MTV has added several new artists to its lineup of performers for this year’s Video Music Awards. Gunna, Lisa, Raye, Shaboozey, Gener8ion, Sienna Spiro, and Yung Lean will now all perform at the ceremony, which will air on CBS and MTV at 7:30 p.m. ET on Sept. 26. The show will also be streaming on Paramount+ (premium) and available on Paramount+ and MTV on the 27th.
Lisa will perform her new single, “SaWaDiKa,” at the event, previewing her upcoming EP, Press Play, due Oct. 23. Shaboozey, meanwhile, will perform “Cowgirl” and get an assist from Gunna for a rendition of their collaboration, “High Noon.” Similarly, Gener8ion and Yung Lean will give a world premiere performance to their song “Storm II.”
Raye’s performance has not yet been revealed, but she’s nominated for her song “Where Is My Husband!” Sienna Spiro’s song of choice is also similarly not yet public.
MTV plans on announcing more performers in the week ahead. As previously announced, Snoop Dogg will host the event, which Madonna will open with her own performance. Elsewhere in the show, Nirvana will be honored with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.
Madonna, the VMAs’ perennial queen, is the most nominated artist at the 2026 VMAs with 11 nods including Artist of the Year and Video of the Year for “Confessions II — The Film.” “I like the idea of film, because I’m a ‘film-phile,’ a cinephile, and film has inspired a good part of my life,” Madonna said at the film’s Tribeca Film Fest premiere. “Somehow [the word] video seems cheap. It was good when it was just MTV and me.” Other artists with multiple nominations this year include Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, and Sabrina Carpenter.
Sharon at Back to the Beginning Oliver Halfin
