Lady Gaga Wins VMAs Artist of the Year, Extends 2026 Mayhem Ball Tour

Lady Gaga won Artist of the Year at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards on Sept. 7 and then hurried back to New York City to headline a Madison Square Garden stop of her Mayhem Ball tour, splitting the night between a brief live appearance at UBS Arena to accept the trophy and a high-energy concert performance that included a prerecorded VMAs set aired from MSG. The singer took home four Moon Person trophies at the ceremony, including Best Collaboration for Die With a Smile with Bruno Mars, and performed Abracadabra and The Dead Dance in a segment filmed during her Madison Square Garden show the night before.

Gaga accepted Artist of the Year in a short speech at UBS Arena, dedicating the honor to her fans and her fiancé, Michael Polansky. "Being an artist is an attempt to connect the souls of people all over the world," she said, adding that art is a discipline meant to make audiences "smile, dance, cry, release." She told the crowd she had to return to MSG to continue the Mayhem Ball run. The prerecorded performance that aired on the VMAs showcased the tour's theatrical staging: Gaga began towering over a cage of dancers in a massive red gown before slipping into a costume change...