The 2018 MTV VMAs belonged to one Jennifer Lopez, recipient of the VMA Vanguard Award, meaning the audience at New York's Radio City Music Hall was treated to a medley of her greatest hits (and the dance moves to boot). How did the performance go down? Here are five of the key moments from Monday night's show.
1. The Versace
Not so much a moment as a tribute within a tribute, Jennifer appeared onstage in a baroque Versace cape, flanked by male dancers in the same unmistakeable print. A long-time wearer of the label, we’re sure Donatella is thrilled J-Lo continued her Versace love affair on the biggest night of her career so far.
2. The Hits
Kicking off with Waiting For Tonight and making her way through a medley of hits that included Love Don't Cost A Thing, Get Right, All I Have and Jenny From The Block, J-Lo played to her longtime fans and it truly paid off.
3. The Special Guests
We would have happily watched Jennifer on her own all night, but of course DJ Khaled made an appearance, taking on something of a hype man role and wearing yet more Versace. However, the truly special guest was J-Lo's old pal Ja Rule, who leant his vocals to All I Have – just like old times. Are you Ellie?
4. The A-Rod
The ultimate Instagram boyfriend, Alex Rodriguez was snapping photos of his girlfriend from the red carpet all the way through to her performance, which was where he really shone. In fact, MTV's cameras picked up on his photo-taking so much that he ended up as one of the biggest memes of the night, with Twitter users comparing him to Kris Jenner and Regina George's mum in Mean Girls. You're doing great, sweetie.
5. The Acceptance Speech
Nobody is going to cut you off when you win the biggest award of the evening, so Jennifer took advantage of her moment and thanked just about everyone she's ever worked with in an emotional VMA Vanguard acceptance speech, which also paid tribute to her children.
'You know, I grew up on MTV,' said J-Lo. 'This is really like, a tremendous honour for me. It has been an incredible journey of dreaming my wildest dreams, and then kind of watching them come true.
'Music, acting, performing, this career has always been kind of an obsession for me. When people have said, you know, "You're doing too much. You can only do one thing." I always had it in my mind, I was always a person who was like, "Why not? Why not?" So, I kind of had to force my own path, make my own rules. And I was obsessed like that I liked it that way for a while. Just working and working and working.
'But it wasn't until I had two little angels come into my life, that everything changed. You know, I knew I had to be better. I knew I had to go higher, I knew I had to be stronger than I had been before. It was through that unconditional love that my career, that my whole life became clearer in every way. And now, today, I stand here stronger and better than ever. So thank you, Max and and Emme. There is so much more to do, and I know in my heart that the future is even brighter than anything I could have accomplished up to now because of you.'
Yes, that was the moment when we (and A-Rod) teared up. Congratulations, J-Lo!
You can watch the 2018 MTV VMAs Tuesday 21 August at 8pm on MTV UK.