The only awards show that knows how to have fun returned Sunday night. MTV’s Video Music Awards took over the UBS Arena over the weekend, giving out awards to Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter.
Overall, the VMAs put on a great show. As a space dedicated to music videos and celebrating pop culture, no one else better understands the complexities of setting up elaborate stages and keeping the crowd hyped than this one. But compared to last year’s tour-de-force, the VMAs did feel a little lackluster. Unlike last year, which set off the noise alert on my Apple Watch twice, not a single artist or round of applause endangered my ears.
Part of that likely had to do with this summer in music. Whereas 2024 blessed up with banger after banger from Chappell Roan, Charli xcx, Sabrina Carpenter, Kendrick Lamar and — yes — Benson Boone, this summer’s hits were fewer and further between. But the show itself also had a retro quality with performances from Ricky Martin, Busta Rhymes and Mariah Carey, artists who had stellar medleys but whose fanbases skew a bit older. There was also the fact that three performances this year — Post Malone and Jelly Roll’s “Losers” as well as Lady Gaga’s “Abracadabra” and “The Dead Dance” — were pre-taped and shared in the arena. The crowds in Germany and Madison Square Garden looked thrilled, but naturally the UBS audience wasn’t as pumped to watch TV from their seats.
But even during the show’s slowest (and saddest) moments, the VMAs delivered a good time. Here’s what the live stream didn’t catch.
“K-Pop Demon Hunters” was alive and well
Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami may have appeared onstage to present an award, but behind the scenes the VMAs were all about Huntr/x. Nearly every major song from the “K-Pop Demon Hunters” soundtrack was played for the crowd during the commercial break from “Soda Pop” and “You Idol” to “Golden.” So for everyone out there saying there was no song of the summer, don’t forget about Netflix’s contribution to the cultural conversation.
Ricky Martin was up in his cage for a while
The Latin icon’s cage didn’t appear until the end of Lola Young’s performance of “Messy.” But once Ricky Martin stepped into it, he was up there for a couple minutes. That may not seem like long, but if you were wondering why the crowd seemed so quiet during J Balvin’s introduction, it was because everyone was staring up at Martin’s “Livin’ la Vida Loca” in real time.
Tate McRae’s statue men required a lot of scrambling
For audiences at home, “Revolving Door” started with a close up of three half-naked men strategically posed next to McRae. But what CBS viewers didn’t see was the scrambling and intense posing this one required. While the camera was on McRae singing the first notes of the song, several of the statue men hurried across the stage before repositioning themselves. That hurry-up-and-wait scripting continued throughout “Revolving Door” and “Sports Car.” The UBS Arena audience could always tell where McRae was going to go next by the throng of scantily clad backup dancers who rushed over and posed at her next location.
Speaking of McRae, wondering what happened to all that sand she flung during her perfomance? McRae performed “Revolving Door” on the rightmost stage from the audience’s point of view. Strategically throughout the evening, that stage was covered by a big screen. After McRae concluded her set, the stage was covered during Busta Rhymes’ Rock The Bells Visionary Medley, which was presumably when the crew cleaned up the mess. The righthand stage reappeared sand-free for Sabrina Carpenter’s debut performance of “Tears.”
Busta Rhymes’ DJ booth was called the Busta Booth
Though the name “Busta Booth” never appeared during the hip hop icon’s performance, that’s what flashed on the DJ booth while the crew was preparing for his medley. Busta Rhymes’ performance was far and away one of the highlights of the evening, causing the fan to jump up on their feet.
Yungblud and J Balvin won over the crowd over the most
No one had a more difficult job at the 2025 VMAs than Yungblud, who stepped in as the lead vocalist during the night’s tribute to the late Ozzy Osborne. But after his first note in “Crazy Train,” it was clear that the audience was on his side. By the tribute’s end, which also involved Joe Perry and Nuno Bettencourt, Steven Tyler wasn’t the only one in the arena holding back tears.
But while the audience was prepared to have a hard opinion about Yungblud, that wasn’t the case for J Balvin’s performance with DJ Snake, Justin Quiles and Lenny Tavárez. At the beginning of “Zun Zun,” the audience was seated and starting to feel restless. But by the time “Noventa” hit, most of the crowd was on their feet and dancing.
Sabrina Carpenter was interrupted by someone screaming “We love you”
If you’re wondering why Carpenter paused her acceptance speech for Best Album to say “Hey, get it,” that’s because someone screeched “We love you” while she was talking. Throughout the night, most of the presenters and winners took care not to curse, probably owing to the fact that the VMAs were broadcast on CBS this year. Not Sabrina.
Before she even took the stage, the arena played “Please, Please, Please,” which prompted the crowd to scream “motherf–ker.” She then dropped an f-bomb of her own.
“This world, as we all know, can be so full of criticism and discrimination and negativity,” Carpenter said. “So to get to be part of something so often more than not is something that can bring you light, make you smile, make you dance and make you feel like the world is your f–king oyster, I am so grateful to do that.”
Ariana Grande was the clear fan favorite
Ari didn’t even need to perform to get the crowd on her side. Every time she appeared or he name was even mentioned, the stadium would erupt in roars. Sabrina Carpenter and Mariah Carey also got screams of approval, but no one could top Ari. The only person who came close was Lady Gaga. The Little Monsters were out on Sunday night, which made Gaga’s heartfelt tribute to her fans all the more emotional.
