Lady Gaga didn’t just walk into the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards—she airlifted herself in on a chrome disco ball, shredded the red carpet with diamond-tread platform boots, and took the lead with a record-breaking twelve nominations. She’s not playing the game. She is the game. And this year, the VMAs aren’t even pretending otherwise.
Twelve nominations. Twelve opportunities for her to politely collect her trophies while wearing something that might double as a nuclear warhead.
The Categories Gaga Is Currently Owning
Let’s start with the obvious:
- Artist of the Year – Because who else? The woman dropped a concept album about societal collapse and then turned it into a VR escape room experience.
- Video of the Year – “Die with a Smile,” her duet with Bruno Mars, which is less music video and more cult recruitment film with better lighting.
- Song of the Year – Same track. Same devastation.
- Best Album – Mayhem, and yes, the entire album sounds like it was written inside a sentient lava lamp.
- Best Collaboration – Gaga and Bruno, making disco feel like church for people who don’t believe in salvation.
- Best Direction, Art Direction, Cinematography, Editing, Choreography, Visual Effects – Because when Gaga makes a video, she’s not just giving you content—she’s staging an exorcism for your algorithm.
Her music is a film. Her outfits are a protest. Her performances are trauma therapy in four-inch heels.
Everyone Else Trying Their Best
Behind Gaga’s rhinestoned shadow is Bruno Mars with 11 nominations—largely thanks to that same collaboration. Kendrick Lamar clocks in with 10, while Rosé and Sabrina Carpenter each hold their own with 8 nods apiece. Also in the running: Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, and The Weeknd—each doing solid work, none of them wielding the raw chaos of a Gaga campaign.
And in case the categories were getting stale, the VMAs introduced two new ones this year: Best Pop Artist and Best Country, proving once again that the line between genres is thinner than the ice beneath a YouTuber apology video.
Gaga as the Pop‑Culture Houdini
It’s no longer about whether Lady Gaga will win—only about how she’ll do it. Backwards. Blindfolded. With interpretive dance. She has become the high priestess of performance art at the altar of pop culture. Her nominations this year are less about individual categories and more about full artistic dominion. The VMAs should just rename the event Gagapalooza and move on.
When asked whether she’s worried about overexposure, she probably said something like, “You can’t overdose on me, darling. I’m not a drug—I’m the whole pharmacy.”
And she’s right.
“Die with a Smile” isn’t just a song—it’s a love letter to disaster. A sonic rollercoaster engineered by two people who understand that happiness is fleeting, but a dramatic breakdown on a glowing stage is forever.
And the Rest of Us?
We watch. We vote. We gasp. We pretend not to care, then refresh social media for behind-the-scenes footage of Gaga turning the stage into a lunar crime scene. While other artists submit entries, Gaga submits experiences. Her nomination total isn’t a flex—it’s a warning.
This is not her first domination. This is ritual. Every few years, pop culture tries to move on. And then Gaga releases an album, appears in a latex windbreaker shaped like the state of Nevada, and wins everything.
Final Thought
Lady Gaga isn’t just leading the VMAs—she’s reshaping them. Into a mirror. Into a hall of mirrors. Into a performance space where the only rule is overwhelm them with intention. Her twelve nominations are less about music and more about meaning. She’s telling the world that art can still be unhinged, defiant, decadent, and divine—and that a moonperson statue looks best in her living room next to the taxidermy swan she wore in 2023.
If you’re still waiting for a subtle era from Gaga, keep waiting. The rest of us will be watching Mayhem with our mouths open and our wigs in orbit.