MTV VMA Best Female Video – Don't Start Now (2020)

Lore & Background

Before 'Don't Start Now,' Dua Lipa had already established herself as a formidable pop artist with 'New Rules,' 'IDGAF,' and the global success of 'One Kiss.' But the 2019 release of this track—snappy, sassy, and dripping with a confidence that felt almost confrontational—signaled something different. It wasn't just a hit; it was a statement of intent for the album that would follow. The song's production, built on a tight four-on-the-floor beat, shimmering synth stabs, and a vocal delivery that oscillated between playful and imperious, carved out a sonic space that felt both deeply rooted in 1970s funk and wholly of its moment. The music video amplified that duality, placing Lipa in a sleek, retro-futuristic environment saturated in pinks, purples, and metallics. The choreography was sharp and deliberate, the camera work cinematic, and the overall aesthetic read like a love letter to the disco era filtered through a near-future lens. It was a visual argument that pop could be both maximalist and precise, that glamour and grit coexisted without contradiction. Winning the VMA for Best Female Video in 2020 placed her alongside a lineage of artists who had used the pop video as a vehicle for cultural commentary and pure, unadulterated fun. In a year when the music world was largely silent, the award functioned as a beacon: proof that the industry's creative engine was still running, and that Lipa's particular brand of euphoric, body-first pop was its most vital output.

In Their Own Story

The studio lights hummed at a low amber glow. Dua stood at the edge of the stage, the VMA trophy still warm in her hands, and for a moment the roar of the audience—however mediated, however distant—faded into a single sustained note. She thought about the first time she'd heard the final mix of 'Don't Start Now' in a small listening room, the bass hitting her sternum before her ears caught the melody. She thought about the months of lockdown that had followed, the empty dance floors, the silence where clubs should have been. And then she thought about the thousands of people who had filmed themselves dancing in their kitchens, their bedrooms, their living rooms, just to feel the beat again. She raised the trophy slightly, not in triumph but in acknowledgment. The song wasn't hers alone anymore. It belonged to every body that had moved to it in a space too small for the feeling it carried. She set the trophy down, smiled at the camera, and let the applause wash over her like a slow tide.

Reader's Guide

Power: The Crown of Euphoria

The achievement: Best Female Video at the 2020 MTV VMAs, awarded for 'Don't Start Now.' This was not a supporting-role win; it was the category's marquee recognition for a woman's visual and musical work in a given year, placing Lipa at the apex of pop's most visible stage. The context: The 2020 ceremony arrived amid a global health crisis that had shuttered venues, canceled tours, and forced the entire music industry into a state of suspended animation. Live audiences were restricted or absent, and the industry's usual machinery of touring, press cycles, and in-person celebration had ground to a halt. In that vacuum, a VMA win for a track built entirely on the premise of dancing, joy, and physical freedom carried an almost symbolic weight. The significance for her trajectory: By this point, 'Future Nostalgia' had already been a commercial and critical juggernaut, but the VMA cemented Lipa's status as a top-tier visual artist in her own right, not merely a vocalist or songwriter. It validated the album's maximalist aesthetic and confirmed that her command of the pop video—as a narrative, choreographic, and design medium—was a first-class craft. The reshaping of perception: Before this win, some critics still framed her work as 'safe' or 'formulaic.' The award, paired with the song's cultural ubiquity, reframed that conversation. 'Don't Start Now' became shorthand for a specific kind of pop confidence—unapologetically retro, unapologetically fun, unapologetically female in its ownership of space. The VMA trophy became a small but potent symbol of that reclamation.

Did You Know?

• The 'Don't Start Now' music video was directed by Dave Meyers, a longtime collaborator on Lipa's visual work, and its retro-futuristic set design drew on 1970s disco aesthetics reimagined through a sci-fi lens.
• The 2020 MTV VMA ceremony was one of the first major music industry events to be staged under pandemic-era restrictions, making the live performance and presentation segments a notable return to shared spectacle.
• 'Don't Start Now' was produced by Cirkut and Dan Gibson, and its tight, funk-driven beat became a template for the rest of 'Future Nostalgia,' which went on to produce multiple top-10 singles.
• The song's title and chorus carry a distinctly confrontational, self-empowering tone that fans often cite as the emotional core of the album's narrative arc.