Olivia Rodrigo Gets Rowdy With a Performance of “Vampire” and “Get Him Back” at the VMAs

Olivia Rodrigo has made her grand return to the MTV Video Music Awards.

The Guts singer helped open tonight’s show at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, where she commanded attention with her pop-rock performance. Dressed in a red sports-bra-and-skirt set with white knee-high leg warmers, she started with her latest ballad, “Vampire,” while seated in a woodland scene. The tranquil mood shifted when the set seemingly began to malfunction around the star, with sparks going off in the background and a lighting rig swaying above the stage.

As the set fell apart, a PA appeared and ushered the singer to a simple stage with a plain purple background, where Rodrigo broke into her latest single, “Get Him Back.” She joined a group of identically brunette backup dancers dressed in pink iterations of the same skirt set, and they all performed a fun routine that took the star back to basics, as she happily jumped around the stage.

Before the performance, Rodrigo made a jaw-dropping appearance on the red carpet, where she wore a sparkling silver gown custom-made by Ludovic de Saint Sernin. The molten piece featured a V-shaped neckline, a low back, a center back leg slit, and 150,000 Swarovski crystals. She completed the look with metallic platform stilettos by Roger Vivier and the same silver GUTS rings she wears on the cover of the new album.

Ahead of Guts'release, Rodrigo revealed to The New York Times that the album would be more rock-centric record than her debut.

“I’ve always loved rock music, and always wanted to find a way that I could make it feel like me, and make it feel feminine,” she told the publication, “and still telling a story and having something to say that’s vulnerable and intimate.”

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