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Britney Spears has said she was left confused after watching Sabrina Carpenter’s VMAs performance, in which the “Espresso” singer paid homage to her.
As Carpenter, 25, performed a medley of her breakout hits at the awards ceremony on Wednesday night (11 September), two backing dancers – one dressed as an alien, and one as an astronaut – joined her on the Mars-inspired set.
At one point, Carpenter grabbed the alien and made out with the dancer, pushing away the astronaut who had been courting the extraterrestrial character onstage. The kiss referenced her recent music video for her single “Taste,” in which she kissed actor Jenna Ortega, referencing the film Death Becomes Her.
In another moment, she paid homage to Spears by playing a snippet of audio from the singer’s own Mars-set video for “Oops!… I Did It Again”.
After watching clips of the performance online, Spears shared a video to discuss her thoughts on the performance.
“Did you guys watch the VMAs? I didn’t watch the VMAs, but I did see stuff on my phone from YouTube of Sabrina Carpenter,” Spears said in the clip
Spears said she was delighted that Carpenter paid homage to her, but couldn’t get behind the alien element of the choreography.
She continued: “Why is she kissing an alien on stage? I adore her. I love her to death. I didn’t understand that part. Like, that was weird.”
The “Gimme More” singer remarked that she thought it was “kinda cool” that Carpenter mentioned her name during a red carpet interview.
“She said my name on the red carpet and I thought that was kinda cool, because I forget I’m famous sometimes because I’m a mom, I’m kind of old, blah blah blah,” joked Spears.
“But I thought it was kind of cool, this Sabrina girl, Carpenter. She said something, I was like ‘Thanks, that’s cool!’ She made me cool.”
Carpenter, who received seven nominations and took home the “Song of the Year” accolade for “Espresso”, paid homage to several stars on the night. For the red carpet, the singer stepped out in Madonna’s 1991 Oscars gown made by Bob Mackie, a shimmering bead-embroidered dress with a plunging neckline. You may recognise the garment from when “Material Girl” singer wore it in a renowned photo with Michael Jackson captured at the event.
Carpenter made her VMAs debut last year during the award ceremony’s official pre-show, performing her singles “Feather” and “Nonsense” from her album emails i can’t send. Since then, her music career has skyrocketed, with the release of her new album Short n’ Sweet.
Before making her foray into music, Carpenter played Maya Hart on Disney Channel’s Girl Meets World and later starred in several Netflix original movies, including Work It and the Tall Girl franchise.
