The MTV Video Music Awards took place on Thursday, September 6th,  and the British phenomenon known as One Direction stole the show, beating out artists such as Justin Bieber, Frank Ocean, and The Wanted. They won three VMAs for Best New Artist, Most-Shareworthy Video and Best Pop Video.

Rihanna set the bar high with an intense opening performance of a mash-up of her new single “Cockiness” and her smash hit “We Found Love.” She went on to win the top award of the night, Video of the Year, for “We Found Love.”

Chris Brown took home Best Male Video for “Turn Up the Music” while Nicki Minaj took home the VMA for Best Female Video with “Starships”. Drake took home Best Hip-Hop Video for his collaboration for “HYFR” with Lil Wayne. Lil Wayne then went on to perform with up and coming rapper 2 Chainz’s single “Yuck,” followed by Lil Wayne’s single “No Worries.”

The performances ranged from intimate to extravagant that night. P!nk followed up Rihanna’s performance with her chart-topping single “Blow Me (One Last Kiss).” Frank Ocean switched the atmosphere up with an intimate performance of “Thinkin’ Bout You,” accompanied by only a guitarist.

One Direction amped it up with their first VMA performance of their new single in the USA, “One Thing,” Alicia Keys performed her new single “Girl on Fire” with surprise appearances by Nicki Minaj and Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas.

“I thought the performances were all really cool,” Merikayt Patton (12) commented on the VMA’s.

And finally, Taylor Swift closed the 2012 VMA’s with an upbeat performance of her smash hit “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” and to end an eventful night, she dove out into the crowd.