Sabrina Carpenter - VMAs 2025
Sabrina Carpenter has already proven herself to be a “pop princess” of our generation. Because of this, Carpenter is no stranger to controversy. Due to her past acting career on Disney Channel, there are lots of people that believe that Carpenter's sexual nature of her music and performances is “highly inappropriate for her young audience”. She has continued to ignore the controversies and continue about her career, speaking her mind and putting out music she feels confident in. Her most recent controversy was over her newest album Man's Best Friend, due to both the album title and the provocative cover image of Carpenter on her knees with a man's hands in her hair. Carpenter has shown time and time again that she loves a good ironic twist, which is what many fans were expecting from this shocking album and title. Carpenter has not spoken about the album cover controversy until the album's release, which was a smashing success.
Now, at her first performance since the release of Man's Best Friend at the 2025 VMAs, Carpenter brought an outstanding, well put together performance using her platform in ways we rarely see.
Carpenter is not one to speak out politically much at all, which to some is refreshing, and some seems to be a bit of an issue as they aren't sure where she stands socially. Carpenter is always very graceful when she does speak out, and it's never very loud. However, Carpenter made quite the statement on Sunday, stepping out on the VMAs stage surrounded by Drag Queens for her debut performance of her song Tears off her new album.
When the music video was released for this song, fans raved about Carpenter's use of Colman Domingo in drag, as well as the well-done homage to Rocky Horror Picture Show. This video was unlike anything Carpenter had ever done, and it placed a lot of attention on drag, which is a very "controversial" topic for the current state of our society. The video, like many others within Carpenter's repertoire, was very calculated, fun and eye-catching. After the scrutiny drag queens have been facing throughout the last year especially, this video was incredibly refreshing, as was her performance at the VMAs.
I wasn't sure what to expect with Carpenter's new era of music, especially with the Man's Best Friend era coming so soon after Short N’ Sweet, and with lots of controversy in its wake. However, Carpenter was quick to silence critics of her new era favoring a more “conservative” mindset with a flashy performance set in a big city, with drag queens holding an assortment of signs as backup dancers. The signs had statements on them such as; ‘in trans we trust’, ‘if you hate you’ll never get laid’, and the entire performance felt unifying and powerful. This was something that I don't think many people anticipated from any VMAs performance, which made it all the more gratifying to get to see it play out on live television.
Aside from the drag dancers however, there were other aspects of the performance worth highlighting. For starters, this was the first time we got to hear any of Man's Best Friend live apart from the first released single Manchild. About halfway through the performance, Carpenter disappeared into a phone booth where she shed off the sweater she was wearing into an iconic, bejeweled bralette, an outfit we are not used to seeing on Carpenter after years of her corset bodysuits. Carpenter also stunned us all with an iconic ‘dance break’, as she sings in her song Tears. Accompanied by an array of male and female backup dancers, as well as her drag stars, Carpenter blew us all away with her dance break in an artificial rain storm.
Whether you are a fan or not, there is no ignoring that Sabrina Carpenter has some of the most well-timed and thought out talent of the modern Pop scene. She continues to churn out well made music and content seemingly effortlessly. This VMAs performance was absolutely no different! As Carpenter continues to grow in popularity, it seems she is able to come out of her shell more and feel more comfortable standing up for what she believes in, which I think we definitely got a taste of during this 2025 VMAs performance.