Similar to last year’s ceremony and almost every other award show in recent times, the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards were carried by the women. From gymnastic splits to dancing with the queens, all the ladies who hit the stage at last night’s show each brought their own individual style and sparkle to the iconic VMA stage.

 

Sabrina Carpenter performed her new hit “Tears” for the very first time, giving us 70s disco realness through a 2025 lens. The song itself is reminiscent of Donna Summer and that entire era of music, but Sabrina borrowed that idea and made it one big queer party on stage with a color scheme so deliciously chaotic that it gives the Drag Race set a run for its money, with signs like “Dolls Dolls Dolls”, “Protect Trans Rights” and my personal favourite “Don’t Hate Drag Queens Because You Can’t Read”. Get ‘em girls. Sabrina flipping the script to instead highlight the LGBTQ+ community versus going the man-bashing route is not only refreshing but also incredibly powerful given her popularity with the community. When she first announced her new album Man’s Best Friend back in June, the discourse was heavily focused on the men in her life and the ever elusive “male gaze”. This is largely due to the controversial album cover, but now that the album is actually out and the music can speak for itself, it seems that all Sabrina wanted all along was just to have some old fashioned fun. 

 

It wouldn’t be the VMAs without a nod to Britney Spears in one form or another, and Sabrina gave us our annual VMA homage wearing a Bob Mackie-like diamond bra for the dance break under the rain, which is eerily similar to Brit’s 2001 Dream Within a Dream Tour finale performance. A Britney reference and a wet dance break? It’s like a page out of my diary. 

 

Sabrina also took home three awards including the statue for Album of the Year for her previous record Short n’ Sweet. 

While Sabrina was giving us disco, Tate McRae delivered the most Britney-esque performance that the VMAs has seen since Britney herself. Well, that is if Britney went full on contemporary dance on us, which wouldn’t be too far of a stretch given her current twirling in the living room dance routines. Belly piercing and hair whips flying, Tate made her VMA performance debut performing a medley of “Revolving Door” and “Sports Car” and sent girls and gays everywhere. I’m not even sure if that makes sense, but the point is that she f-cking ate and gave us the closest thing we’re ever going to get to another Britney Spears performance on MTV anytime soon. Sometimes all we need is a good hair whip and split combo to get us back to the true essence of what pop music at the VMAs always was – bad bitches on stage. Tate also took home two awards last night, not bad for a first performance. It took me a while to get my millennial brain around to the idea of Tate McRae as a main pop girlie, but after last night I am officially on board. It’s clear that she’s been doing her homework because she delivered in my opinion the strongest performance of the evening. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLYoDDqKPJI&list=RDmLYoDDqKPJI&start_radio=1

 

 

The ladies of KATSEYE seem to be echoing my feelings on Tate as they are seen getting their entire lives to the performance from the audience camera. Ever since their GAP ad last month, I get countless texts a week from friends and colleagues asking me about them and how they came out of nowhere. Whether or not you followed their journey from Netflix to here, the important part is they have made their presence known amongst the industry and were all over the show last night. From presenting Conan Grey’s performance, to winning the MTV Push Performance award, the girls had tons of screen time and were clearly as baffled as unknowing audience members at home that they were having this moment. It’s no surprise to me however especially since BLACKPINK re-opened the doors to girl groups being successful in North America after such a long drought. Rosé of BLACKPINK had her own share of wins, winning Song of the Year for “APT.” and gave an emotional speech, thanking her BLACKPINK sisters. 

 

Watching an artist like Rosé have such a major moment in mainstream pop is an indication of just how far we’ve come when it comes to doors opening for girls outside of the USA to make it in the mainstream music world. Her success both with BLACKPINK and as a solo artist has made it so that both a global pop group like KATSEYE, or voice actors from KPop Demon Hunters singers EJAE, Rei Ami and Audrey Nuna can flourish to their highest potential. The girls of KATSEYE performed during the pre-show this year, but it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if they found their way to the main stage next year especially given how viral their songs like “Gnarly” and “Touch” have become in such a short period of time.

 

 

Doja Cat’s pop music era is in full swing and she is clearly embracing every aspect of it down to the headset microphone determined to give us grand choreography that only true pop titans attempt to do. Her newest single “Jealous Type” is an ode to the pop music of the 80s so naturally, bringing out Kenny G for a saxophone solo in the intro of the performance made as much sense as ever. Not that I expect any of Doja’s Gen Z fan base to understand the importance of a Kenny G VMA moment, but let’s just say she’s an icon off of that feat alone. Doja is at an interesting point in her career where she is reverting back to the very sound she claimed she hated but knows is successful. The performance was fun and it was great to see Doja breaking out into full blown Janet Jackson-type choreography. What I appreciate the most is her dedication to eras and delivering an experience with every album of hers – and this time around we’re getting 80s showgirl. 

Not every single award was given out during the live show and a few men may have won some hardware but outside of the tribute awards to Ricky Martin and Busta Rhymes, every single award that was handed out during the broadcast was given to a woman with Lady Gaga, Sabrina Carpenter, Ariana Grande, Rosé and KATSEYE getting the opportunity to take the stage and thank their supporters. 

Let’s hear it for the girls!

 

Sabrina Carpenter, Tate McRae, Rosé, Doja Cat, Lady Gaga, and various groups attended the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards, with performances and award acceptances on September 7, 2025.
Photo credits: Doug Peters/ PA Images/ Janet Mayer/ INSTARimages.com, John Angelillo/ UPI/ Janet Mayer/ C Flanigan/ imageSPACE/ Shutterstock

Share this post