Attn, Carpenters: Sabrina Carpenter has officially returned to the VMAs with a taste of new tracks from her latest album, Man’s Best Friend. The Cosmo cover girl brought “Tears” to life (and to our eyes!) as she performed the single live for the very first time. Not only did she pay homage to VMA vet Britney Spears but she also performed with drag performers and trans women to relay one simple message: Protect the Dolls.

This is Sabrina’s second time hitting the VMAs main stage after performing a medley of tracks off her Grammy-winning album, Short n’ Sweet, including her record-breaking song, “Espresso,” “Taste,” and “Please Please Please.” And the year before that, she graced us with a performance of “Feather” and “Nonsense” during the VMAs pre-show in 2023.

At this year’s ceremony, Sabrina is up for eight Moon Person awards, including Video of the Year for “Manchild,” which pulled inspiration from vintage movies and included several stunning looks. As for what inspired Man’s Best Friend, Sabrina recently told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe that a lot of the songs stemmed from a “newer heartbreak experience.”

“I think I came out of a sad situation, a lot less bitter than I intended or expected to,” she shared. “With a little bit more of the like, you know what? There’s two people involved, and this is part of growing up.”

She also said that she doesn’t want to have bad blood with any of her exes, adding, “I think obviously it depends on what happens and what goes down and how much you feel like you can truly trust that person. But I do, I feel like it is one of those situations where even the album starting with ‘Oh, boy’ was sort of a...it’s an eye roll to yourself being like, here we go again.”

Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’re going to attempt at recreating her already iconic 2025 VMAs performance.