Mariah Carey will finally take home a long-awaited honor at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards: the pop superstar is set to receive the 2025 Video Vanguard Award and perform live at the Sept. 7 ceremony. MTV announced Carey as this year’s recipient of the Vanguard prize – a lifetime-achievement honor celebrating her iconic music videos and decades of influence. She’ll mark the occasion by delivering a career-spanning medley of hits on the VMAs stage at New York’s UBS Arena.
Despite her three-decade reign on the charts, Carey has never won a competitive VMA until now. She’s been nominated seven times in the past but always went home empty-handed. (This year she even snagged her first nomination since 2008 – a nod for Best R&B Video for her latest single “Type Dangerous.”) That makes the Video Vanguard trophy – her first actual Moon Person statuette – an especially sweet vindication for the singer and her devoted “Lambs” fanbase.
The five-time Grammy winner’s resurgence in 2025 has been notable. She’s gearing up to release her 16th studio album next month, and she received BET’s Ultimate Icon Award earlier this summer. Reflecting on her journey at the BET honors, Carey remarked, “My life and career have been quite the adventure… life is far too short to live for anyone else’s approval.”
Meanwhile, the 2025 VMA nominations are stacked with star power. Lady Gaga leads with 12 nods (including Artist of the Year), followed by Bruno Mars with 11 and Kendrick Lamar with 10. K-pop phenom ROSÉ and pop singer Sabrina Carpenter earned eight each, while Ariana Grande and The Weeknd scored seven apiece. LL Cool J will host the show, which is airing on CBS for the first time (in addition to its home network, MTV).
