After 35 years in the music industry, Mariah Carey has finally won a VMA. Actually, she won two in what one could only assume is MTV’s way of apologizing for playing in her face for decades. The elusive butterfly took home VMAs for Best R&B Video for “Type Dangerous” and the coveted Video Vanguard Award which was presented to her by none other than her musical daughter, Ariana Grande.

 

Seeing Ari present this monumental award to Mariah feels like a full circle moment in diva history, especially given how icy things started for the two of them back in the early 2010s. Ariana’s vocal range had been compared to Mariah’s from the moment she stepped on the scene. After all, not just any female pop star can hit a whistle note like Mariah can, but Ari let it be known that she was capable from the get. An icy comment here and there on Mimi’s part led them down a rocky path, but it all came full circle in 2019 when Ari appeared in a tribute to Mimi leading us to this moment today. Because once Mimi could see that Ari was a fan and respectful as ever, she finally “knew” her. Mariah took the first few moments of her acceptance speech to shout out Ariana and how proud she was of her and how much she has achieved in her career, along with a cute back-and-forth over Ari wanting to help her hold the award and bowing down to her in the process. She really is all of us lol. To think that in a span of a decade we went from Mimi’s shady comments to her not only acknowledging but PRAISING Ariana, it feels like the diva gods are healing us one by one, as Mariah has very clearly embraced Ariana as her musical daughter in the same ways that Patti Labelle and Aretha Franklin did for her when she was coming up. Similar to how she did in 1998 with Whitney Houston, Mariah once again silenced any gossip of past feuds with another fellow diva, and gave us a moment of girl power to remember. 

 

In classic Mariah fashion, she also shaded MTV in the classiest way, asking “what in the sam hill were you waiting for!?”, and she’s not wrong. Not only has Mimi given us iconic music videos over the years but she’s also given us legendary quips, which she happily reminded us of during her acceptance speech from her moments with LL Cool J to Whitney Houston. Wearing a bodysuit that was sewn in as tight as you would expect for Mimi, she thanks the fans (the lambs), and let her signature personality shine through as she accepted that long awaited first Moon Person. 

 

 

As mentioned earlier, she also took home the statue for Best R&B Video, adding even more glitter to an already sparkling evening. Ariana being by Mariah’s side to help walk her down the stairs makes this moment even greater because with Anderson .Paak not there, it’s as if Ari took the role of Mimi’s caretaker for the evening – because yes, you will walk her down the stairs, it doesn’t matter how many Oscar nominations you get, that’s still Mariah Carey, honey. 

 

Following the tradition of past Video Vanguard recipients, Mariah also performed a medley of her biggest hits from “Obsessed” and “Fantasy” to ballads like “We Belong Together”. 

 

The heels were high and the moving was limited, once again as one would expect from our songbird. It always baffles me when I get messages of people asking why she doesn’t move when she performs. I’m sorry, have you all just met her? She showed up, she’s on the stage and she’s singing for you, that’s as good as it’s going to get and we are going to like it. In all seriousness though, it was funny to watch her give callbacks to the “sea men” from the “Honey” video and Bianca from “Heartbreaker”. She even gave us an acting line or two, basically the most effort I’ve seen in a performance from her in years. I definitely let out a little chuckle when she attempted to throw a punch at Bianca in the recreation of the fight scene from the “Heartbreaker” video. There’s just something adorably comical about everything that she does on stage when she’s not singing, and it’s why the lambs love her. 

 

Also, she did in fact move her shoulders when “Honey” came on so, take that! Most importantly, she gave us crisp vocals, and given how long she’s been around, to be able to still sing and get on a stage of this caliber looking and sounding like she does, is a blessing. 

 

Ariana may not have made a literal singing appearance with Mariah during her Vanguard performance, but knowing that she was on the side watching and cheering her on was comfort enough for dorks like me who were watching at home. The two ladies have collaborated multiple times over the years, but this is the very first time that we are getting a live moment between the two and it’s as glorious as we could have imagined. Ari herself had quite a few wins last night, taking home the awards for Best Pop and the biggest honour of the night, Video of the Year, where she thanked her therapist and all gay people. Like Mariah, Ariana and the gays are thick as thieves and we are very proud to do what we can to give her all the flowers in the world. Ari won all this for her Brighter Days Ahead long form video which was released in March and tickets for her long-awaited “eternal sunshine tour” go on sale this week. Our girl is clearly getting ready to check back into pop star mode now that Wicked: For Good is set to close her Wicked chapter later this year. 

 

Note that while Ariana Grande was one of the most nominated artists of the evening with seven nominations, she took the time to show up for her icon versus doing a performance of her own. Ariana won the biggest award of the evening, but the heart of her 2025 VMA appearance was honouring the woman who inspired her to sing in the first place. 

Mariah Carey accepted the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award and performed at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards, where Ariana Grande also attended on September 7, 2025.
Photo credits: Stephen Lovekin/ Andrew H. Walker/C Flanigan/ imageSPACE/ Shutterstock

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