live broadcast, with Spotify partnering to offer exclusive content and archival footage from past VMAs.
- The VMAs will also be available globally the next day on Paramount+ and MTV, and Spotify has partnered with the VMAs as the official audio streaming partner for Madonna's performance. This collaboration will extend the event beyond the live broadcast, connecting fans directly with Madonna's music post-performance and featuring exclusive content.
What's still developing
- Music journalist Jeffrey Ingold said Sheeran's apparent acceptance of the decision to drop Macklemore seemed like "cowardice".
- All three support acts for the remaining shows - Finneas, Aaron Rowe and Lukas Graham - pulled out, voicing support for Macklemore.
- Today, he runs a charity providing music lessons to under-18s in his home county of Suffolk.
- Madonna, of course, has been making history at the VMAs since the very first show, in 1984, when her audacious performance of “Like a Virgin” became a groundbreaking pop-culture moment.
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- It will be the icon's record-breaking fifth time opening the show that made her a star.
- (The moment is chiefly remembered for a smooch with Spears that, in true Madonna fashion, became the most talked-about moment of the night.) This will be the fifth time that Madonna has opened the VMAs, which enables her to break out of a tie with Rihanna as the artist who has opened the most VMAs telecasts.
- Madonna previously opened the show in 1989 (“Express Yourself”), 1993 (a gender-bending “Bye Bye Baby”) and 1998 (“Shanti/Astangi,” “Ray of Light” with Lenny Kravitz ).