The united colors of the Americas were on display at the third annual MTV Video Music Awards Latin America, as the Black Eyed Peas, Avril Lavigne, Maroon 5, Julieta Venegas, Café Tacuba and La Ley all took home awards.
The show's
performances were equally diverse: the Peas, Lenny Kravitz, the Beastie Boys and rapper Pitbull represented the U.S., while Venegas, Molotov, Juanes and others held it down for Latin America. Unity was on display during the Peas' show-opening set, as the group was joined by Diego Torres, La Ley and Venegas for Spanish-language covers of songs including "Yeah!," "Hey Ya!" and their own "Hey Mama" and "Let's Get Retarded."
The show, which took place Thursday night in Miami, saw multiple awards handed out to Venegas (who dominated the show with three wins), Mexican group Café Tacuba and L.A.'s Maroon 5, who each took home two awards.
Although the ceremony was scripted entirely in Spanish (including an introduction from Bono and banter from other English-speaking artists), international acts were well represented. Maroon 5 were crowned Best International Rock Artist and International New Artist, besting acts like Franz Ferdinand and Yellowcard. Avril Lavigne won Best International Pop Artist for the second consecutive year (beating out Beyoncé, Hilary Duff, Joss Stone and Nelly Furtado), while the Black Eyed Peas won the new category of Best International Hip-Hop/R&B Artist over 50 Cent, Beastie Boys, Outkast and Usher.
Latin award-winners included Spanish singer Alejandro Sanz, who won for Best Pop Artist (for which host Rubio was also nominated), and up-and-comer Belinda, who took home a trophy for Best New Artist: Mexico. Rockers Airbag won Best New Artist: Argentina, and Torres won Best Artist: Argentina. (Mexico, Argentina and Central America received individual awards for the artist and new artist categories.)
Instead of receiving a Moonman statue, as the winners of the U.S. VMAs do, each winning artist at the MTVLA VMAs was presented with a replica of a large pink tongue pierced with the MTV logo, which represents the Spanish language that unites most Latin Americans in the region.
Nominees in each of the 18 categories were chosen by the MTV Music and Video Academy, which is made up of music-industry professionals and MTV viewers. The winner in each category was determined by Latin American viewers who cast their votes online at MTV Latin America's Web site between September 7 and October 5.
The awards show, which took place at the Jackie Gleason Theater, will air on MTV on October 30 at 11 p.m. PT/ET.
This report is from MTV News.
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