MTV Video Music Award for Best Pop – Brutal (2023)

Lore & Background

For the fan community, the award crystallized a narrative they had been building since 2021: that Rodrigo's songs function as communal therapy, a shared vocabulary for processing the messy, ugly, non-linear aftermath of young love. 'Brutal' in particular gave listeners permission to be furious, to want consequences, to stop performing grace. The VMA win became a ritual moment—streaming parties, TikTok edits, group chats erupting—where fans collectively said, 'Yes, this is our anthem, and the industry just handed it a gold record.'

In Their Own Story

The Prudential Center hummed with a low, electric buzz. Somewhere in the wings, a pair of sneakers tapped a restless rhythm against the polished floor. The lights dimmed to a deep amber, and when the host's voice cut through the PA—'And the MTV Video Music Award for Best Pop goes to…'—the room inhaled as one organism. Then the name. Then the song title. And the sound that followed was not quite a cheer; it was closer to a release, a long-held breath finally let go by ten thousand people who had been waiting all year for someone to say the ugly, true thing out loud and hand them a trophy for it. In the front row, a phone screen glowed with a text: 'She did it. She actually did it.' The reply was three exclamation points and a single, trembling thumbs-up emoji.

Reader's Guide

Olivia Rodrigo's award shelf grew meaningfully in 2023, and the MTV VMA for Best Pop for 'Brutal' sits at the center of that year's recognition.

The win confirmed that her second album, *Guts*, was not a sophomore slump but a broadening of scope. Where *Sour* had dominated in the confessional, piano-and-strings lane, 'Brutal' proved she could own the four-on-the-floor, bass-heavy pop space just as convincingly. The VMA jury's choice signaled to the broader pop ecosystem that Rodrigo's songwriting was versatile enough to anchor multiple sub-genres under one artist's name.

Contextually, the 2023 VMA cycle was competitive, with several high-profile pop releases vying for the same category. Rodrigo's win was read by critics and fans alike as a statement that authenticity of voice—writing from a specific, lived emotional experience—still outperforms purely production-driven spectacle in the pop category.

For her career arc, the award bridged the gap between 'breakout artist' and 'established pop force.' It was the moment the industry stopped framing her as a one-album wonder and started planning long-term collaborations, festival headlining slots, and cross-genre experiments around her name.

The significance also extended beyond the music industry. In a year when pop was grappling with questions of who gets to be the 'main character' of the genre, Rodrigo's win reinforced that a young, emotionally direct songwriter could claim the center stage without diluting her voice.

Did You Know?

• 'Brutal' was the first single from *Guts* and was strategically positioned as a tonal reset from the more melancholic sound of *Sour*, signaling Rodrigo's willingness to write in a more aggressive, rhythm-driven register
• The song's chorus is built around a stomp-clap rhythm that fans quickly turned into a communal performance element at concerts and streaming parties, turning listening into a physical, group experience.
• Olivia Rodrigo has spoken in interviews about writing songs as a way to process specific, real emotional events, and 'Brutal' is widely understood by fans to be grounded in a very particular personal experience of betray
• The 2023 VMA performance and win came in the same year she was nominated across multiple major award categories, making it part of a broader pattern of industry recognition rather than a single isolated moment.