<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThis world, as we all know, can be so full of criticism and discrimination and negativity,\u201d Sabrina Carpenter<\/a> said Sunday at the 2025 MTV<\/a> Video Music Awards. \u201cSo to get to be part of something, so more often than not, that is something that can bring you light, make you smile, make you dance, make you feel like the world is your fucking oyster \u2014 I am so grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s a perfect summary of pop fandom \u2014 but also everything that was missing from the VMAs<\/a> this year. MTV\u2019s annual bash came up mighty short on star power, pop flash, celebrity egomania, humor, sleaze, madness, glitter-cringe misbehavior \u2014 you know, the kind of thing you watch the VMAs to see. It\u2019s one thing to begin with a Kenny G cameo. But it\u2019s another when Kenny G turns out to be one of the damn highlights.<\/p>\n \n\tThe night\u2019s best line came from Ariana Grande<\/a>: \u201cThank you to my therapists and gay people! I love you!\u201d Ariana was the MVP \u2014 one of the few big-deal stars who actually showed up, sure, but also someone the camera could always rely on for total unflagging enthusiasm. Every time the energy level sagged, which was often, they could cut to the Ari-Cam and catch her cheering or singing like she was genuinely excited to be here. She won Video of the Year<\/a> for \u201cBrighter Days Ahead\u201d \u2014 yet the whole show would have been basically unwatchable without her. Thank you, Ariana\u2019s therapists and gay people! MTV owes you big-time.<\/p>\n \n\tAriana also presented the Video Vanguard award to Mariah Carey<\/a>, who finally got her long-overdue career award<\/a> after somehow never winning a single VMA in her career until now. \u201cI can\u2019t believe I\u2019m getting my first VMA tonight,\u201d Mariah said in a hilarious speech. \u201cI just have one question: What in the Sam Hill were you waiting for?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThis was the first VMAs aired on CBS, and there was plenty of rookie energy in the air. The network seemed to have trouble persuading actual stars to perform. They didn\u2019t dream up any clever moments or duets. They ran ads from the federal government trying to recruit ICE agents, a real middle finger to the audience. There was a glut of new legacy awards, as if they needed to cover up for their difficulty getting big names to return their calls. Busta Rhymes<\/a> came on to do a medley of his hits \u2014 the exact same medley he did on the show<\/a> just four years ago. Nikki Glaser<\/a>, normally the life of the party<\/a> at any award show, didn\u2019t even get to make any jokes. The weakest VMAs in years, after a five-year winning streak. What in the Sam Hill was going on?<\/p>\n \t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n \n\tOn the bright side, you had to love all the 2000s energy. The whole night was full of millennial fever. When host LL Cool J<\/a> said, \u201cWe\u2019ve got icons in the house!,\u201d the camera cut to Paris Hilton<\/a> waving. (Some things never change.) There was a Burger King ad bumping Taio Cruz\u2019s \u201cDynamite,\u201d then a cellphone ad starring Lindsay Lohan, saying, \u201cNow that I\u2019m a mom, things are, well, different!\u201d MTV kept pimping their incredibly innovative cutting-edge ideas with promos for the \u201chistoric season finale\u201d of Jersey Shore Family Vacation. (Dude, it\u2019s the first time Sammi is meeting Ronnie\u2019s parents? No way \u2014 time to pour some Ron-Ron Juice and get obliviated!) As a great woman once sang, the whole night was \u201cSo Yesterday.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n \n\tAnd just when you thought it couldn\u2019t get any more 2000s, Ashlee Simpson<\/a> made a proud return, radiating all her glorious \u201cLa La\u201d evergy. Ashlee never loses her touch, proving that she was 100 percent right when she warned the world all those years ago \u2014 you can throw her like a boomerang, but she\u2019ll come back and beat you up. She came onstage with her sister Jessica, who also reminisced about \u201cback in 1999,\u201d when she was on tour opening for Ricky Martin<\/a>, \u201cthe world\u2019s biggest pop star.\u201d When Paris presented the Song of the Year award, her walk-on music was \u201cStars Are Blind,\u201d which somehow failed to win this award back in the day.<\/p>\n \t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n \n\tLady Gaga<\/a> was one of the 2000s stars who defined the VMAs \u2014 some of us will ride forever for the night she hosted in character as her male alter ego Jo Calderon. So it\u2019s cool she dominated the show tonight, winning Artist of the Year. Then she rushed across town, from New York\u2019s UBS Arena to Madison Square Garden, so she could reappear live<\/a> from her own Mayhem Ball, doing a spectacular gothed-out performance of\u00a0 \u201cAbracadabra\u201d and \u201cThe Dead Dance.\u201d But Gaga dedicated her award to the audience. \u201cThe way you move for your life is iconic and rare,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is entirely yours.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tMariah did a medley of her hits, including \u201cFantasy,\u201d\u00a0 \u201cHeartbreaker,\u201d \u201cObsessed,\u201d and \u201cWe Belong Together.\u201d She also traded air kisses with Ariana, gushing \u201cShe\u2019s so little! You\u2019re the cutest!\u201d Mariah reminisced about her long VMAs journey. \u201cBeing here brings back amazing memories,\u201d she said. \u201cLike when I presented LL Cool J with his Vanguard Award. Or when Whitney Houston and I opened the show with a faux stand-off, when we both had our dresses \u2014 we were like, \u2018Try it on me!\u2019\u201d It\u2019s just a shame MTV couldn\u2019t persuade Jennifer Lopez to be part of the Video Vanguard tribute. (Hey, Taylor Swift came out 10 years ago to give this same award to \u201cmy friend Kanye West,\u201d so there\u2019s precedent.)<\/p>\n \n\tSabrina took a Nineties trip for her live debut of \u201cTears,\u201d turning a NYC street-party scene into a ballroom bash, as she waved the flag for transgender rights. Her dancers included a slew of drag queens and ballroom stars: Lexi Love, Simone, Leganja Estranj, Honey Balenciaga, Dashaun Wesley, Richie Shazam, Jewels Sparkles, Denali. Her dancers held signs that said \u201cProtect Trans Rights,\u201d \u201cDolls Dolls Dolls,\u201d and \u201cIf You Hate You\u2019ll Never Get Laid.\u201d The boom-box radio announced it was 69 degrees \u2014 \u201ca wet one\u201d \u2014 as Sabrina crawled out of a manhole. So yeah, she\u2019s still not into subtlety, fortunately for us all.<\/p>\n \n\tSombr, wow \u2014 now there\u2019s a showman<\/a> who knows how to show, pure glitter sex-on-a-stick startime, with shoulder pads even Bowie would have coveted. He did a fantastic Studio 54 goth-glam \u201c12 to 12,\u201d opening with the words, \u201cThis one\u2019s for the girls that get it.\u201d Best moment: One dancer crawled across the stage to slither up alongside him, then dropped to her knees before him, and he looked so sweetly embarrassed it was downright touching, without compromising any of his Mick Jagger\/Richard Ashcroft stud-liosity. Never let anyone try to talk you into shirts that button, Sombr. You\u2019re better than that.<\/p>\n \n\tTate McRae<\/a> did her thing<\/a> on the floor, writhing acrobatically to \u201cRevolving Door\u201d and \u201cSports Car\u201d\u2014 if you\u2019ve seen her current tour<\/a>, you know she can do two hours of this easy, going again like three-four times. Tate could have been designed in a lab as the perfect star for this award show \u2014 she taps right into the TRL aesthetic. She was born the summer of 2003, when Madonna and Britney had their historic VMAs kiss, and it\u2019s as if she were born from that kiss.<\/p>\n \n\tDoja Cat<\/a> went totally \u201980s<\/a> for \u201cJealous Type,\u201d opening with the smooth tones of Kenny G\u2019s soprano sax making sonic love to us all. She got all the era details right, heavy on the pastels, a guitarist in black leather and a cameo, a keytar queen in a Stacey Q-worthy perm, Jimmy Jam\/Terry Lewis-style mall beats, all on a black-and-white checkerboard floor. With the Club MTV energy off the charts, you had to keep wondering if Downtown Julie Brown was about to give Doja some wubba-wubba-wubba love, or if MC Skat Kat would suddenly dish the dirt on stealing Paula Abdul\u2019s covers. But respect to Doja for finessing the fine points.<\/p>\n \n\tBusta Rhymes won the brand new Rock the Bells Visionary Award \u2014 he complained about waiting 35 years to win it, so guess nobody told him this was the first one ever. GloRilla joined him for hits like \u201cScenario\u201d and \u201cPass the Courvoisier.\u201d A class act as always, Busta gave a moving salute to the late MTV VJ Ananda Lewis.<\/p>\n \n\tRicky Martin won another new honor, the Latin Icon Award, shaking his bon-bon in a medley of Nineties hits like \u201cLa Copa De Vida\u201d and \u201cLivin\u2019 La Vida Loca,\u201d making you wonder what the voodoo-loving kink temptress in the song is up to these days. (Reiki yoga instructor, right?) \u201cI am addicted to your applause,\u201d Ricky said. \u201cThat\u2019s why I keep coming back.\u201d But the highlight of this interlude was the moving fan tribute from J. Balvin. \u201cI want to talk with my heart,\u201d Balvin said. \u201cMan, we love you.\u201d It was one of the only moments all night (along with Ariana on Gaga) where the stars got to act like shameless music fans \u2014 the show could have used a lot more of that.<\/p>\n \n\tRos\u00e9 won Song of the Year<\/a> for her \u201980s-themed Bruno Mars duet \u201cApt\u201d (somewhere, Toni Basil must have been happy) and gave a sweet speech where she thanked herself (it was her therapist\u2019s idea) and also dedicated the award to her 16-year-old self, remembering her awkward teen days when she felt like an \u201coddball.\u201d Post Malone and Jelly Roll did a bromantic duet on \u201cLosers,\u201d appearing live from Germany. J Balvin got busy with Lenny Tavarez, Justin Quiles, and DJ Snake, while Lola Young did \u201cMessy\u201d and Alex Warren sang \u201cOrdinary.\u201d Megan Moroney rocked her emo-cowgirl anthem \u201c6 Months Later.\u201d She also won the first VMA for Best Country Video \u2014 a welcome sign of the times.<\/p>\n \t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n \n\tThe Ozzy Osbourne<\/a> tribute got hyped all night, right from LL Cool J\u2019s opening monologue, where he promised, \u201cTonight we are honoring a man known as the Prince of Darkness, who brought a lot of light into the world!\u201d Aerosmith\u2019s Toxic Twins, Steven Tyler and Joe Perry, reunited for \u201cMama I\u2019m Coming Home.\u201d (Perry is on a hot streak these days, ripping it up on his excellent solo tour with the Black Crowes\u2019 Chris Robinson.) But Yungblud<\/a> didn\u2019t have the vocal chops for \u201cCrazy Train\u201d or \u201cChanges.\u201d Sadly, Lita Ford didn\u2019t show \u2014 and why didn\u2019t Busta jump up there for his Ozzy duet \u201cThis Means War\u201d<\/a>? Why didn\u2019t we get Sabrina singing \u201cIron Man,\u201d or Ariana belting \u201cChildren of the Grave\u201d? But it said a lot about the void Ozzy left in the universe, after his tragic death this summer.<\/p>\n \n\tConan Gray closed out the night doing \u201cVodka Cranberry\u201d in a red velvet cape, a look he should try more often, since Hammer-horror \u201960s Dracula mode works for him. He staged a Sleeping Beauty-style pageant, singing to an unconscious Stephen Malkmus look-alike in a frilly blouse (Girl Meets World star Corey Fogelmanis) on a bed of flowers, until Conan finally took a sip from a conveniently placed decanter of crimson liquid \u2014 vodka cranberry? A magic love potion? Or was it bloooooood? Honestly, hope it was the vodka \u2014 after a song that sad, Conan looked like he could use a drink. The Romeo-as-Juliet he was serenading was very conspicuously breathing, so we weren\u2019t in deathbed territory here, yet it was still a startlingly downbeat way to end an award show. But maybe he just felt a bit snoozy after such a sluggish VMAs ceremony \u2014 an understandable feeling after all so little excitement and spectacle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.rollingstone.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cThis world, as we all know, can be so full of criticism and discrimination and negativity,\u201d Sabrina Carpenter said Sunday at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards. \u201cSo to get to be part of something, so more often than not, that is something that can bring you light, make you smile, make you dance, make […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2124523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[24076,352657,347246,310266,25405,305677,312296,307878,337128,365722,33128,348057,340699,27664,44292,349490,330354],"class_list":["post-2124522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-ariana-grande","tag-ashlee-simpson","tag-busta-rhymes","tag-doja-cat","tag-lady-gaga","tag-ll-cool-j","tag-mariah-carey","tag-mtv","tag-mtv-video-music-awards","tag-nikki-glaser","tag-ozzy-osbourne","tag-paris-hilton","tag-ricky-martin","tag-sabrina-carpenter","tag-tate-mcrae","tag-vmas","tag-yungblud"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Sabrina-Ariana-Gaga-Mariah-Rescue-an-Otherwise-Lacking-MTV-VMAs.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2124522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2124522"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2124522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2124524,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2124522\/revisions\/2124524"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2124523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2124522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2124522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2124522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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