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    1. Culture
    2. Music

    Sabrina Carpenter Makes Out With an Alien While Performing a 'Short n' Sweet' Medley at the 2024 MTV VMAs

    The superstar brought sexy back to space.

    Quinci LeGardye#039;s avatar
    By Quinci LeGardye
    Published 12 September 2024 In News

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    Sabrina Carpenter performs on stage during the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards at UBS Arena on September 11, 2024 in Elmont, New York.
    (Image credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for MTV)
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    For her 2024 MTV VMAs performance, Sabrina Carpenter brought her bestselling album Short n’ Sweet into the stratosphere. The pop star performed a medley of her recent hits "Espresso," "Please Please Please," and "Taste" on a space-themed stage, as she incorporated MTV's classic spaceman theme into a sexy performance that also included references to hit music videos.

    Wearing a sparkling white romper, Carpenter began her set with "Please Please Please," singing the ballad's chorus while suspended several feet over the audience. It looked like she was sitting among the stars, with her aerial swing almost touching the outstretched hand of a giant astronaut balloon.

    Once she descended to the stage, the pop star transitioned into "Taste," staging a three-way dance between herself, a male Moonperson dancer, and a female alien. The trio did a flirtatious dance, before Carpenter flung the spaceman off the stage and made out with the alien, à la her music video for the single, co-starring Jenna Ortega.

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    The medley ended with "Espresso," as dozens of spacesuit-clad dancers joined Carpenter on stage to act as the male chorus to her Marilyn Monroe. She even concluded the performance with a coquette-ish pose, reclining on all the moon-people as they lifted her.

    Sabrina Carpenter performs on stage during the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards at UBS Arena on September 11, 2024 in Elmont, New York.

    Sabrina Carpenter is lifted by astronaut dancers while performing "Espresso" at the 2024 MTV VMAs.

    (Image credit: Mike Coppola/Getty Images for MTV)

    Tonight marks Carpenter’s first time on the main VMA stage; last year, she performed at the VMAs pre-show, with the tracks “Feather” and “Nonsense” off her 2022 album Emails I Can’t Send.

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    Carpenter's 2024 MTV VMAs appearance comes at the end of a career-changing summer for the former Disney star, who landed her first No. 1 song with "Please Please Please," and a No. 1 song on the Billboard 200 with Short n’ Sweet.

    Sabrina Carpenter on the 2024 VMAs red carpet

    Sabrina Carpenter on the red carpet at the 2024 MTV VMAs.

    (Image credit: Getty Images)

    She was nominated for seven awards this year's ceremony, including Song of the Year for “Espresso,” Song of the Summer for “Please Please Please,” and Artist of the Year.

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    On the red carpet, the singer also channeled Marilyn Monroe, looking angelic in a shimmering white corset dress and an archival design by Bob Mackie. She played up the Old Hollywood vibe with her beauty look, including a glossy ombré lip and voluminous curly hair.

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    Culture Writer

    Quinci LeGardye is a Culture Writer at Marie Claire. She currently lives in her hometown of Los Angeles after periods living in NYC and Albuquerque, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in English and Psychology from The University of New Mexico. In 2021, she joined Marie Claire as a contributor, becoming a full-time writer for the brand in 2024. She contributes day-to-day-content covering television, movies, books, and pop culture in general. She has also written features, profiles, recaps, personal essays, and cultural criticism for outlets including Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, HuffPost, Teen Vogue, Vulture, The A.V. Club, Catapult, and others. When she isn't writing or checking Twitter way too often, you can find her watching the latest K-drama, or giving a concert performance in her car.

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