The 2025 MTV Video Music Awards took place on Sunday, Sept. 7 at the UBS Arena in Elmont, New York. The main show started at 8 p.m. eastern time and ended at 11:00 p.m. It was aired for the first time on CBS and was hosted by actor and rapper, LL Cool J.
The award show featured many different artists such as global sensation Katseye, Sabrina Carpenter, Mariah Carey, Ariana Grande, Post Malone, and Rosé. Lady Gaga took home the most awards of the night; four Moon Person trophies, with Sabrina Carpenter and Ariana Grande earning three.
The biggest award, the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, was given to Mariah Carey who performed a Vanguard Medley that received mixed reviews. Some thought her performance was breathtaking and others claimed it was awkward and stiff.
The show opened with Sabrina Carpenter performing her new song, “Tears” and later went viral for promoting her then upcoming album “Man’s Best Friend” during her acceptance speech for Best New Album. Performances by Alex Warren, Conan Gray, and Doja Cat followed without gaining much attention.
Tate McRae’s “Just Keep Watching” set received much praise for its amazing choreography, along with the Ozzy Osbourne tribute that featured Steven Tyler, YUNGBLUD, Joe Perry and Nuno Bettencourt. The group sang a medley of ‘Crazy Train”, “Changes”, “Mama”, and many other iconic songs by Osbourne. Although this performance was praised for its heartfelt message, viewers were critical of it because Osbourne never won a single VMA.
Another notable performance was by Katseye, who showcased their new songs, “Gnarly” and “Gabriela”. The global sensation earned their first ever VMAs with PUSH Performance of the Year and Best Group. For a group that only debuted one year ago, fans felt that their win was symbolic of the exponential rise of K-Pop in the music industry.
Lisa from the K-Pop group Blackpink won Best K-Pop with her single “Born Again” which featured Doja Cat and RAYE. This sparked much controversy as the song was entirely in English and was sung by three non Korean artists.
Additionally, the incredibly successful boy group Stray Kids was nominated for the very same award for the fourth time in a row. Fans were furious at this, claiming that the group is always acknowledged yet never awarded despite their explosive success and unmatched stage presence.
Another issue K-Pop fans noticed was the absence of Jin and J-Hope of BTS, who both released insanely successful albums but were not nominated for a single award, while every Blackpink member had a nomination. This began a wave of criticism, with BTS fans accusing the VMAs of bias.
Yet amidst the chaos and criticism, Rosé achieved what no other K-Pop artist had done before, which was bring home Song of the Year for “APT” with Bruno Mars. Thus, there were still some groundbreaking wins for the world of K-Pop.
Another fan favorite was when EJAE, Rei Ami, and Audrey NUNA presented the Album of the Year award to Sabrina Carpenter. These three artists were the singing voices from the hit movie “KPop Demon Hunters”.
Ariana Grande was awarded some of the top VMAs — Video of the Year, Best Pop, and Best Long Form Video — without performing during the show. All three of these awards were for her hit song “Brighter Days Ahead”.
The award show ended with tributes to various musical icons such as Ricky Martin and J Balvin.
This year was not as well received by viewers as the previous years and sparked many heated discussions, hopefully making room for change for future VMAs.
