Megan Thee Stallion set to host the MTV VMAs for the first time this year

22 August, 2024

Megan Thee Stallion

Megan Thee Stallion is hosting the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs), it’s been announced.

Five years after the rapper performed on the VMAs’ pre-show, she’ll be hosting the main show on Wednesday, September 11 at 8pm ET at the UBS Arena in New York. She’s only the second artist to make that jump, following Nicki Minaj, who performed on the pre-show in 2010, co-hosted the main show in 2022, and then hosted solo a year later.

Among the performers this year are Sabrina Carpenter, Camila Cabello, Chappell Roan, GloRilla and Rauw Alejandro, while Benson Boone, Blackpink’s Lisa, Halsey and Lenny Kravitz have also been announced over the past couple of days.

This will be the first time Megan – real name Megan Pete – hosts an awards show. However, she’s previously hosted Saturday Night Live and co-hosted The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

This will be the fourth year in a row that one or more rappers have hosted the show. It was Minaj last year, while she hosted alongside Jack Harlow and LL Cool J in 2022. In 2021, Doja Cat was host.

Meanwhile, Megan is also nominated for five awards this year. She’s up for Best Collaboration alongside GloRilla with ‘Wanna Be’ and Best Hip Hop for ‘Boa’, as well as three technical awards: Best Direction, Best Art Direction and Best Visual Effects – also for ‘Boa’.

She’s won two VMAs in the past, too. ‘Hot Girl Summer’ won Best Power Anthem in 2019, while ‘Savage’ won Best Hip Hop in 2020.

Megan Thee Stallion performing at a Kamala Harris rally
Megan performed at a rally for US Vice President Kamala Harris last month. CREDIT: Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images

The rapper released her third studio album, ‘Megan’, in June. In a four-star review, NME described it as a “confident, cohesive third album that colourfully showcases all aspects of the rapper’s identity and personality,” and added: “All of these facets of Megan Thee Stallion have been on display throughout her career, from freestyles to mixtapes to studio albums. But they’ve not sounded this cohesive together till now (yes, even ‘Worthy’, with its self-empowerment mantra of a chorus and peppy pop-guitar beat). When the sizzling guitar solo rings out on ‘Cobra’, it escorts us out of the album – and heralds a fearless new era for Megan Thee Stallion.”

She also performed at a rally for Vice President Kamala Harris last month, as the Democratic candidate for president continues on the election trail ahead of Americans heading to the polls on November 5. ‘Wanna Be’, meanwhile, appeared on former President Barack Obama’s annual summer playlist this year.

The post Megan Thee Stallion set to host the MTV VMAs for the first time this year appeared first on NME.