What To Watch For At The 2018 MTV VMAs

They will be honoring Jennifer Lopez, welcoming back Cardi B, and likely remembering Aretha Franklin at Monday night’s MTV Video Music Awards in New York City.

The stage is set for a big night of performances and an evening of handing out “Moon Person” awards. There’s no host this year, so it will be left up to presenters like Millie Bobby Brown, Kevin Hart, and Tiffany Haddish to control the chaos of the typically wild award show.

Related: Jennifer Lopez Set To Receive MTV’s Video Vanguard Award: What Are Her Five Best Videos?

Here’s what we’re watching for at this year’s VMAs.

Jenny From The Block

Jennifer Lopez will be honored with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, and will likely celebrate with a career-spanning performance. She’s also up for a few awards for her “Dinero” video.

.@JLo took us behind-the-scenes for the one music video from her iconic career that she feels stands above the rest.

Catch the 2018 #VMA Video Vanguard Award winner TONIGHT on @MTV at 9p! pic.twitter.com/NpXoYxNjB3

— MTV News (@MTVNews) August 20, 2018

5️⃣4️⃣3️⃣2️⃣1️⃣ --Countdown to the #VMAs

A post shared by Jennifer Lopez (@jlo) on Aug 9, 2018 at 9:54am PDT

Cardi B From The Bronx

The “Bodak Yellow” singer has been busy being a mom to newborn Kulture the past few months, but Monday night she’ll be back on the stage in New York. Cardi will open the show, but it’s still not clear if she will be performing or just being Cardi B. Honestly, either is exciting. OKURRR.

-- WANNA PARTY WITH CARDI??? --@iamcardib will open the 2018 @VMAs. You don’t wanna miss this. August 20th at 9p on MTV -- #VMAs pic.twitter.com/KlE3Jbu5Tv

— MTV (@MTV) August 15, 2018

The Performances

We’re here for this. The best part of the MTV VMAs is of course the performances. Ariana Grande is set to perform “God Is A Woman” with fifty female dancers, Shawn Mendes will be there with “In My Blood”, and Post Malone will do at least one of his gazillion hits. Panic! At The Disco is bringing “High Hopes” and Logic will be performing his duet with Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic. Also, although nothing has been officially announced, there’s word that an Aretha Franklin tribute is in the works.

see u tomorrow @vmas @mtv #godisawoman pic.twitter.com/Wj2Mpm6CSR

— Ariana Grande (@ArianaGrande) August 20, 2018

The Awards

There are also awards at this award show. Cardi B leads all nominations with ten, but The Carters and Childish Gambino are not far behind. You can check out the full list of nominees here.

The MTV Video Music Awards are at 9pm EST / 6pm PST. Come an hour early to catch the Backstreet Boys, Bryce Vine, and Bazzi perform during the Red Carpet Pre-Show.