Sabrina Carpenter showed her support for the LGBTQ+ community in her performance of the Man’s Best Friend song “Tears” at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday night. The song began with Carpenter emerging from a literal manhole to sing alongside dancers that included RuPaul’s Drag Race stars Symone, Willam, Denali, Laganja Estranja, and Lexi Love, as well as ballroom star Honey Balenciaga.
As Carpenter repeated the line, “I get wet at the thought of you …” during the performance, tears literally dripped from the ceiling, completely soaking her (in case anyone in the audience thought Carpenter was too subtle with her lyrics). Some of the dancers, which also included two very ripped cops who joined Carpenter, carried protest signs with messages like, “Protect Trans Rights,” “Support Drag,” and “Love Each Other.” It was a bold, political statement delivered in the way only Carpenter could.
The artist is up for eight VMAs this year, including Video of the Year and Best Pop for “Manchild,” Best Pop Artist, and Best Album for last year’s Short n’ Sweet. “Manchild” is also up for a slew of technical awards, including Best Direction, Cinematography, Editing, and Visual Effects.
This marks Carpenter’s second time gracing the VMAs stage after she made her debut at the show last year. She performed a space-themed medley of her Short n’ Sweet hits “Espresso, “Please Please Please,” and “Taste” — complete with an extra-terrestrial makeout session — and took home the Moonman for Song of the Year for “Espresso.”
Carpenter released Man’s Best Friend at the end of August, almost exactly one year after Short n’ Sweet. Carpenter crafted her new album with many of the same people who helped her make Short n’ Sweet, including songwriter Amy Allen and producers/songwriters Jack Antonoff and John Ryan.
Speaking with Rolling Stone for a recent cover story, Carpenter said the album contains “some of the most honest work I’ve ever had,” adding it “wasn’t written from a place of ‘How do I one-up myself?’ or ‘How do I re-create something else?’”
Of choosing to make a new album so quickly after Short n’ Sweet, Carpenter said she took inspiration from artists like Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt, who used to release 10-track albums every year. “I’m like, ‘When did we stop doing that?’ Writers write, they make music, and they release music,” she said. “I understand the beauty of disappearing. My last two albums both took two and a half years to make, and they needed to. I just think every project is different. It just has to feel right.”