🏆 VMAs & Music Right Now
Who won Artist of the Year at the 2026 VMAs?
A. Sabrina Carpenter
B. Taylor Swift
C. Madonna
D. Ariana Grande
Answer: C — Madonna. She actually led the entire night with seven wins.
👹⚔️🎤✨
Hint: 👑🌟 = the song title
“Golden” — HUNTR/X, KPop Demon Hunters
👻👦🛣️
Lost boys never grow up, never go ____
HOME 🏠
"Lost Boys" Phoebe Bridgers
🎸🙂🔫
Question: This Seattle band helped bring grunge into the mainstream with Nevermind and “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Who are they? Name one other song by this band.
Nirvana
True or false: Music can change your heart rate.
TRUE.
Research consistently shows that music alters cardiovascular activity by engaging the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which regulates involuntary functions such as heart rate and blood pressure. Fast, high‑energy music activates the sympathetic “fight‑or‑flight” response, raising heart rate and blood pressure. Slow, calming music activates the parasympathetic “rest‑and‑relax” response, lowering heart rate.
Who won Best New Artist?
A. Malcolm Todd
B. Myles Smith
C. Sienna Spiro
D. Stella Lefty
C — Sienna Spiro
🎀🐴♣️
“Pink Pony Club” — Chappell Roan
채영이가 좋아하는 랜덤 게임, 랜덤 게임
Game start
아파트, 아파트, 아파트, 아파트
아파트, 아파트, uh, uh-huh, uh-huh
아파트, 아파트, 아파트, 아파트
아파트, 아파트, uh, uh-huh, uh-huh
Kissy face, kissy face sent to your phone, but
I'm tryna kiss your lips for real (uh-huh, uh-huh)
Red hearts, red hearts, that's what I'm on, yeah
Come give me somethin' I can feel
Don't you want me like I want you, baby?
Don't you need me like I need you now?
______ ________, but tonight go crazy
All you gotta do is just meet me at the
🏢🌹🪐
Sleep tomorrow
“APT.” — ROSÉ & Bruno Mars
This English band helped shape goth and alternative music and recorded songs including “Friday I'm in Love” and “Just Like Heaven.” Who are they?
🖤💄🌧️
The Cure
Name one way someone might use music to change their mood.
Music engages various parts of your brain, including areas that manage sensory experiences, your ability to think, and your emotional responses.
Listening to music you prefer can engage pleasure pathways in your brain, sending blood flow through regions involved in your body’s reward system. This can trigger a release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter also known as the “feel-good” chemical.
Which artist won Video of the Year for “The Fate of Ophelia”?
A. Ariana Grande
B. Sabrina Carpenter
C. Madonna
D. Taylor Swift
D — Taylor Swift. The win also helped make her the most-awarded artist in VMA history, with 33 career VMAs.
7️⃣🌎⚔️
⬜⬜〰️
“Seven Nation Army” — The White Stripes
And we can run away to the walls inside your house
I can be the cat, baby, you can be the mouse
And we can ____ _____ ___ that we know nothing about
We can go forever, until you wanna sit it out
🌊⛵️🖤
Laugh things off
“Sailor Song” — Gigi Perez
This experimental British rock band made OK Computer, Kid A, and the song “Creep.” Who are they?
📻👤🤖
Radiohead
You hear a song you haven't heard in years and suddenly remember exactly where you were when you used to hear it. What mental process is music activating?
Memory / Autobiographical Memory
When you hear a song you haven’t heard in years and suddenly recall exactly where you were, your brain is engaging in music‑evoked autobiographical memory (MEAM) — a form of involuntary memory where music acts as a powerful retrieval cue for personal events, people, and places from your past.
Music is processed not just in the auditory cortex but across a distributed neural network that includes the limbic system (amygdala for emotion, hippocampus for memory), the prefrontal cortex for context and meaning, and motor and sensory areas. This means the song is encoded as both sound and emotional/contextual experience.
This artist became internationally famous with songs including “Espresso” and “Please Please Please.” She also starred on Disney Channel before becoming a major pop artist. Who is she?
Clue 1: I started acting professionally as a kid.
Clue 2: I appeared on Girl Meets World.
Clue 3: One of my biggest songs is named after a type of coffee.
Answer: Sabrina Carpenter
😴💭🌙
🚢🌳💻 😂
“Dreams” — Fleetwood Mac
Tall white house with an empty room
And your name carved over the door
Facing out to the _____ ____
From your place on the second floor
Sound it out to an empty house
Was it just like you had before?
Savior pulled from an open mouth
Did you want to be something more?
🏠🌧️
tallest view
Searows — “House Song”
🧚♀️🎸💥
This alternative-rock band influenced Nirvana and became known for suddenly shifting between quiet verses and explosive choruses. Their songs include “Where Is My Mind?” Who are they?
The Pixies
Why might playing the same beat together help a group feel more connected?
Playing the same beat requires people to listen, coordinate, and respond to one another. When everyone synchronizes around a shared pulse, it can create a feeling of being part of something together.
This rising pop artist was born in South Africa, grew up in Germany, and competed on the Netflix series Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE. She later launched a solo career, including the song “Superscar.” Who is she?
A. Tate McRae
B. ADÉLA
C. PinkPantheress
D. Zara Larsson
B — ADÉLA
🦸♂️🍀🔮
Artist clue: 👨🏾🎤🤩
“Superstition” — Stevie Wonder
Blackout in the middle of the light
And now I'm back down with a feeling and I collide
You know it won't be long until the end
Let the ________ _____ on me again
⚫️💡
Spotlight shine
Turnstile — “BLACKOUT”
😃➗🖤
This late-'70s English band helped define post-punk. Their singer was Ian Curtis, and one of their best-known songs has an instantly recognizable bass line. Who are they?
A. The Smiths
B. Joy Division
C. The Cure
D. New Order
Joy Division
Your friend is stressed before a big test. Design a three-song playlist strategy for them—and explain your choices.
Song 1:
Song 2:
Song 3:
and why?