VMA stands for Video Music Awards. The VMAs are an annual awards ceremony officially called the MTV Video Music Awards, which honors achievements in music videos. It gathers music stars to present awards and feature performances. Artists are presented with awards, and some even do live performances for the ceremony. This year has had very interesting awards; there are over twenty categories for awards. At the ceremony, a lot of new, upcoming artists were acknowledged. This year was a very exciting year for the VMAS because it was the first time it was on a live, mainstream channel! This goes to show how the VMAS are growing and getting better and better each year! Here is a deeper dive into some of the specific awards presented, along with their winners!
The first category presented at the VMAS was K-pop. This category had seven nominees, which included: Born Again by Lisa, Doja Cat, and Raye; Earthquake by Jisoo; Who by Jimin; Chk Chk Boom by Stray Kids; Whiplash by Aespa; Toxic till the end by Rose, and Like JENNIE by Jennie Kim. All of these artists were great choices. All of their songs became very popular, and they gained a lot of publicity from them. Although the artists were all amazing candidates, the overall winner was…Born Again by Lisa, Doja Cat, and Raye! These three artists worked very hard to produce this great song and definitely deserved the award!
The second category was Group. This category had many nominees, 16, which was the most out of every category from this year’s performance! There were great nominees this year, including Backstreet Boys, BLACKPINK, Stray Kids, KATSEYE, Jonas Brothers, My Chemical Romance, and a lot of others! All of these groups were able to produce amazing songs and performances this year, but there could only be one winner. This year’s winner was…BLACKPINK! This group worked very hard to please their fans and create new music for them all to enjoy! With everything they did, they earned this reward!
The third category was video. This category also had seven nominations, which included: Brighter Days Ahead by Ariana Grande; Birds of a Feather by Billie Eilish; Not Like Us by Kendrick Lamar; Timeless by the Weekend; Manchild by Sabirna Carpenter; Die with a Smile by Lady Gaga; and APT by Rose and Bruno Mars. All of these artists were able to put together very creative videos that told a story along with their song. All of the videos were very thought-out and well put together, however…. Brighter Days Ahead by Ariana Grande wins this one! It was clear that Aiana put a lot of time into her video and really worked for her award!
The fourth category was Artist. Along with the others, this category also had seven nominees! These people included The Weekend, Taylor Swift, Morgan Wallen, Lady Gaga, Bad Bunny, Beyoncé, and Kendrick Lamar. These candidates all produced great, new music this year that kept all of their fans engaged. They wrote clever lyrics and were able to turn them into songs that quickly became the people’s favorite. The winner for this category was…Lady Gaga! Lady Gaga put in a lot of work this year to publish her new album “Mayhem,” and she is currently on tour! Lady Gaga was very deserving of this award!
The next category was Song. This category had eleven deserving and dedicated nominees! Some include Ordinary by Alex Warren; Anxiety by Doechii; Sports Car by Tate McRae, and APT. by Rose, and Bruno Mars! There were a few other contestants, yet only one could go home with a win. This year it was… APT. by Rose and Bruno Mars! APT came out in 2024 and became very popular very quickly. People loved the song, and it even started trending. That all proves that Rose and Bruno truly earned this award!
Another category, with six nominees, was best new artist. There were wonderful contestants, including Lola Young, Alex Warren, Gigi Perez, Sombr, The Marias, and Ella Langley. All of these artists have experienced a surge in their following in 2025. They have all been working to produce new music to get their creations out there into the world. This winner for this category was…Alex Warren! Alex Warren is an up-and-coming artist who has been able to record and publish two albums between 2024-2025! Alex’s dedication and love for music allowed him to go home with this award!
The last category that we will be looking into is Song of the Summer. There were thirteen nominees for this category, and each one deserves this award. Some of the candidates include: 12 to 12 by Somber; Just Keep Watching by Tate McRae; Blue Stripes by Jessie Murph, and Mystical Magical by Benson Boone. All of the songs nominated blew up over the past summer and quickly became fan favorites. This year… Just Keep Watching by Tate McRae was the winner! Tate McRae originally wrote the song to be in the F1 Movie, but the song became very popular, and it ended up becoming one of her top-streamed songs!
There were many other awards presented that night, but there were other events as well! Many artists were chosen to perform at the awards ceremony. They all put on a fantastic show and made the awards very enjoyable and exciting for all of the people watching! Sabrina Carpenter performed her song “Tears” and put on one of the best performances of the night! Doja Cat also performed that night! She performed her song “Jealous Type.” Doja had very unique choreography and really brought something different to the stage! Another exciting performance was by a very popular group, KATSEYE! KATSEYE is a group that has a lot of newfound popularity and is on the current rise to fame! Tate McRae was another performer at the VMAS! Tate McRae has been making music since she was just a kid, but she gained a large following after her “Think Later” tour, as well as after her album “So Close to What” dropped. Tate is currently on tour and will be through November of 2025! There were a few other performers, including Conan Gray, Lady Gaga, Gunna, Jelly Roll, and YUNGBLUD! Everyone who performed that night did such an amazing job and really knew how to bring energy to the large crowd in front of them!
The 2025 VMAS were very eventful, and every artist who won an award truly deserved it! Each artist has been putting in the work all year long for it to finally pay off. Each artist will continue to do great things, create new music, and maybe even perform in front of an even larger crowd in the future! This year’s VMAS were truly fantastic. Who knows how they will top it next year!
