A Night of Stardust and Surprise: The 2025 VMAs in Long Island
There are nights when the air itself seems to hum — fluorescent, electric, scented a little like arena popcorn and thousands of shared expectations. That was the feeling outside UBS Arena on Long Island: a mingled tide of sequins, band T‑shirts and glow sticks, a crowd that had come to celebrate music in an era when charts, streams and viral moments collide. Inside, drumbeats and camera flashes stitched together a two‑hour snapshot of popular culture: the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards, a show at once playful and fiercely competitive, where the trophies were plentiful and the loyalties even more so.
By the end of the evening one artist rose above the rest: Lady Gaga, crowned Artist of the Year. It was a victory that felt like a long exhale — twelve nominations in the bag, four trophies carried home, and a show‑stopping mix of theatrical craft and big pop hooks that reminded everyone why she’s still a force on the charts and in imaginations. “This is for the people who have never stopped believing,” a teary Gaga might have said walking offstage, her voice threaded with gratitude. She dedicated the honor to her fan community — the Little Monsters — and to her fiancé, Michael Polansky, signaling that the award was as much about shared stories as it was about career milestones.
Gaga’s Nights and Midnight Flights
Gaga’s haul wasn’t just Artist of the Year. Her aesthetic eye won Best Direction and Best Art Direction for the dizzying, occult-tinged Abracadabra, and she shared Best Collaboration with Bruno Mars for the bittersweet Die With A Smile. The image of Gaga accepting an award at UBS and then later appearing at New York’s Madison Square Garden to perform songs tied to Netflix’s cult hit Wednesday — Abracadabra and The Dead Dance — captured the strange mobility of 21st‑century stardom: artists moving through multiple stages, platforms and narratives in a single night.
“A great pop performance is like a promise,” said a longtime music critic backstage. “Gaga keeps making good on hers.”
Three Wins That Said Something About the Moment
While Gaga took the night’s top prize, the ceremony was refreshingly diffused — awards distributed across a wide palette of artists and sounds. Sabrina Carpenter and Ariana Grande each walked away with three statuettes, their own forms of validation in a year packed with high‑profile releases and cinematic videos.
Grande’s Brighter Days Ahead was a watershed: Video of the Year, Best Pop Video and Best Long‑Form Video. There was an intimate moment when she thanked her father for a surprise cameo in the film, underscoring how modern pop sometimes cradles old‑fashioned family stories inside high‑concept direction. “We build worlds now,” said a filmmaker who worked with Grande, “and when those worlds include the real people you love, they land differently.”
Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet grabbed Album of the Year, and she was named Best Pop Artist while also winning for Visual Effects with Manchild — recognition that honored both songwriting craft and cinematic imagination. “It feels like the industry is finally making room for earnestness and spectacle together,” a pop producer observed.
Honors, Tributes and the Global Beat
The show threaded through decades as well as newness. Mariah Carey, whose career has been stitched into pop history for nearly three decades, collected the R&B prize for Type Dangerous and then accepted the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award — a symbolic, career‑spanning honor that had many in the crowd whooping. “About time,” a fan in a bedazzled jacket shouted into the night; Carey’s response — gracious, lightly amused — acknowledged the irony and joy of finally being formally recognized on MTV’s storied stage.
Latin and hip‑hop legacies were present and honored: Ricky Martin received the Latin Icon Award, and Busta Rhymes was presented with the Rock The Bells Visionary Award. “We want to keep music alive and break boundaries at the same time,” Martin said onstage, a simple credo for an industry built on reinvention and cross‑pollination.
There were also moments of rock reverence. A tribute to Ozzy Osbourne, who passed away earlier this year, was introduced with a family video message and brought together audacious performers — Yungblud, Steven Tyler, Joe Perry and Nuno Bettencourt — to spin out Crazy Train and Mama, I’m Coming Home. It was one of those poignant collisions of grief and celebration that award shows handle awkwardly well: public mourning turned into a communal sing‑through.
Global Winners, Local Color
What struck many viewers was the international texture of the winners list: Rosé and Bruno Mars’ Apt. won Song of the Year; Blackpink were acclaimed as Best Group; Shakira took Best Latin for Soltera; Coldplay earned Best Rock with All My Love; and Sombr won Alternative for Back To Friends. The spread reflects an ongoing truth about music today: borders matter less than ever in how a song catches fire.
On the concourse outside UBS, fans held Korean light sticks for Blackpink and waved Colombian flags for Shakira with equal fervor. “We came from Queens and Brooklyn,” said Javier, a 27‑year‑old who queued since dawn. “It’s not just the music. It’s seeing people who sound like us or come from places we love.”
Trends, Tensions and the Changing Shape of Stardom
There’s a deeper pattern under this year’s confetti: awards spread across a broader array of artists speaks to fragmentation and abundance in the streaming era. Playlists, social platforms and cinematic tie‑ins mean that an album can be both a global phenomenon and a niche, cult favorite. The VMAs reflected that pluralism: a night where legacy acts and breakout stars shared the same spotlight.
Does this dilution make awards less meaningful? Or does it finally allow room for more voices? Consider this: Ariana’s long‑form piece won alongside Sabrina’s intimate visual work and Gaga’s high‑camp pageantry — three very different ways to make an impression in 2025. Each wins for a different reason, and each points to a different audience relationship.
After the Curtains: What to Watch Next
Some awards were announced after the broadcast on X, an indication of how modern ceremonies stretch across platforms and time. Post Malone performed remotely from Germany, proving that geopolitics and tech glitches are no longer barriers to a live feel. And beneath the trophies, the mood was less about tallying victories than about the business of culture itself: collaborations that cross genre, the revival of theatrical music videos, and a global audience that is simultaneously niche and massive.
So what did we get from the VMAs this year? Theater, tenderness, tribute. Surprises that felt like fresh paint on old walls. And a reminder that even in a streaming age, a live night of music still has the power to glue strangers together for a few luminous hours.
Who won your heart, and which performance would you put on repeat? The awards tell one story — the music tells another. Which one matters more to you?
- Artist of the Year: Lady Gaga
- Video of the Year: Ariana Grande — Brighter Days Ahead
- Album of the Year: Sabrina Carpenter — Short n’ Sweet
- Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award: Mariah Carey
- Latin Icon Award: Ricky Martin
- Rock The Bells Visionary Award: Busta Rhymes
