Entertainment Music Lady Gaga Reacts to Leading MTV VMA Nominations: 'I Am So Grateful and So Blessed' The pop songstress is nominated for nine awards total alongside Ariana Grande By Nicholas Rice Nicholas Rice Instagram Twitter Nicholas Rice is an Associate Editor for PEOPLE Magazine. He began working with the brand as an Editorial Intern in early 2020, before later transitioning to a freelance role, and then staff positions soon after. Nicholas writes and edits anywhere between 7 to 9 stories per day on average for PEOPLE, spanning across each vertical the brand covers. Nicholas has previous work experience with Billboard, POPSUGAR, Bustle and Elite Daily. When not working, Nicholas can be found playing with his 5 dogs, listening to pop music or eating mozzarella sticks. People Editorial Guidelines Updated on July 31, 2020 12:40 PM Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: Lady Gaga Instagram Lady Gaga is letting her fans know how grateful she's feeling as she reacts to leading the nominations for the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards. The pop songstress, 34, who is nominated for nine awards total alongside Ariana Grande, shared a message on social media Thursday expressing her gratitude for the nominations. Going makeup-free as she stared strikingly into the camera, Gaga captioned her shot, "I am so grateful and so blessed to have 9 #VMAs nominations this year for my album Chromatica, for Rain On Me, and other performances I've given." "This is such a difficult time for people all over the world, I really honor how lucky I am to have a day like today," she added. "I hope you all will celebrate yourselves in this moment, everyone should be nominated for an award right now," the singer continued. "For bravery, for courage, for the strong human spirit. God bless you and I love you thank you for this gift today. 😭❤️" Ariana Grande and Lady Gaga Lead 2020 VMA Noms as Show Introduces New Categories amid Pandemic MTV announced the nominees for the 2020 Video Music Awards on Thursday, curated with the coronavirus pandemic in mind. With Gaga and Grande leading the pack, Billie Eilish and The Weeknd are close behind with six nominations, while Taylor Swift is up for five awards. Lady Gaga. Zane Lowe/Apple Music In addition to receiving nine nominations each, Grande and Gaga are also nominated together in several categories for their collaboration on the hit song, "Rain on Me." "We're excited to unveil the incredible list of VMA nominees who shaped this year's unique music landscape and bring fans a show that celebrates the powerful unifying force of music," Bruce Gillmer, President of Music, Music Talent, Programming & Events for ViacomCBS Media Networks, said in a release. The awards show, based on votes from fans, will air live on Aug. 30 at 8 p.m. ET and fans can vote for their favorites by visiting mtv.com/vma until Sunday, Aug. 23. MTV to Hold Socially Distanced VMAs in August with 'Limited Capacity or No Audience' in N.Y.C. Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga/Youtube The network previously announced that the awards show will be held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York after it was granted a go-ahead from New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. In addition to the usual categories — including video of the year, artist of the year, song of the year, best collaboration and more — MTV has added two new categories aimed at honoring music created during the pandemic: best music video from home and best quarantine performance. RELATED VIDEO: Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande Drop New Single 'Rain on Me' — Listen Grande and Justin Bieber’s "Stuck with U," 5 Seconds of Summer's "Wildflower," blink-182's "Happy Days," Drake's "Toosie Slide," John Legend's "Bigger Love" and Twenty One Pilots' "Level of Concern" are all nominated for best music video from home. The nominations for best quarantine performance include Chloe x Halle's "Do It" from MTV's Prom-athon, CNCO's Unplugged at Home, DJ D-Nice's Club MTV #DanceTogether, Legend's #togetherathome Concert Series, Gaga's "Smile" from One World: Together At Home and Post Malone's Nirvana Tribute.