Why Isn't Selena Gomez at the 2024 VMAs?

Does anyone have eyes on Selena Gomez? The star was expected to attend the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards on Tuesday, and I was really hoping she'd turn up in another little black dress in keeping with recent appearances in New York City and Toronto, Canada, to promote Only Murders in the Building and Emilia Pérez respectively. But the Rare Beauty billionaire was nowhere to be found long after the red carpet closed. When Taylor Swift surprised everyone by showing up late, it made Gomez's absence even more noticeable. Maybe she's out there getting engaged to producer boyfriend Benny Blanco or something? After all, she did discuss the topic of marriage (and whether or not she'd take Blanco's last name) in the press recently.

Fans know they missed a great fashion moment. In 2023, the singer returned to the awards show for the first time since 2015. She walked the pink carpet in a red beaded halter gown with floral appliqués and a fringe hem from Oscar de la Renta. She paired the look with super strappy red heels, diamond flower earrings, a diamond double ring and a matching bracelet. A sleek middle-part and brown smoky eye completed the fiery look, which got plenty of air time when Gomez and her "Calm Down" collaborator Rema collected their award for Best Afrobeats.

Post-show, Gomez slipped into a vibrant purple corset mini dress and black stiletto heels before heading to the afterparty. As a final touch, she threw on a club-ready metallic fringe shoulder bag and a dainty chain necklace.

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It was reassuring to see Gomez at the 2024 VMAs after mentioning the possibility of retiring from music more than once over the years. During a January 2024 interview on Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett’s SmartLess podcast, the "Single Soon" singer confirmed she's still considering it.

“I do feel like I have one more album in me, but I would probably choose acting,” she admitted when asked which passion she'd prioritize if forced to choose between them.

But it's hard to imagine a pop music landscape without Gomez in it. Let's hope we never have to. We'd take one missed VMAs over dozens of unreleased songs.

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Hanna Lustig is a staff writer at Marie Claire, where she gets to gab every day about the topics she holds most dear: fashion, beauty, and celebrity. Hanna’s editorial journey began with formative internships at Elle and InStyle, where she was lucky enough to work for some of the smartest women in media while she was still in college at the University of Tennessee. Hanna then accepted a digital culture reporting fellowship at Insider, where she helped carve out a new beat dedicated to covering influencers. Those experiences later served her well as a staff writer at Glamour, where she developed a knack for spinning quick turnaround celebrity news and trend reporting into juicy feature stories. Some of her greatest hits include an earnest ode to the no-pants trend, this meticulously reported feature exploring the rise of endoscopic facelifts, this snappy take on the Chanel-designed fantasy of Sofia Richie’s wedding, this tribute to WAGs past and present, and this timeline of Katie Holmes’s life and career as told through her denim collection.

Diane Keaton once hung up on Hanna during an interview, but thankfully that mishap did not derail what has otherwise been a deeply fulfilling career writing for and about women. As one of Marie Claire's resident experts on style and culture, her current coverage ranges from exploring TikTok's contrast makeup theory and the return of the boat shoe trend to interviews with costume designers for hit shows like Nobody Wants This and The Penguin. When she’s not at work, Hanna can probably be found listening to pop music, talking to her dog, and gossiping with her best friends. For more of Hanna’s perfect opinions on pop culture, you can follow her on Instagram and X.