Beyonce proves she’s in a lane of her own

Beyonce proved once again she is the contemporary rock star, and she used theMTVVideoMusic Awards stage to showcase her skills and outshine her peers. Beyoncewon eight awards, including video of the year, and performed five songs fromher visual album “Lemonade” in an epic 16-minute concert Sunday that had the audience atNew York’sMadison Square Garden in awe.

She sang live, danced heavily andworked the crowd as she ran through “Pray You CatchMe,” “HoldUp,” “Sorry,” “Don’tHurt Yourself” and “Formation,” whichwon the top prize over Adele, Drake, Justin Bieber and KanyeWest.

Itwas reminiscent of the 2014 VMAs, when Beyonce also performed for 16 minutes and accepted the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard award. This year it was awarded to Rihanna, who split up her performances throughout the night, singing hits such as“Work,” “We Found Love” and “Love on the Brain.”

Drakewon best hip-hop video for “Hotline Bling,” and CalvinHarriswon best male video for “This Is What You Came For.” David Bowie, who died from cancer earlier this year, received four nominations for “Lazarus” andwon best art direction. The music video, which shows him looking frail in bed with bandaged eyes, was released just days before the icon’s Jan. 10 death.

Adelewas behind Beyonce with eight nominations, but the British singer did not attend the showand did not win any awards.