Sabrina Carpenter Performs 'Short n' Sweet' Medley at the 2024 MTV VMAs

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)

published 12 September 2024

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.

Sabrina Carpenter - "Please Please Please" / "Taste" / "Espresso" | 2024 VMAs - YouTube

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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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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Quinci is a Culture Writer who covers all aspects of pop culture, including TV, movies, music, books, and theater. She contributes interviews with talent, as well as SEO content, features, and trend stories. She fell in love with storytelling at a young age, and eventually discovered her love for cultural criticism and amplifying awareness for underrepresented storytellers across the arts. She previously served as a weekend editor for Harper’s Bazaar, where she covered breaking news and live events for the brand’s website, and helped run the brand’s social media platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Her freelance writing has also appeared in outlets including HuffPost, The A.V. Club, Elle, Vulture, Salon, Teen Vogue, and others. Quinci earned her degree in English and Psychology from The University of New Mexico. She was a 2021 Eugene O’Neill Critics Institute fellow, and she is a member of the Television Critics Association. She is currently based in her hometown of Los Angeles. When she isn't writing or checking Twitter way too often, you can find her studying Korean while watching the latest K-drama, recommending her favorite shows and films to family and friends, or giving a concert performance while sitting in L.A. traffic.

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