If Taylor Swift is in an awards show crowd, you better bet there’s a video camera focused directly squarely in her direction — and the cameras at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards on Wednesday night (Sept. 11) caught a very sweet moment in a renewed pop friendship.
Behind-the-scenes cameras zeroed in on Swift singing every word to “Teenage Dream” as Katy Perry performed her career-spanning Video Vanguard Award medley. Swift danced along to the 2010 Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 smash from Perry’s blockbuster album of the same name, grinding next to singer/actress Suki Waterhouse in the UBS Arena crowd, with Tyla and Margaret Qualley also vibing in their row.
Pop fans know that the pair have had a roller-coaster relationship, becoming fast friends as they broke out in the music scene around the same time but then having a falling-out apparently over backup dancers that resulted in Swift’s 2015 Hot 100 chart-topper “Bad Blood.” They’ve since mended fences, with Perry joining Swift in her 2019 music video for “You Need to Calm Down,” and the VMA dance-along appears to show that all is well with the two hitmakers.
During her Video Vanguard Award performance, in addition to playing her biggest hits, Perry also debuted the new song “I’m His, He’s Mine,” featuring guest rapper Doechii and an interpolation of Crystal Waters’ early ’90s dance hit “Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless).”
Swift came into Wednesday night’s show as the top nominee, with 12 nods, and she’s so far picked up two awards: the pre-show song of summer win for “Fortnight” with Post Malone as well as the first televised win of best collaboration for the same song.
Watch Swift dancing to “Teenage Dream” below:
