The 2025 MTV VMAs turned UBS Arena into a pressure cooker on Sunday night, with LL Cool J steering a fast, performance-heavy broadcast that doubled as a victory lap for veterans and a showcase for new names. Ariana Grande’s “brighter days ahead” took Video of the Year in a loaded field, Lady Gaga walked away with Artist of the Year after leading all nominees, Alex Warren sealed a breakout year as Best New Artist, and Coldplay claimed Best Rock with “ALL MY LOVE.” The show’s heartbeat, though, ran through its special tributes: Mariah Carey accepted the night’s Video Vanguard Award, Busta Rhymes was saluted with the Rock the Bells Visionary Award, and Ricky Martin received the Latin Icon Award—each punctuated by onstage performances that reminded everyone why they’re fixtures in pop history.
The guest list was wide by design. Genres collided, streaming eras overlapped, and timelines blurred. Lady Gaga led with 12 nominations, Kendrick Lamar followed with 10, while ROSÉ and Sabrina Carpenter—both riding massive years—landed eight apiece. Ariana Grande and The Weeknd each scored seven nods, Billie Eilish picked up six, and Charli XCX rounded out the leaderboard with five.
A night of big honors and bigger performances
Mariah Carey’s Vanguard coronation felt overdue. The award, long associated with artists who changed the visual language of pop—think Beyoncé, Rihanna, Missy Elliott, and Shakira—fit Carey’s catalog of era-defining singles and lavish videos. She kept her moment firmly musical, accepting the honor and then delivering a performance tailored to her voice and craft rather than spectacle for spectacle’s sake. It read like a reminder: longevity isn’t an accident.
Busta Rhymes’ Rock the Bells Visionary Award threaded the night back to hip-hop’s core innovation. Honoring a figure who pushed flow, cadence, and the art of the music video, the segment matched energy with respect. The performance was a kinetic jolt—structured, sharp, and loud—without losing his hallmark playfulness. For a show that has spent the last two years nodding to hip-hop’s anniversaries, it was a worthy extension.
Ricky Martin’s Latin Icon moment underscored where the industry is right now. Latin music isn’t a guest at the table; it’s driving the menu. Martin’s impact—from opening the late-’90s pop floodgates to normalizing bilingual chart dominance—makes him a bridge between eras. His celebratory set played like a salute to the global wave that followed him, from reggaeton’s relentless rise to the pan-Latin pop that now tops playlists worldwide.
On the main stage, the lineup moved quickly. Alex Warren—who would later take Best New Artist—performed with the urgency of someone sprinting through an open door. Bailey Zimmerman kept the country-to-pop pipeline humming, while the Extended Play Stage punched above its weight with a cluster of short, high-impact sets: Conan Gray, DJ Snake, Doja Cat, J Balvin, and Jelly Roll all took turns. A special collision of Joe Perry and Steven Tyler added a flash of classic rock charisma—a VH1-on-MTV moment that played to multigenerational fans.
The race for trophies
Nomination math told one story; the envelopes told another. The VMAs tend to spread the wealth, and they did again.
- Video of the Year: Ariana Grande, “brighter days ahead”
- Artist of the Year: Lady Gaga
- Best New Artist: Alex Warren
- Best Rock: Coldplay, “ALL MY LOVE”
Grande’s win came against heavy hitters, including ROSÉ and Bruno Mars’ “APT.” and Billie Eilish’s “BIRDS OF A FEATHER.” The decision nodded to a video era where tone and message matter as much as pure spectacle. “brighter days ahead” leaned into uplift—clean visuals, emotional clarity, a confident pop center—and it resonated.
For Lady Gaga, Artist of the Year recognized breadth and consistency. Twelve nominations don’t materialize by accident; they come from relentless output and public attention that crosses formats. Even without a tentpole performance, her presence was everywhere: in categories, on screens, and in the way the show’s big moments kept orbiting her name.
Alex Warren’s Best New Artist win fit the night’s undercurrent. He performed early, then returned to the stage later, and the arc felt earned: a creator-turned-hitmaker whose audience moved from phones to arenas without losing momentum. The VMAs have a track record of accelerating that jump—think of past winners who used the badge to book bigger rooms and better collaborators. Warren looks built for that next step.
Coldplay’s Best Rock victory for “ALL MY LOVE” was a pulse check for a category that often swings between legacy acts and studio-heavy hybrids. The band landed in the middle lane—arena-sized emotion, polished enough for pop radio, structured enough for rock voters. It’s the sound of a group that knows exactly how to scale feelings to rafters.
Sabrina Carpenter, with eight nominations, didn’t just show up in category lists—she dominated pre-show chatter and seat-filler gossip alike. Whether performing or not, she read as one of the night’s gravitational centers, the kind of artist whose singles and visuals now arrive with a built-in discourse cycle. That presence matters at the VMAs, where conversation is currency.
The Extended Play Stage did its job: varied, quick, and sticky. Doja Cat shapeshifted through styles without losing her through-line. J Balvin brought the global club pulse. Jelly Roll blurred country and rock with an everyman charm that plays well in big rooms. DJ Snake delivered the festival jolt. Conan Gray offered a cleaner, Gen Z–polished take on pop drama. Together, those sets showed why the VMAs still thrive on short bursts done right.
LL Cool J kept the show nimble. His pacing favored performances over long monologues, which matched a production that relied on fast turnarounds and multiple active stages. The synergy with Busta Rhymes’ honor wasn’t lost on anyone—one hip-hop pioneer spotlighting another, with the night’s visuals echoing the culture’s evolution from street-level DIY to world-stage artistry.
UBS Arena proved a smart pick. The building’s bowl shape and clean sightlines played well for cameras, and the stage design leaned on layered LED, kinetic lighting, and crisp transitions rather than just pyrotechnics. The result: a broadcast-friendly flow with fewer dead-air moments and more instances of “wait, we’re already at the next act?”
The honorees’ segments framed the show’s thesis. Carey’s award tied the modern pop playbook to the artists who wrote it in real time. Busta’s honor connected innovation to endurance—two sides of the same coin in hip-hop. Ricky Martin’s tribute positioned Latin music not as a trend but as a central engine of global pop. Those aren’t just career flowers; they’re statements about where the industry’s attention is headed.
Nomination dynamics told their own story. Kendrick Lamar’s 10 nods reinforced how singular his impact remains, even in a year when pop and Latin sounds dominated headlines. ROSÉ’s eight matched the way K-pop and solo offshoots continue to build international lanes. Billie Eilish’s six underscored her unhurried but constant cultural pull. Charli XCX’s five finally caught up to the influence her production choices have had on mainstream pop’s textures.
That mix—legacy, cross-genre fluency, internet-native stars—has become the VMAs’ sweet spot. The broadcast doubles as a calendar marker for the fall: new tour announcements, playlist reshuffles, and a wave of streaming bumps for anyone who touched the stage. Expect quick aftershocks: surprise audio drops, deluxe editions, and behind-the-scenes clips engineered to stretch the VMAs conversation well past the closing credits.
If there was a through-line, it was that the show favored momentum over mythmaking. Big moments landed, but they moved. Honorees got their flowers, then handed the mic to the next generation. And by the end, the message was clear: the modern VMA night is a relay—icons setting the pace, newcomers sprinting the anchor, and pop culture chasing right behind.
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