After racking up three number one singles in the past year, Sabrina Carpenter made sure her debut performance at the VMAs was nothing short of out of this world.
During Wednesday night’s ceremony, Sabrina performed a medley of her chart-topping hits, beginning with her being lowered from the ceiling atop a diamond while singing the chorus of her hit Please Please Please.
To round things off, she then brought Espresso to life surrounded by dancers in futuristic space suits.
But it was the middle segment that really stood out, in which she performed her latest single Taste.
Echoing themes in the track’s dramatic video, Sabrina found herself in the middle of an unconventional love triangle, this time with an astronaut and sassy space alien.
Towards the end of the performance, she and the alien even locked lips in a moment VMAs viewers are unlikely to forget in a hurry.
Sabrina’s performance also included a nod to a classic Britney Spears tune.
When she was first lowered to the stage at the UBS Arena, the spoken-word section of Britney’s Oops! I Did It Again – which itself took pop fans to outer space in its accompanying music video – was heard playing.
Watch the full performance below:
The Nonsense singer previously paid homage to another pop pioneer on the red carpet, where she sported a vintage Bob Mackie dress previously worn by Madonna to the 1991 Academy Awards.
Other stand-out performers on the night included woman of the hour Chappell Roan, Video Vanguard recipient Katy Perry, Blackpink star Lisa and chart-topping rapper Megan Thee Stallion, who served double duty as the night’s host.