The Elusive Chanteuse is coming HOME, dahhhling.
Global icon Mariah Carey will officially be honored with the Video Vanguard Award at the 2025 MTV VMAs, and she’s celebrating the only way she knows how — with a jaw-dropping, career-spanning medley that’s guaranteed to be the moment of the night. Hosted by LL COOL J, the VMAs go down live from New York’s UBS Arena on Sunday, September 7 at 8PM ET/5PM PT, airing coast-to-coast on CBS, simulcast on MTV, and streaming on Paramount+ in the U.S.
If that doesn’t sound iconic enough, here’s the kicker: Mariah presented this exact award to LL COOL J back in 1997. Now, 28 years later, he’ll be hosting the show where she’s finally getting her flowers. Full circle much?!
This will also be Mariah’s first VMA performance in 20 years. Her last medley in 2005 included the smash “We Belong Together” from The Emancipation of Mimi (which just turned 20 and still eats, btw). She also gave us her unforgettable 1991 VMAs debut with “Emotions” and that 1998 opening duet with Whitney Houston, where the two queens “accidentally” twinned in the same dress.
Earlier this month, MTV unveiled this year’s nominees across 19 gender-neutral categories — and to no surprise, Lady Gaga leads the pack with 12 nominations, including Video of the Year, Artist of the Year, Best Album, and more. This marks the third time Gaga has topped the leaderboard, following 2010 (13 nods) and 2020 (tied with 9). Bruno Mars follows closely with 11, Kendrick Lamar with 10, ROSÉ and Sabrina Carpenter with 8 each, Ariana Grande and The Weeknd with 7 apiece, Billie Eilish with 6, and Charli xcx with 5.
Other top contenders include Bad Bunny, Doechii, Ed Sheeran, Jelly Roll, Miley Cyrus and Tate McRae, while newcomers like Alex Warren, Gigi Perez, Damiano David, Leon Thomas, sombr, The Marías, Bailey Zimmerman, Blake Shelton, Cody Johnson, Dasha, Ella Langley, KATSEYE, Lainey Wilson, Mac Miller, Megan Moroney, PARTYNEXTDOOR, ROLE MODEL, Sasha Alex Sloan and Zach Hood are celebrating their first-ever VMA nominations. Oh, and yes — Taylor Swiftand Beyoncé are once again facing off in “Artist of the Year,” keeping their friendly rivalry for most VMAs wins alive.
Fan voting is officially open at vote.mtv.com through September 5 at 6PM ET, with “Best New Artist” voting staying active until show night.
And because no VMAs would be complete without a killer lineup, the first round of performers was also announced: Alex Warren, Busta Rhymes, J Balvin ft. DJ Snake, Ricky Martin, Sabrina Carpenter, and sombr are all set to hit the stage.
With legendary visuals like “Honey,” “Heartbreaker,” “Obsessed,” “Touch My Body,” “Breakdown,” and “#Beautiful,” Mariah basically wrote the handbook for what makes a music video iconic. Let’s not forget — she’s the best-selling female artist of all time (220 million albums worldwide), a 5x GRAMMY® winner, and the queen of No. 1s with 19 Billboard Hot 100 chart-toppers (18 she co-wrote herself!).
The timing couldn’t be better: Mimi’s about to drop her 16th studio albumHere For It Allon September 26, led by her latest single “Type Dangerous,” which is up for Best R&B this year.
Mariah now joins an elite crew of Video Vanguard legends like Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, Rihanna, Jennifer Lopez, Justin Timberlake, Missy Elliott, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Shakira, and Katy Perry — proving once again that she’s truly in a league of her own.
So yes, Lambs, start warming up your vocal cords — because Mariah Carey’s big VMAs comeback is going to be one sweet day we’ll never forget.
