Sabrina Carpenter performed her new single, "Tears," for the first time at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday, September 7. The pop star, 26, took the stage at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, wearing a fringe white top and black leggings alongside a slew of drag queens, who held up signs supporting trans equality. Midway through, Carpenter stripped down to a sparkly bra and danced in the rain, a nod to the song's risqué lyric, "I get wet at the thought of you." (Earlier in the evening, she walked the red carpet in a red lace dress.