Madonna defended her signature dental bling after capping her VMAs comeback with a diamond-draped acceptance.
The 66-year-old pop icon collected Artist of the Year at Sunday’s 2026 ceremony wearing a 115-carat Leviev diamond station necklace valued at $2.8 million, paired with a beribboned corset bodysuit and the grills that have become her trademark. She topped Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Ariana Grande, Bruno Mars and Morgan Wallen for the trophy, adding it to a Best Collaboration Moon Person she had already won for “Bring Your Love.”
The dental jewelry has drawn commentary for years. “People have a problem with my grills, I don’t know why,” she told Jimmy Fallon in a 2022 interview. “I just like the way it looks — it’s mouth jewelry — and I have really ugly teeth,” she added. That year she had designed a set of “birthday grills” for herself, cementing the look as a permanent fixture of her public appearances.
On stage Sunday, Madonna reached back four decades to her first VMAs moment. She recalled her 1984 performance of “Like a Virgin” atop a giant wedding cake at the inaugural show, when she lost a shoe and her skirt flew up mid-routine. Her then-manager “told me my career was over,” she shared.
The Queen of Pop framed her current creative chapter as a reclamation. “I spent the last year and a half finding myself, believing in myself and really making the music that I wanted to make,” she continued. “And, to me, that really is the definition of being an artist.”
The Artist of the Year victory came on a night when Madonna led all nominees with 13 nods. She opened the show with her first VMAs performance in 23 years, stripping off a black blazer to reveal a wine-red bodysuit for “Bring Your Love” alongside Carpenter. She later added a lace-up leather jacket for “Danceteria Afterhours” with Charli XCX.
The “Material Girl” singer’s return to the VMAs stage marked her first since 2003, bridging two eras of MTV’s flagship awards show. Her 1984 debut had set the template for provocative VMAs moments, with the wedding-cake performance instantly entering pop culture lore despite her manager’s dire prediction.
Madonna’s 2022 grill explanation to Fallon came during a promotional appearance where she showcased the custom birthday set. She has since worn variations of the mouth jewelry to high-profile events, treating the dental accessories as interchangeable with traditional jewelry rather than a novelty.
The “Bring Your Love” collaboration with Carpenter and the “Danceteria Afterhours” pairing with Charli XCX demonstrated Madonna’s continued positioning alongside contemporary pop’s rising generation. Both tracks appeared on her most recent album cycle, which she characterized Sunday as the product of renewed self-belief.
Madonna’s second Moon Person of the evening for Best Collaboration recognized the Carpenter duet specifically, giving her a sweep of the night’s major categories.
The 2026 VMAs marked Madonna’s full-circle moment at the awards show she helped define, now wearing $2.8 million in diamonds around her neck and her self-designed grills across her teeth.
