Sabrina Carpenter took the stage at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards amid speculation about her past with Shawn Mendes.
The songstress, 25 — who is nominated for six VMAs, including Artist of the Year, Best Pop, Song of the Year and Best Editing for “Espresso” and Best Direction and Best Art Direction for “Please Please Please” — performed a medley of “Please Please Please,” “Taste” and “Espresso” during the ceremony, which took place at UBS Arena in New York on Wednesday, September 11. Carpenter, who rocked a sparkly white bodysuit, was flanked by dancers dressed as astronauts.
Mendes, 26, was in attendance on Wednesday, performing on the VMAs stage moments earlier.
Carpenter’s VMAs appearance comes weeks after the release of her Short n’ Sweet album, which fans speculated was inspired by her brief romance with Mendes. The pair were first spotted together in February 2023, sparking dating rumors. After they attended the Vanity Fair Oscars Party separately the following month, Entertainment Tonight reported that they were an item, but Mendes denied that he was dating Carpenter.
MTV VMAs 2024 Red Carpet Arrivals
Mendes subsequently rekindled his relationship with Camila Cabello — whom he initially dated from 2019 to 2021 — after they were seen kissing at Coachella in April 2023. Mendes and Cabello, 27, ultimately split for good in June 2023, with a source exclusively telling Us Weekly at the time that Cabello was the one who “decided to end things” and Mendes was “very upset” that they could not make it work.
Carpenter’s fans noticed apparent nods to the situation on Short n’ Sweet. For one, the title of the album refers to “some of these relationships and how some of them were the shortest I’ve ever had and they affected me the most,” she told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe.
The lyrics of “Coincidence” addressed a man who got back together with his ex shortly after a split.
“The second I put my head on your chest / She knew, she’s got a real sixth sense,” Carpenter sang. “Now her name comes up once, then it comes up twice / And without her even bein’ here, she’s back in your life / Now she’s in the same damn city on the same damn night.”
The single “Taste” sent a message to an ex’s new girlfriend with the lines, “I heard you’re back together and if that’s true / You’ll just have to taste me when he’s kissin’ you / If you want forever, I bet you do / Just know you’ll taste me too.”
The music video for “Taste” fanned the flames with Jenna Ortega starring as the girlfriend of Carpenter’s ex-boyfriend.
Amid the rumors surrounding Carpenter’s musical inspiration, MTV confirmed that Carpenter, Mendes and Cabello would all perform at the 2024 VMAs. Cabello was also nominated for Best Pop and Best Trending Video at the ceremony and is expected to perform later during the broadcast.
