I attended the MTV VMAs in 2025. These are the performers who received the loudest applause from the audience
Arrive up to four hours prior to the performance. Get ready for a mile-long stroll to the arena. To make your phone worthless, lock it in a magnetic pouch. Wear trendy clothing, but avoid white, neon, sequins, high heels, open-toed shoes, caps, and shirts with logos. Raise your hands above your head and clap. Continue to be enthusiastic for three hours in a row.
These are just a few of the rules that the people who have been selected to serve as on-camera audience members have to follow to attend the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards, which are kind of like the Olympics for pop music superfans.
I infiltrated the seated section just beyond the pit, where audience members gather around the stage to cheer for the many acts that deliver short but intense performances throughout the night. In those higher levels, we didn’t have to stand for seven hours or surrender our phones, which made me all the more appreciative of the more intense stans who did. Their stamina and offline enthusiasm were nearly as impressive as that of the artists themselves.
Gather, superfans.
Through 1iota, a website where fans can apply for free tickets to events that show on television, MTV got me a seat. I was seated next to two 27-year-old Queens, New York, residents who have been attending concerts together since high school inside the UBS Arena, the venue for the VMAs. Joyce attends many events through 1iota, such as the 2022 VMAs, where she really hoped to witness the K-pop group Blackpink. Her friend, Anika, joked that she was Joyce’s third choice for a plus-one, but she wasn’t offended because she knows Joyce is very strategic about her fandom.
Joyce was even hesitant to tell me which artists she was most excited to see. To get these tickets, we all had to list which acts we wanted to watch the most, and Joyce tells me she just named as many people as possible. She didn’t want to discriminate. As a fan, she’s a generalist, which means she’s just constantly enthused.
The makers of the show appeared to be searching for just that. Just before the show, someone mounted the stage to teach the audience how to clap, keeping your hands above your head since that's how it looks on television.
“I’m here to make sure we make good television today,” the producer said, reminding people to “show love to everybody who hits the stage.” The same stans screaming for Tate McRae would also need to lose their minds for artists whose careers peaked before they were born, like Busta Rhymes and Ricky Martin. It’s an odd request for fans in 2025, when the internet is more fragmented and radicalized than ever. Even the audience-voted awards at the VMAs pit superfans against each other, mobilizing online armies to swarm web pages, promote their causes online and tear down the competition.
However, it's likely that the pacification of rabid stans or their disappearance was intentional. Instead of igniting online arguments about which performers had the greatest costumes, sets, or music, the arena's objective was to provide good TV and positive energy. You can play that game from the comfort of your own home.
On my left sat my husband, Alex, the most even-keeled person I know. I planned to compare his reactions as a fish-out-of-water to the fans who were taking this event, and their roles in it, very seriously. He has one weakness, though: He’s been a longtime Lady Gaga supporter, aka a little monster, since 2008. Naturally, she was the first celebrity everyone freaked out about, including him — especially because no one expected her to actually show up to the Long Island arena when she had a performance scheduled at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan at the same time. Her powers transcended the limitations of New York City traffic.
Just before the show began, there was a rustling in the middle of the venue as people throughout every section craned their necks and phones to see what celebrities had descended to sit among the common folk. It was Ariana Grande in polka dots and Lady Gaga in a dramatic feathered dress. This was no TV-friendly response, but a burst of authentic, widespread joy — the A-listers’ arrivals set the bar high for fan reactions throughout the night.
The Fandemonium
As someone who frequently lurks in online fan communities, I believed I could foresee the majority of the artists who would elicit a particularly strong response, but I was still taken aback by a few: Lola Young's two-minute performance of her TikTok hit song "Messy" had everyone on their feet. McRae received wild applause for her exceptionally athletic dance moves. A security guard then sought out a Busta Rhymes fan behind me and dragged her down into the pit for a better view of the rest of the show because she yelled so loudly during his insanely frenetic performance.
When I polled the people I passed in the audience before the show started, the artist people were far and away most excited to see was Sabrina Carpenter. Despite facing online backlash for her provocative new album, “Man’s Best Friend,” fans at every level of the arena were on their feet and straining to record her performance of “Tears,” backed by drag queens, and ending with a splash, paying tribute to Britney Spears.
