The 2013 MTV Video Music Awards is more than just Moonmen and all-star performances; in fact, MTV is starting the party well before the big show on August 25. On Wednesday (August 21), MTV will launch the VMA All Access Experience, a five-day multiscreen celebration that will feature Robin Thicke, Big Sean, Ariana Grande, Grimes and so many more.

The festivities will kick off at 4 p.m. ET on vma.mtv.com with "RapFix Live," featuring Big Sean live in the Barclays Center. From kickoff all the way until Sunday's VMA pre-show, fans can tune in for artist interviews, roundtable discussions and some of music's biggest names straight from Brooklyn.

Here's some of the stuff we have in store: Robin Thicke will premiere his new music video, Ariana Grande will stop by and Grimes and designer Rachel Antonoff will co-host MTV Style's Red Carpet Report (6 p.m. ET Sunday). It's all brought to you by Microsoft.

On the day of the awards, starting at 12 p.m. ET, VMA All Access will give fans 10 different behind-the-scenes camera feeds — including an audience reaction angle that is sure to catch the special you-had-to-be-there moments that our television cameras may miss. Just make sure you tune into vma.mtv.com.

To make sure no one misses any of the conversation, MTV will also tap into the "Social Radar" which will bring you Twitter, Vine, Instagram and Facebook content from all of your favorite VMA artists. Of course, it's all leading up to the big show, where Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Miley Cyrus, Katy ...

Tristan Wilds already boasts a successful acting career — appearing in "The Wire," "Red Tails" and even landing a big role on "90210" — but this summer, the 24-year-old New York native is reintroducing himself to fans as singer and rapper Mack Wilds.

In the new mini-documentary, "New York: A Love Story" (named after his upcoming debut album), Mack Wilds gives fans a closer look at his roots, taking them on a trip to his hometown Staten Island, complete with cameos from his father and brother.

With the documentary, Mack hopes to give both old and new fans a better sense of his origin, therefore providing a backdrop for the new music he's getting ready to roll out. Early in the footage he explains that 'Mack,' derived from his grandmother's name, is what his family members have always called him.

His upcoming album New York: A Love Story will be executive produced by Salaam Remi and includes features from legendary Wu-Tang rappers Raekwon and Method Man.

He explained to MTV News that the album won't be too heavy on features, but he had to get the Wu involved. "I was in the studio with Raekwon," he said of recording the two separate tracks. "But the day I was shooting the video [for "Own It"] was the day that Method Mad went in and did his verse, so he just called me on the phone and told me that he heard the rest of the album and he was so proud of me, like an uncle."

Mack recently dropped a video for his Read More →

A week before she dropped her Inez & Vinoodh-directed video for "Applause," Lady Gaga declared a "pop emergency," insisting she was compelled to drop the new ARTPOP single after an unfortunate Internet leak.

Soon, the song was everywhere, with the 2013 VMA performer tweeting in frantic all-caps about the jam. The tweet most telling of the current musical climate? "I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY BLEEPING OUT KOONS THEY THINK IM SAYING THE C WORD." Yup, popular artists have officially become a part of the pop music world — in a way we haven't seen perhaps since the Andy Warhol era — and radio, obviously, needs to catch up.

Art has been creeping into the music world with a vengeance in recent years — with Kanye saying that he found inspiration in architect/designer Le Corbusier, Jay Z dropping references to Mark Rothko and Jean-Michel Basquiat in Watch The Throne, Thirty Seconds to Mars teaming up with formaldehyde fiend Damien Hirst for their Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams album cover, and a pop star like Miley Cyrus cribbing all manner of artists in her "We Can't Stop" vid.

This recent pop music/ pop art marriage has never been so amorous, though, than in recent months. Not only did Jay-Z drop Magna Carta... Holy Grail — replete with references to a multitude of artists and art world mainstays — but he also sampled performance artist Marina Abramovic's "The Artist Is Present" piece for his "Picasso Baby" video, singing the jam for six hours straight to a bevy of film, ...

It's a battle for the ages. VMA rookies Macklemore & Ryan Lewis are ready to face off against VMA titan Justin Timberlake at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, taking place this Sunday, August 25, live from Brooklyn's Barclays Center.

Each performer is up for six awards, including the night's big prize of Video of the Year (Timberlake for "Mirrors" and Team Macklemore for "Thrift Shop"). Macklemore & Ryan Lewis will have to play catch up, though, as Timberlake goes into the night a winner. He'll receive the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award this weekend.

But if you ask Macklemore, this year's VMAs is already culmination of two decades' worth of rivalry.

"You know what? Justin and I have been competitive for years," the "Thrift Shop" rapper told MTV News. "It started out as a basketball rivalry, hot dog eating championship, where we both lost. But it's been a rivalry, it's been a competition and this doesn't stop.

"This is just the continuation of a lifelong, childhood [rivalry]. I never made it onto the Disney Club ['Mickey Mouse Club'] as a kid and he did. I was actually runner up to Justin," he joked. "This year I hope that I get a little bit of redemption, 22 years later."

Timberlake's nods are for "Mirrors" as well as his collaboration with Jay Z, "Suit & Tie." Meanwhile, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis' six nods are spread between three videos — "Thrift Shop," "Can't Hold Us" and "Same Love." And Macklemore already has his speech planned should he win.

"My acceptance speech is ...

Just when we thought we've waited long enough for the upcoming 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, performers/nomineesAustin Mahone and Robin Thicke drop the bomb: It's only five days away.

Where has the time gone?

But for Mahone and Thicke, this means there's only five more days left of voting, so they took to Twitter in a plea of desperation. Please pick them!

Mahone is up for a Moonman in the Artist to Watch category, along with Iggy Azalea, The Weeknd, Twenty One Pilots and Zedd. He's also performing during the VMA pre-show at 8 p.m. ET/PT with Ariana Grande.

After performing "What About Love" on the streets of Brooklyn, maybe fans will see Austin onstage accepting his award? Well, he needs votes for that, and he'll do anything to get them. At one point on Tuesday, he followed every fan on Twitter who voted for him within a half-hour block. What a guy!

As for Mr. Thicke, he needs help in the big ol' Video of the Year category. He's also nominated for Best Male Video (against Justin Timberlake, Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran and Kendrick Lamar), Best Collaboration and Song of the Summer. So with only five days left until August 25 — a Robin gently reminded us — there's only one hashtag he has in mind: #votethicke.

Sunday night might be the first time that Twenty One Pilots are officially invited to the MTV Video Music Awards, but the Ohio rock duo have spent years doing their research while waiting for the big moment.

"I remember a couple of years ago I was watching the VMAs in my underwear on my couch," said lead singer Tyler Joseph of the days before his band was nominated for Artist to Watch at Sunday night's big show. "And that just tells you right there how I feel about this thing ... Going from calling [drummer] Josh [Kun] up and being like, 'Hey, you want to come over and let's watch these?' To actually being involved is one of the coolest feelings ever."

The jump from the couch to the broadcast represents the difference between having nothing to do with the VMAs to being nominated alongside other buzzed-about acts as VMA pre-show performer Austin Mahone, Iggy Azalea, the Weeknd and Zedd. "It's an honor, really," he said.

OK, you're excited, but who's your mom rooting for?
Joseph was pretty sure his mom thinks he's the best out of all the nominees. Well, probably. And he suspected Kun's mom felt the same way. Probably. "Yeah, they would both agree," said Kun, known for his acrobatic backflips
 and bone rattling live drumming.

"Or is she a big Austin Mahone fan?" Joseph wondered, second-guessing himself. "Yeah, I ... I'll have to ask her about that," a suddenly unsure Kun said. "She was saying stuff about that, I think she voted for somebody else ...

Lady Gaga has given her fans two for the price of one. Within days, she released both the lo-fi lyric video for and its trippy, surreal, over-the-top official video.

The "Applause" music video was released on Monday, the same day she confirmed her opening performance slot at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards this Sunday, August 25. Kristine Carr, who plays the Peter Pan drag king, Landon Cider, in the gave MTV News her take on the over-the-top official "Applause" video.

"I thought it was amazing. It's everything that she kind of always stands for. It's fashion. It's pop. It's culture. It's theater. She really is staying true to herself and her style. [It's] very unique, very artistically designed and [has] storytelling, lots of characters, lots of looks," she said. "You see a sincerity behind her too. I really enjoyed it."

So, how does the Inez & Vinoodh-directed clip compare to the lyric video? "She's really showcasing entertainers. She's showing many diverse styles of entertainers and how we're all doing it for the applause," Carr said.

Carr then recalled her experience of meeting Gaga in L.A. earlier this month when she filmed the lyric video at Mickey's nightclub. "She was really humble. When she joined me on stage for a little bit, she whispered that she loved me. She was sincerely enjoying the performance, interacting with all of us being really involved but as a professional knowing how to stay away," she said. "She was really nice and kind of quiet but had ...