Camila Cabello ( featuring Young Thug ) — " Havana " Camila Cabello Post Malone ( featuring 21 Savage ) – " Rockstar " Cardi B Jennifer Lopez ( featuring DJ Khaled and Cardi B ) – " Dinero " Hayley Kiyoko Ariana Grande – " No Tears Left to Cry " Nicki Minaj – " Chun-Li " J Balvin and Willy William – " Mi Gente " Avicii ( featuring Rita Ora ) – " Lonely Together " Imagine Dragons – " Whatever It Takes " Childish Gambino – " This Is America " The Carters – " Apeshit " ( Art Directors : Jan Houllevigue and the Louvre ) Childish Gambino – " This Is America " ( Choreographer : Sherrie Silver ) The Carters – " Apeshit " ( Director of Photography : Benoît Debie ) Childish Gambino – " This Is America " ( Director : Hiro Murai ) N.E.R.D and Rihanna – " Lemon " ( Editor : Taylor Ward ) Kendrick Lamar and SZA – " All the Stars " ( Visual Effects : Loris Paillier at BUF Paris ) Cardi B , Bad Bunny and J Balvin – " I Like It " '' Entertainment Weekly '' s writer Darren Franich gave the show a B – and said , " MTV 's tagline for the 2018 Video Music Awards was ' Everything might happen . ' Hey , they said '' might '' . The 35th VMAs had some fiery performances , but the show never quite sparked ... This was a reasonably satisfying awards show , not the boring trainwreck some VMAs have been , not the exciting trainwreck supernova some VMAs dare to be . " For '' Variety '' , Daniel D'addario said , " There was a time when the VMAs were a change-of-season status report on pop : As MTV ’s target audience heads back to school and those slightly outside that audience get ready to turn their mind to graver things , the pop world had historically united to put on a show that could carry viewers into the fall . " and unfavorably compared it to the 2013 show line up . In '' Billboard '' , Leila Cobo wrote , " although this year 's awards have n't escaped criticism , it has n't been for lack of Latin power , " noting that " Maluma , Cardi B , Jennifer Lopez and Camila Cabello ( finally ) put Latin music center stage at VMAs . "
2013 show
2013 MTV Video Music Awards
2018 MTV Video Music Awards