Sabrina Carpenter, Ricky Martin and Busta Rhymes among 1st performers announced for the 2025 MTV VMAs

Summer must be coming to a close, because MTV has revealed the first round of performers for the 2025 Video Music Awards.

On Monday, MTV announced Sabrina Carpenter, Ricky Martin, Busta Rhymes, Alex Warren, J Balvin ft. DJ Snake and sombr as the initial wave of star performers set to take the stage at this year’s show. Some of those performers will be receiving honors that night too: Rhymes will be honored with the MTV VMA Rock the Bells Visionary Award, while Martin will receive the Latin Icon Award.

The awards show, which typically takes place in late August or early September, will air live on Sunday, Sept. 7, at 8 p.m. ET on CBS for the first time and will simultaneously be streamed on MTV and Paramount+. The evening’s festivities, hosted by rapper and actor LL Cool J, will go down at New York’s UBS Arena.

Take a closer look at all the MTV VMA performers that have been announced so far:

Sabrina Carpenter

Carpenter, whose seventh studio album, Man’s Best Friend, comes out on Aug. 29, will make her return to the VMAs main stage. The “Man Child” pop star is a top contender this year with eight nominations, including Video of the Year for “Manchild” and Best Album for Short n’ Sweet.

Ricky Martin

Martin will make history as the first-ever artist to receive the Latin Icon Award at the MTV VMAs. The acclaimed Latin singer will make his VMAs return 26 years after he made history as the first male Latin artist to win Best Pop Video for “Livin’ la Vida Loca.”

Busta Rhymes

Rhymes will receive the first-ever MTV VMA Rock the Bells Visionary Award, which celebrates an artist who’s had a “boundary-breaking cultural impact and an indomitable music career spanning 20 million albums worldwide,” according to an MTV press release.

Alex Warren

Warren, who is recognized as the newest MTV PUSH artist, will make his VMAs debut. This year he’s up for three VMAs: Best New Artist, as well as Best Pop and Song of the Year for his hit single “Ordinary.”

J Balvin ft. DJ Snake

Balvin will take the VMAs stage alongside Latin singers Justin Quiles and Lenny Tavárez to perform their hit track “Zun Zun,” before being joined by DJ Snake to premiere their collaborative song “Noventa” live. Nominated at this year’s VMAs for Best Latin for his song “Rio,” Balvin is currently the most winning Latin artist in VMAs history.

sombr

Singer-songwriter sombr will make his awards show debut during the 2025 MTV VMAs. This year’s awards show also marks the first VMA nominations of his career, for Best New Artist and Best Alternative for his track “back to friends.”