Singer Camila Cabello scooped the top two prizes at the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) on Monday.
The Cuban-born star beat heavy hitters Beyoncé, Bruno Mars and Drake to bag the Video of the Year and Artist of the Year awards for her Latin-flavoured hit Havana.
“I can’t believe this is for me,” said the 21-year-old beauty, who split from girl group Fifth Harmony in late 2016 to launch a solo career.
Rapper Cardi B picked up wins for Best New Artist and Song of Summer for her dance hit I Like It with J. Balvin and Bad Bunny.
Flashing flesh in her post-baby bod in a purple dress, Cardi B, 25, made her first public appearance since giving birth to her first laaitie in July.
But the bekkige Bodak Yellow rapper failed to make good on her leading 10 nominations going into the show.
“A couple of months ago people were saying, ‘you’re gambling your career by having a baby’,” Cardi B said. “I had a baby ... and now I’m still winning awards.”
The biggest winner of the night was Childish Gambino, aka Donald Glover, who came away with three awards for his hard-hitting video This Is America about black identity and police brutality.
But the trophies were mostly in technical categories, including choreography and direction. Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s much-talked-about APES**T, which was shot inside the Louvre in Paris against the backdrop of some of the world’s most famous artworks, won just two of its eight nominations.
Canadian rapper Drake and multi-Grammy Award winner Bruno Mars went home with niks awards.
Ariana Grande, who won best pop video for No Tears Left to Cry, Nicki Minaj, Aerosmith, Shawn Mendes and Travis Scott performed.
A tribute to Aretha Franklin, who died last week, consisted of a speech by Madonna and a brief video clip.
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