“Oh I leave quite an impression…" Sabrina Carpenter sings at the beginning of her latest single, “Taste,” in a prophetic turn of phrase for her VMAs 2024 performance. At the MTV Video Music Awards, Carpenter sang a medley off her August album Short ‘n Sweet, complete with dancing alongside astronauts and kissing an alien mistress.
Carpenter started off her VMAs performance in the air, floating above the crowd in a glittery swing, singing the iconic chorus of “Please Please Please" that went viral across social media earlier this summer. Carpenter then transitioned into “Taste” and finished with “Espresso” as ribbon confetti fell from the air, as she was cradled by about a dozen astronauts.
Carpenter attended the ceremony as a multi-nominee, up for Artist of the Year, Song of the year ("Espresso"), Best Pop, Best Direction ("Please Please Please"), Best Editing ("Espresso"), and Best Art Direction ("Please Please Please").
The buzzy VMAs performance was a major upgrade from last year’s ceremony, where Carpenter was a pre-show performer and sang a mashup of “Nonsense” and “Feather.” It's wild to see the literal embodiment of how far she's come in terms of public perception in just a year — a year of big festival hits at Coachella, Gov Ball, and Lollapalooza, plus two songs of summer in a row. With the success of “Taste,” “Espresso,” and “Please Please Please,” she tied The Beatles's record for holding three songs in the top of five of the Billboard Hot 100. Wild!
It's an intense rise she's shared with another VMAs 2024 performer, Chappell Roan, who recently mentioned Carpenter in her Rolling Stone cover story. “We’re both going through something so fucking hard … she just feels like everything is flying, and she’s just barely hanging on,” Roan told writer Brittany Spanos, adding that Carpenter asked her to hang out. “It was just good to know someone else feels that way.”
