Britney Spears to Headline MTV Video Music Awards

At last year's MTV Video Music Awards show, the big news was the Twitter feud between Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj which, by the time the show hit the air, had expanded to include VMA host Miley Cyrus and spilled over onto the VMA stage. There's no major inter-celebrity squabbling going on at the moment - Swift's social-media war with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West has cooled, at least for the moment - and it could be that this year's VMAs might get attention for awards and performances instead of celeb misbehavior.

Barring any scandals that emerge between now and the time that the 2016 VMAs air on August 28, the focus of the show will be on its headlining performer, Britney Spears. The performance will mark the first time that Spears has performed on the VMA stage in nine years, and she's slated to sing her new single "Make Me..." from her new album that will drop two days before the show.

Spears has reliably delivered some of the most-talked-about appearances in the history of the VMAs. In 2001, she slinked around the stage with a live python as a prop, and in 2003, she and Madonna shared an infamous onstage kiss. Her most recent VMA appearance, in 2007, was controversial in a bad way for Spears, as she drew criticism for her out-of-sync lip-syncing and her sluggish dancing.