Blue Ivy Carter , the eldest daughter of Beyoncé and Jay-Z, has officially become the youngest person EVER to win an MTV Video Music Award.
On Sunday, September 12, the 9-year-old took home her first award from the 2021 MTV VMAs, winning the best cinematography category for Beyoncé’s “Brown Skin Girl” video, becoming the youngest VMA winner ever.
Earning the award alongside her famous mother Blue Ivy also shares the honor with “Brown Skin Girl” collaborators Wizkid and SAINt JHN. The cinematographers who made the video are Benoit Soler, Malik H. Sayeed, MOHAMMAED ATTA AHMED, Santiago Gonzalez, and Ryan Helfant.
To get this award, Blue and her associates beat out the other nominees in the category, including Billie Eilish (“Therefore I Am”), Foo Fighters (“Shame Shame”), Justin Bieber ft. Chance The Rapper (“Holy”) Lady Gaga (“911”), and Lorde (“Solar Power”).
“Brown Skin Girl” was also nominated for best R&B video, but that category ended up being taken by Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, also known as Silk Sonic, for their hit, “Leave the Door Open.”
The song is from Beyoncé‘s Lion King companion album, The Lion King: The Gift, which got a standalone visual treatment on YouTube in August 2020. It had previously only been available to Disney+ subscribers as a part of Beyoncé‘s most recent musical film, Black Is King, which dropped exclusively on the streaming service in July 2020.
Of course, Blue Ivy wasn’t the only famous face in the award-winning visual for “Brown Skin Girl.” Her mom--who also shares 4-year-old twins Rumi and Sir with Jay-Z--enlisted a few of her famous friends for the video, including Naomi Campbell, Lupita Nyong’o, and her former Destiny’s Child bandmate Kelly Rowland, all of whom she name drops on the song.
The 9-year-old received a writing credit for the track, which also scored not only her first official feature, but her first official entry onto the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Blue Ivy also won her first Grammy award earlier this year for the hit song, making her the second youngest artist to ever win a Grammy Award. She follows closely behind Leah Peasall, who won at the 2001 ceremony for her work on the album of the year-winning soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou? at 8 years old.
Congrats, Blue!
