Rapper LL COOL J is hosting the 2025 Video Music Awards this weekend. The show airs on CBS for the first time this Sunday.

Long Island

Lady Gaga has received the most nominations for the 2025 Video Music Awards, earning 12 nods. Bruno Mars and Kendrick Lamar follow closely with 11 and 10 nominations, respectively, while Sabrina Carpenter and Blackpink's Rose each have eight. This year marks the first time the VMAs will be broadcast on CBS, reflecting a broader approach that now includes a new Best Country category. 

Mariah Carey is set to return to the VMA stage after two decades to perform and receive the Video Vanguard Award, coinciding with the release of her first album in seven years. The event will also feature a tribute to Ozzy Osbourne, with performances by Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, and Nuno Bettencourt, alongside anticipated acts from Sabrina Carpenter and Doja Cat.

Lady Gaga leads VMA nominations, followed by Bruno Mars

Rapper LL Cool J is hosting the 2025 Video Music Awards this weekend and the show airs right here on CBS for the first time ever this Sunday. Pop icon Lady Gaga leads this year's nominations with 12 nods followed by Bruno Mars with 11 and Kendrick Lamar with 10. Sabrina Carpenter and Blackpink's Rose both earned eight nominations. Chris Willman joins us now. He is a senior music writer and chief music critic for Variety, so the right person to talk to about all this. Thanks for joining us. Okay, so let's break this all down. The Best Country category, that's a new addition to the VMAs this year. What does that tell you about the swing in pop music trends and also which artists may have the best shot of winning this? Well, I think it's two things. First of all, this is the first year, as you mentioned, that the show's going to be on CBS and it just needs to have a broader, more encompassing format, I think, because of that, than it did when it was airing on Viacom's various cable outfits. And it used to reflect, you know, what MTV was airing as videos. Now the show really wants to be competitive, I think, with the Grammys, the American Music Awards, or at least include the same variety. So we've got country in there for the first time. And the other thing is that it's reflective of the fact that some of the country artists are the biggest things happening, including Morgan Wallen, who has a number of nominations and is arguably the biggest artist in the world in a lot of ways, aside from when Taylor Swift is out there, but certainly the biggest male artist. And a lot of people still have a hard time wrapping their heads around that. It's like, how did this country guy come up and surpass Ed Sheeran, everyone else in these categories? But, you know, there's really no competition from the kind of blockbuster sales and stadium results that he's had. On top of all this, Chris, Mariah Carey returning to the VMA stage for the first time in two decades. That's going to be something to see. She's going to be performing, also receiving the Video Vanguard Award. What does that moment mean, you think, to her? Millions of fans worldwide who have been there from the start. Yes, the lambs, as she calls them, they will be very excited this year. And it's hard to believe it's been 20 years, but time flies when you're a Mariah fan. And of course, last year, that Video Vanguard Award went to Katy Perry, who had an album coming out. Same thing this year, Mariah has her first album in, I believe, seven years, coming out a couple of weeks after the show. She's already put a new single out. So, similar to Katy Perry last year, I think she'll be doing a medley where she'll probably premiere a new song or two excerpted along with the classic stuff. And the fans will never be disappointed with her. Oh, absolutely not. Real fast before we let you go, we just learned this morning that the show will also feature a tribute to Ozzy Osbourne. Can you tell us about that and maybe some of the other performances you're looking forward to? Yeah, it's funny how recently it was that, you know, there was a salute to Ozzy while he was there on stage in England, as you remember, not long before he died. And now some of those same people who partook in that tribute with him there will be sending him off, including Steven Tyler and Joe Perry from Aerosmith, Nino Betancourt, who played with Ozzy just a couple of months ago in concert. And people, I think, will just be interested to see Steven Tyler because he was having those vocal problems and now it seems like he's overcome them. But it'll be a big sentimental moment for him. And as far as who I'm looking forward to seeing, I think I'm most looking forward to Sabrina Carpenter and Doja Cat. They put on, they never fail in doing something provocative. And Sabrina definitely is going for the humor. There's always something hilarious about her routines. And then Doja Cat will do something much stranger, more bizarre looking, but equally entertaining, I think. Yeah, looking forward to it all. Chris Willman, thanks so much. And you can watch the 2025 MTV VMAs live this Sunday on CBS and on Paramount Plus, starting at 8 p.m. Eastern and 5 p.m. Pacific.

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Washington

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The House Oversight Committee on Tuesday released over 33,000 pages of documents related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

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Breakdown