{"id":210715,"date":"2025-09-08T17:21:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T17:21:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/210715\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T17:21:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T17:21:13","slug":"snubs-surprises-at-vmas-in-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/210715\/","title":{"rendered":"Snubs &#038; Surprises at VMAs in 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tIt was pretty obvious that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/lady-gaga\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lady Gaga<\/a> was in for a big night at the 2025 VMAs, which were held at UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y., on Sunday (Sept. 7).<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tAfter all, Mother Monster is coming off one of the biggest years of her career. And she was nominated for 12 awards, more than any other artist this year. Sure enough, Gaga dominated the night, with four awards, more than any other artist.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tIt was also no surprise that <a data-id=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/ll-cool-j\/\" data-type=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/artist\/ll-cool-j\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LL Cool J<\/a> was a smooth and effective host. The hip-hop legend is an old pro at this sort of thing, having cohosted the VMAs in 2021 and having hosted the Grammys five times.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tSeveral of the awards had been announced in the run-up to the show, namely the Video Vanguard Award to Mariah Carey, the Latin Icon Award to Ricky Martin, and the Rock the Bells Visionary Award to Busta Rhymes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tBut that doesn\u2019t mean the show was devoid of surprises. Fans got a taste of that on Sunday morning, when the list of new artist of the year finalists was cut from six to three. Alex Warren and sombr made the cut, as expected, but the third slot went to The Mar\u00edas over Gigi Perez, Lola Young and Ella Langley. That wasn\u2019t a shocker, but many figured that Young would be the third name on the shortlist.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tYou can\u2019t have an awards show without snubs and surprises \u2013 it\u2019s in the bylaws somewhere \u2013 and this night was no exception. Take a look:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"pmc-fallback-list-items lrv-a-unstyle-list lrv-u-margin-t-2\">\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<p>\tSnub: Kendrick Lamar<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tLamar\u2019s \u201cNot Like Us\u201d seemed to have the inside track to win video of the year. His Drake diss track and its accompanying video had swept the Grammys in February. But it won just Moon Person \u2013 best cinematographer. It didn\u2019t even win best hip-hop, which went to Doechii\u2019s \u201cAnxiety.\u201d The factor known as \u201crecency bias\u201d probably came into play here. The \u201cNot Like Us\u201d video was released on July 4, 2024, making it seem like old news at this point. (The same phenomenon probably came into play when Michael Jackson\u2019s \u201cThriller\u201d lost video of the year at the first VMAs in 1984.)\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<p>\tSnub: Bad Bunny<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tHow many times would you say Bunny has won best Latin, which has been presented every year since 2018 (and from 2010 to 2013, before that)? Would you believe, none. The global superstar has been nominated nine times in this category, but has never won. (He won the overall artist of the year award in 2022, he\u2019s just had a hard time winning in the category that he should practically own.)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<p>\tSurprise: Tate McRae<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tMcRae won Song of the Summer for \u201cJust Keep Watching\u201d (from F1 The Movie). The song, which peaked at No. 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June, beat four songs that reached No. 1 \u2013 Alex Warren\u2019s \u201cOrdinary,\u201d HUNTR\/X\u2019s \u201cGolden,\u201d Morgan Wallen featuring McRae\u2019s \u201cWhat I Want\u201d and Sabrina Carpenter\u2019s \u201cManchild.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThere is a precedent for a song that wasn\u2019t a top 30 hit being voted Song of the Summer. BLACKPINK\u2019s \u201cHow You Like That,\u201d the 2020 winner, also peaked at No. 33.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<p>\t<strong>Snub: The Weeknd<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tFive years after winning video of the year for \u201cBlinding Lights,\u201d The Weeknd was completely shut out, despite seven nominations. Other artists who got no love despite hefty numbers of nominations include Bad Bunny, Ed Sheeran, Jelly Roll, Miley Cyrus and Morgan Wallen (four nods each).<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<p>\tSnub: Dance<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe VMAs have 10 genre-specific categories and yet have not had a dedicated dance category since 2019? What\u2019s up with that?<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"pmc-fallback-list-item-wrap lrv-u-margin-b-2\">\n<p>\tSurprise: The Extent of Female Domination<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tWomen thoroughly dominated the night. Of the 30 awards that were presented this year (including social categories and previously announced special awards), female solo artists or all-female groups won 22. Male solo artists and one all-male group (Coldplay) won six awards. The other two went to male-female collabs (Gaga and Mars, and ROS\u00c9 and Mars).<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tOf the 10 genre-specific categories, eight went to female artists: Sabrina Carpenter, best pop artist; Grande, best pop; Doechii, best hip-hop; Mariah Carey, best R&amp;B; Shakira, best Latin; LISA featuring Doja Cat &amp; RAYE, best K-pop; Tyla, best Afrobeats; and Megan Moroney, best country. Only two genre-specific awards went to male artists: sombr (best alternative) and Coldplay (best rock).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ubpass.co\/billboard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"><br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/2HpFicp.png\" alt=\"Billboard VIP Pass\" style=\"max-width: 100%;height: auto\"\/><br \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\t<a class=\"c-logo lrv-a-unstyle-link u-display-inline-flex lrv-u-width-100p  u-max-width-100 u-height-26 u-max-width-130px@mobile-max u-margin-t-040@mobile-max\" href=\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/\" title=\"Billboard\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><\/p>\n<p>\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"c-tagline  a-font-accent-l@desktop u-font-size-1205 a-font-accent-xs@mobile-max u-font-size-15@mobile-max u-line-height-22px@mobile-max lrv-u-text-align-center@mobile-max u-letter-spacing-0030@mobile-max lrv-u-padding-t-025 lrv-u-margin-a-00 u-padding-t-0125@mobile-max u-padding-b-0063@mobile-max\">Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"c-link  lrv-a-unstyle-button lrv-u-cursor-pointer lrv-u-display-inline-flex lrv-u-background-color-brand-primary lrv-u-background-color-black:hover lrv-u-color-black lrv-u-color-brand-primary:hover u-padding-lr-0.875 u-padding-tb-10 lrv-u-flex-shrink-0 u-align-items-center a-font-basic-fancy-xs u-margin-t-0.188 u-margin-b-0188 u-margin-b-040@mobile-max\" href=\"https:\/\/cloud.email.billboard.com\/signup\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\tSign Up<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was pretty obvious that Lady Gaga was in for a big night at the 2025 VMAs, which&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":210716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[5800,185,171,12221,33421,5499,67,132,68,75217],"class_list":{"0":"post-210715","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-awards","9":"tag-celebrities","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-genre-hiphop","12":"tag-genre-pop","13":"tag-music-news","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-vmas"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115169832828351605","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}