At the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards, Ms. Mariah Carey, aged 56, was the recipient of the prestigious Video Vanguard Award. Following the presentation of the award, Ms. Carey, attired in a gold bodysuit, performed a medley of her well-known songs, including Sugar Sweet, Fantasy, Honey, Obsessed, and It’s Like That.
Subsequent to the broadcast, significant commentary emerged across social media platforms in which a number of users alleged that Ms. Carey’s performance was deficient in effort or energy, with some characterizing her stage presence as the ‘bare minimum.’ Despite the recognition of her career contributions through the Vanguard honor, the performance itself was met with widespread online criticism.
At the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards, Ms. Mariah Carey’s performance elicited significant criticism on social media platforms. Numerous users alleged that her stage presence appeared limited, describing her movements as ‘stiff’ and unusually slow, and several further accused her of lip syncing. Representative comments included: ‘Mariah Carey being introduced as the queen of vocals and she’s just lip syncing’ and ‘Mariah doing the least possible movement.’ Other users remarked that she appeared to be providing ‘the bare minimum,’ or otherwise performing with minimal physical engagement.
The performance followed Ms. Carey’s receipt of the Video Vanguard Award, which was presented to her by Ms. Ariana Grande. In her acceptance speech, Ms. Carey expressed disbelief at receiving her first VMA and jokingly inquired of MTV: ‘What were you waiting for?’ Earlier in the evening, she also secured the R&B VMA for Type Dangerous.
Concerns regarding Ms. Carey’s stage performance are not unprecedented. In February, attendees and viewers of her Las Vegas residency shows circulated video footage that appeared to depict her moving slowly on stage. Such footage led some fans to speculate whether Ms. Carey was experiencing physical discomfort, and others to question whether the performance in question was, in fact, a rehearsal.
The recent critiques also follow Ms. Carey’s public remarks regarding the Grammy Awards. In a video segment for Pitchfork’s Over/Under series, Ms. Carey stated that the Grammys, both as an award show and as a recognition, were ‘overrated.’ She tempered the criticism with a conciliatory remark, adding: ‘But we love everybody.’#newsafro_
