BEIJING, Sept. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- U.S. pop singer Britney Spears opened the 25th MTV Video Music Awards ceremony Sunday in Los Angeles.

    To the great surprise of high-wattage audience, she took the stage just to make four sentences, shielding her lower face with her microphone and leaving the singing job to the others.

    "Thank you so much. Thank you for all the love. I'm here tonight to celebrate a very important birthday, the 25th anniversary of the VMAs. This is the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards and it starts right now," was all she uttered for the occasion.

    However, Spears came back to the stage after a while to receive the night’s first award: best female video for her tune "Piece Of Me."

    Last year, she suffered a disastrous publicity bomb when she was clearly unsteady and out-of-shape, and badly lip-synched to a song.

    After weeks of hype, the ceremony was hosted by British comedian Russell Brand and was held in Los Angeles for the first time in a decade.

    Besides Spears, other video of the year nominees are: R&B singer Chris Brown's "Forever," teen idols the Jonas Brothers' "Burnin' Up," girl group the Pussycat Dolls' "When I Grow Up" and English pop duo the Ting Tings' "Shut Up and Let Me Go."

    (Agencies)