The nominations had been simply introduced for this yr’s VMAs, however the Video Vanguard recipient stays a thriller. Here is who we expect could be essentially the most logical picks.
Ed Sheeran, winner of Artist of the 12 months, poses within the press room in the course of the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards at The Discussion board on August 27, 2017 in Inglewood, California.
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Picture
On Tuesday (Aug. 5), MTV announced the nominees for the forty second annual Video Music Awards. Girl Gaga led nominations with 12, whereas her “Die With a Smile” collaborator Bruno Mars was simply behind her with 11, with large names like Kendrick Lamar and Sabrina Carpenter trailing shortly behind that pair. Whereas we now know the nominees for marquee classes like video and artist of the yr, one award stays stays a thriller for the Sept. 7 VMAs: The Michael Jackson Video Vanguard award.
The lifetime achievement award, which dates again to the first-ever VMAs in 1984 and has been given out yearly since (with occasional gaps, most just lately for the pandemic-stricken first two years of the 2020s), is given to reward “excellent contributions” and “profound impression” on music movies and fashionable tradition. It’s named after Michael Jackson, arguably essentially the most excellent artist in music video historical past, and has been handed out over the a long time to video luminaries starting from David Bowie and The Rolling Stones to Beyoncé and Missy Elliott. Most just lately, the Video Vanguard has been awarded to world pop superstars Shakira (2023) and Katy Perry (2024).
Who would be the 2025 recipient? As we did final yr — correctly predicting Perry because the ’24 honoree — Billboard determined to take a crack at predicting who will get the award this yr. We began with a number of the largest and most legendary artists but to obtain the award, and filtered our listing by way of components like up to date relevance, promotional issues and the straightforward chance of the artist being prepared to point out as much as ship a speech and career-spanning medley efficiency, as has been customary of honorees for many of the previous decade.
Listed here are our eight finest guesses for the 2025 Video Vanguard recipient, ranked (roughly) from least to more than likely.
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Girl Gaga
May Gaga cap what may be an already-triumphant night time for her with a Video Vanguard win and accompanying career-spanning efficiency? It’s actually a chance — and few artists could be as deserving, with Gaga’s illustrious profession as a music video icon spanning 17 years and encompassing numerous traditional VMAs moments. However a type of moments got here simply 5 years in the past along with her acceptance of the “Tricon” award and her accompanying hits medley, which nonetheless may be a too-close, too-soon overlap with a potential Video Vanguard win.
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Kesha
Kesha is coming off her largest pop second of the last decade along with her well-received, Billboard 200 prime 20-charting Interval album, and the present revival of her model of what’s now referred to as “recession pop” would make the timing even righter for a career-spanning celebratory efficiency. However whereas most Video Vanguard recipients have traditionally had no less than a decade-long run of main MTV hits to tug from, Kesha’s largest pop impression principally got here within the first half of the 2010s — and as a lot as pop followers preferred Interval, none of its songs even reached the Billboard Sizzling 100.
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Drake
Drake unquestionably has the hits for a killer Video Vanguard medley, and he has the motivation — each from a legacy standpoint and from a promotional standpoint — following final yr’s deflating beef with Kendrick Lamar, and this yr’s upcoming Iceman launch. The one factor he doesn’t actually have right here is far of a relationship with the VMAs: It’s unclear if he’s even confirmed up for any of the ceremonies since Rihanna famously curbed him as he offered her with the Video Vanguard in 2016.
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The Weeknd
It’s slightly now-or-never for the artist born Abel Tesfaye, who closely teased the retiring (or no less than easing-off) of his The Weeknd persona following the discharge of this yr’s Billboard 200-topping Hurry Up Tomorrow album. He actually has the proper hits and the proper timing, and he’s traditionally cared about such legacy achievements — however would there be an excessive amount of strain on one other high-profile career-spanning medley efficiency to dwell as much as his triumphant Tremendous Bowl halftime present from simply 4 years earlier?
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Bruno Mars
Bruno Mars’ profession has been so stacked with hits that not solely has he already carried out at Tremendous Bowl halftime twice, his most up-to-date look was 9 years and eight Sizzling 100 prime 10 hits in the past. Two of these, “Die With a Smile” with Girl Gaga and “APT.” with ROSÉ, had been up to now yr, thus making this a golden second for Mars to have fun his decade and a half of top-level hitmaking. The one query is that if he nonetheless has something to advertise: He hasn’t launched an album since An Night With Silk Sonic alongside Anderson .Paak 4 years in the past, and even with the 2 smashes this yr (and a 3rd prime 20 hit in Sexyy Purple collab “Fats, Juicy & Moist”), there’s no indication of a bigger mission on the best way.
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Mariah Carey
Has Mariah Carey actually by no means gained the Video Vanguard award? Neglect that: Mariah Carey has nonetheless by no means gained a single Video Music Award, getting shut out to this point in eight profession nominations stretching again to 1996. She’s up for a ninth in September, with “Kind Harmful” nominated for finest R&B video, however MTV may actually make this improper proper by giving Mimi the Video Vanguard for her decades-spanning profession as a music video celebrity. She’d be on the veteran aspect for the award at this level, however that didn’t cease MTV from honoring Shakira two years in the past, so maybe there’s nonetheless an opportunity for MC in any case — and given the discharge of latest album Right here It for All later this September, now could be the time.
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Ed Sheeran
After a pair extra intimate and introspective releases, Ed Sheeran has been leaping again into Massive Pop with the singles off his upcoming album Play — certainly one of which, “Sapphire,” is up for 3 awards, together with finest pop and tune of the yr — at September’s awards. Sheeran, a music video and VMAs fixture for the reason that early ’10 (in addition to a record-setting dwell performer) appears an ideal candidate for a career-spanning celebration on the MTV stage — notably as a result of Play is dropping simply 5 days later.
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Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus is a real legend of the VMAs: a former host, video of the yr winner and central determine in certainly one of its all-time most notorious performances, all inside only a three-year interval within the mid-2010s. She’s additionally a four-time nominee this yr, and whereas her One thing Lovely visible album (up for finest lengthy type video) has been out for months at this level, it got here with a considerably muddled rollout and was met with a muted business response — which means Cyrus may really feel motivated to redeem its period with a large highlight efficiency on a stage she’s very aware of. We now have our fingers crossed, anyway.