Miley Cyrus is hosting the MTV Video Music Awards today. Photo / AP
Miley Cyrus is hosting the MTV Video Music Awards today. Photo / AP
The M in MTV will stand for Miley at this years' Video Music Awards.
Miley Cyrus is set to host the show today, two years after she stole the show with a risque, but memorable performance with Robin Thicke, and a year after winning the top prize for Wrecking Ball.
And she's kicked off her hosting gig by posting a naked, but carefully censored, photo of herself on Instagram, captioning the image, "When yiew da host so you gotta get to the vmas early AF!!!!!"
Cyrus has been a vocal supporter of the "Free the Nipple" campaign, which seeks to remove the stigma around exposing female nipples in public and on social media.
She is currently believed to be in a relationship with Kiwi Victoria's Secret model Stella Maxwell and has founded a non-profit organisation for homeless LGBTQ youth.
The 22-year-old will be in good company at the VMAs: Justin Bieber will perform his new single, What Do You Mean, and Taylor Swift, the leader with 10 nominations, will attend the show. Nicki Minaj will open the show at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles - just like she did last year.
Kanye West will receive the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award for his illustrious video career, and Pharrell, the Weeknd, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Demi Lovato will hit the stage during the two-hour show, which kicks off at 1 PM NZ time.
Presenters include Britney Spears, Rebel Wilson, Kylie Jenner, John Legend, Ice Cube and his son, O'Shea Jackson, Jr., one of the stars of Straight Outta Compton. Bruno Mars, Mark Ronson, Nick Jonas and Fifth Harmony will attend the show.
Kiwi songstress Lorde is also rumoured to be attending the VMAs - mum Sonja Yelich has been posting pictures from Los Angeles on Instagram in the last few days.
Swift will debut her music video for her next single, Wildest Dreams, during the VMA pre-show. Her hit songs Bad Blood and Blank Space earned her a whopping 10 nominations, including video of the year, best female video, pop video, song of summer and more.
Bad Blood will compete with Beyonce's 7/11, Kendrick Lamar's Alright, Ed Sheeran's Thinking Out Loud and Ronson's Uptown Funk for video of the year.
Minaj, who had one of the most viewed videos of the year with Anaconda, is not up for the top prize, and she expressed her anger with the snub when the nominees were announced in July. She tweeted that slim women easily earn top nominations and later said black female entertainers don't get enough credit for their influence on pop culture.
Swift thought the rapper was referring to her and they traded words online. Swift later apologised.
That means so much Taylor, thank you. @taylorswift13 ❤️❤️❤️
Minaj is nominated for three awards, including best female video and hip-hop video for Anaconda. Beyonce, Sia and Ellie Goulding will battle Minaj and Swift for best female video.
Best male video nominees include the Weeknd, Lamar, Sheeran, Ronson and Jonas.
A$AP Rocky, Tori Kelly and Twenty One Pilots will also perform during the live show.
