From her bloody good performance of to her gender-bending take on — and let's not forget the Meat Dress — Lady Gaga has had no shortage of memorable moments at the MTV Video Music Awards over the years ... and now, she's set to add to that legacy at the 2013 VMAs.

Gaga will make her triumphant return to the stage at this year's show, performing the new single off her hotly anticipated ARTPOP album before a star-packed crown at Brooklyn's Barclays Center ... not to mention millions of fans watching around the world. She's the first performer announced for the big show, which airs live on August 25 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. Additional performers will be announced at a later date.

Earlier this month, Gaga thrilled her Little Monsters by announcing she was fully recovered from hip surgery and ready to roll, and at the VMAs, she'll be performing ARTPOP's debut single for the first time. The still-untitled track is set to be released on August 19, and ARTPOP is due on November 11.

In addition to her string of stirring performances and outrageous fashion statements at the VMAs, Lady Gaga also taken home an armload of Moomen over the years — 13 in total — including Best New Artist and Video of the Year for "Bad Romance." And in celebration of her forthcoming performance, MTV Hits will feature an hour-long block of Gaga's iconic videos and musical moments today from 3-4 p.m. ET/PT

Justin Timberlake and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis lead the ...

When it comes to showing their appreciation for Justin Bieber, a cadre of rappers out there are following Beyoncé's advice: "If you liked it you shoulda put a ring on it." Allow MTV News to give you a peek into the pop star's jewelry box.

Big Sean's Friendship Ring
If you think friendship rings are best left to 5th graders, then you've probably never been offered the glory that is a Rolex ring — the very same piece of pinky bling that Big Sean gifted to the Biebs earlier this summer.

After Bieber hooked up with Sean on "As Long as You Love Me," the rapper decided to make his appreciation official.

"After he put me on his album and introduced me to a lot of his fans, I felt like, 'Yo, man, just to show my appreciation,' I gave him the Rolex ring," Sean explained to MTV News. "It ain't no thing; it's really what bosses do — we give each other gifts."

He told us that it was the first ring he bought after he started making money.

Bieber's manager Scooter Braun recalled the exchange to MTV News as well. "[Big Sean] said, 'I know you said you liked [my ring], and I want to say thank you for involving me in the process and being a part of this, and I want you to have the ring.' And he took it off, and Justin put it on and it was a real genuine moment. They're friends."

Let's hope friends — just like the diamonds encrusted in Bieber's new bling — are forever, ...

Yesterday, Paramore's Hayley Williams told MTV News that the band's upcoming upcoming North American tour would be

"We always want to outdo whatever we've already done ... this is a tour that we've been dreaming of for a little while, and we're really excited to make it happen," she said. "We're going to put in a lot of work to make the show fill up these venues and be really special."

In part; that means Paramore are tweaking their setlist and upping their production values — something bassist Jeremy Davis is handling — though they're not stopping there. Williams and her bandmates also hand-picked the acts that will open for them on the "Self-Titled Tour," tapping iconic Canadian outfit Metric and ebullient pop-rockers Hellogoodbye to join them on the bill.

And, as you can probably guess, Paramore didn't take those decisions lightly. On a tour this huge — and this important — they went with bands that can not only fill a room, but make the kind of music that inspires them on a personal level.

"It just sort of depends on the atmosphere we want to create. Our new album represents a lot of things to us but most of all, movement," Williams said. "Whether that means moving forward, moving on, or just moving your body, it's all about liberating yourself and becoming a freer version of who you've always been. So the bands that we are bringing are bands that we feel represent those kind of things too.

"Metric makes the kind of music that makes ...

Birdman takes his music seriously — and why wouldn't he? The Cash Money co-founder and CEO turned an independent New Orleans record label into a rap powerhouse, thanks to raw, unapologetic rhymes from acts like B.G., Juvenile and, of course, Lil Wayne.

What's more, the #1 Stunna feels so strongly about his current artists and their music that on Wednesday's episode of "RapFix Live," he revealed he'd considered a boycott against Mountain Dew and Reebok, when the companies dropped Wayne and Rick Ross, respectively, over controversial lyrics. (While Ross is not signed to Cash Money, he and Birdman are close friends and frequent collaborators.)

"Really, we could've reversed that [termination of endorsement deals] because my whole take was, 'Since they wanna clown, I can clown and group all my people up.' But on the respect I have for Swizz [Beatz, a Reebok partner], that's why I didn't clown," Birdman told Sway. "I could've put all my people together and say, 'Now my culture and my community, we're not supportin' y'all.' "

Back in April, Reebok broke off their deal with Rick Ross after he spit some lyrics on Rocko's "U.O.E.N.O." that conjured up images of rape for some listeners. The sneaker deal was one that hip-hop producer and Cash Money friend Swizz had helped to broker. PepsiCo.-backed Mountain Dew also severed ties with Wayne after outcry over his sexual reference to Civil Rights icon Emmett Till on Future's "Karate Chop."

Both Ross and Wayne expressed remorse after their respective incidents. And on Monday, J. Cole became the latest ...

Almost three days after being put on a psychiatric hold
, Amanda Bynes could be released from a California hospital on Thursday evening (July 25).

After setting a fire on a stranger's driveway
 in Thousand Oaks, California on Monday night, the actress was taken in under a 5150 hold, a California code that allows doctors or law enforcement officials to detain a person involuntarily for 72 hours if they are deemed a danger to themselves or others or display a grave disability that renders them unable to provide for their own food, clothing and shelter.

Take A Look At Amanda Bynes: Then And Now.

But what does it feel like to be held on a 5150? MTV News spoke to Dr. Jody M. Rawles, a psychiatrist and the Vice Chair of Clinical Affairs in the psychiatry department at the University of California Irvine for some insight into the three-day hold.

Rawles, who does not have first hand knowledge of the Bynes case and was speaking in general terms about his extensive experience with 5150 cases, said emergency room physicians, psychiatrists, police officers and some social workers are among those who have the ability to request a hold. "If you are setting fires on someone else's property and are disorganized and give answers to questions that don't make sense, a peace officer might put in for a 5150 on all three [criteria]," said Rawles, who runs the acute inpatient unit at UC-Irvine.

The 72 hours begins as soon as the officer writes the 5150 request, after which the patient is transported to an emergency ...

ODB passed away in 2004, but he'll still be a part of Wu-Tang Clan's upcoming 20th anniversary album, A Better Tomorrow. According to Inspectah Deck, previously unheard Ol' Dirty Bastard material will appear on the record.

In a recent interview with The Line of Best Fit, Deck said: "RZA has a bunch of Ol' Dirty tracks and verses that for years nobody's heard and, from my last conversation [with RZA], we're supposed to have an Ol' Dirty track on there. It may be by itself or we might join it on to another song. But Ol' Dirty is going to be part of this album, that's a fact."

In the past, unreleased material belonging to ODB — in particular, his solo album, A Son Unique — was held up due to legal issues surrounding the rapper's estate. Deck doesn't mention in the interview who officially owns the material they plan to use on the record.

The record, on the whole, appears to be a bit up-in-the-air. MTV News spoke with Wu-Tang at Bonnaroo, where Ghostface Killah told us that even the title is not set in stone.

"We putting that all in the making right now. I don't know if that's gonna be the title," he said. "That got thrown out there like that, but we really putting it together as we speak. What we dealing with, we're gonna bless the world soon."

The Line of Best Fit also reports that while the album's release date was originally set in July, it now seems as though it will drop November.

Despite ...

It wouldn't be a "Vampire Diaries" season finale without a few twists and turns, and was chockablock, to say the least (hello, human Katherine!). But the episode's most head-scratching revelation had to be the fact that Mystic Falls is home to not one but two doppelgangers. Stefan is Silas' doppelganger!

When we had "Vampire Diaries" stars Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder on our couch at San Diego Comic-Con, we just had to ask about their reaction to this intriguing new plotline.

"I was very excited because I get to play two characters, so I get to go darker and do something completely different than what I've been doing for four years," Wesley said.

It's no secret Wesley's campaigned for Stefan to have an edge, and as pleased as he was with this new direction, he did admit to being a bit apprehensive about how loyal viewers would react.

"I was a little concerned that the fans would sort of think, 'Oh, we've already seen this before,' " he said in reference to co-star Nina Dobrev's dual roles of Elena Gilbert and Katherine Pierce. "Fortunately, it was such a positive reaction. Everybody was so excited."

"Because everybody was so bored with Stefan, because they're ecstatic now," Somerhalder chimed in.

"I think I was the #1 on that list," Wesley said.

"He's actually become his own super-fan," Somerhalder joked.

"I'm Silas' super fan," Wesley confirmed.

Of course, this new role will add an interesting wrinkle to the interplay between long-time co-stars and friends Wesley and Somerhalder.

"The scenes are really cool because it's such a different dynamic," Somerhalder explained. ...

Ariana Grande had no idea that when she hit the studio to record "Almost Is Never Enough" that it would snowball into what it's become today.

Now, not only is the love ballad a duet with The Wanted's Nathan Sykes, but also one of the songs featured on , alongside tracks by Colbie Caillat, AFI, Jessie J and Demi Lovato. When MTV News caught up with the singer, she broke down how it all came together.

"The version going on the 'Mortal Instruments' soundtrack is a much shorter version. The one that's on my [debut] album [Yours Truly, out September 3] is very long. But I'm really excited by it. And, honestly, I didn't know it was going to be a duet and [my manager] Scooter [Braun] just said 'Check your email'," she recalled, adding that a video will eventually be shot for it. (Braun also manages The Wanted.)

"And Nathan just sang the hell out of it. I thought it was Brian McKnight. I'm like 'Who is this?' Honestly I wasn't expecting it. I didn't know he had that in him. I saw him perform live on one of the radio shows that we were at together and I was like, 'Damn he can sing.' This song I think will pleasantly surprise a lot of people," she said. "It's very beautiful and very emotional and I love, love, love what Nathan did to it. It was a great, great, great surprise."

The surprises hardly ended there. Braun had one more surprise up his sleeve, the news that her track ...

"Bigger story, bigger monsters, bigger effects."

That's the promise Logan Lerman made to us about "Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters," the follow-up to 2010's YA riff on Greek mythology. One look at the trailer we debuted last spring made clear Logan wasn't messing around.

A brand-new exclusive clip, however, shows off the quieter side of "Sea of Monsters" — though it's a side with stakes just as big. In the fresh footage, Camp Half-Blood — the training area where Lerman's Percy and his friends are holed up after the events of the first film — is under attack, and the demigod Annabeth Chase (Alexandra Daddario) and her half-human, half-goat satyr pal Grover (Brandon T. Jackson) have a plan to keep everyone safe. But the camp's head honcho, Dionysus, (a scene-stealing Stanley Tucci) isn't so keen on the idea.

"If you could just listen to me for one moment," Annabeth says.

"I am listening — you want to go on a quest," Dionysus replies. "Oh, it must be Thursday."

The quest she wants to go on is the one that propels "Sea of Monsters" forward — and the one that brings Percy and his friends face-to-face with those enormous monsters: they need to find the mythical Golden Fleece, which can heal anything, including the barrier that protects Half-Blood from attack.

Sipping his wine (as gods of wine are wont to do), Dionysus explains why this is not a smart plan — namely because of the prospect of near-certain death as one enters the Sea of Monsters, known to humans as the ...