“DOLLS, DOLLS, DOLLS!”
Sabrina Carpenter transformed her 2025 VMAs performance into a fierce celebration of queerness, featuring drag icons and a rallying cry to protect trans lives.
On 7 September, Drag Race stars including Denali, Lexi Love, Laganja Estranja, Symone and Willam — alongside ballroom legends Honey Balenciaga and Malik Brehon — joined Carpenter for a performance of her disco-pop hit ‘Tears’.
After emerging from a sewage vent to open the song, she delivered pitch-perfect vocals, a fierce costume reveal and rain-filled choreography, before the stage flooded with entertainers holding signs that read “In Trust We Trust,” “Dolls Dolls Dolls,” “Love Each Other,” “Support Local Drag”, “Protect Trans Rights” and more.
It echoed the critically-acclaimed music video for ‘Tears’, a camp homage to The Rocky Horror Picture Show starring Academy Award nominee Colman Domingo in full drag as Dr. Frank-N-Furter.
Following the performance, Logo TV and RuPaul’s Drag Race shared a joint Instagram post of the drag entertainers proudly displaying their signs backstage, praising Carpenter for “making a statement at the VMAs” and adding: “Protect the dolls. Defend drag. ALWAYS.”
Between advocating for trans rights in a volatile political climate and raising over a million dollars for mental health, animal welfare and LGBTQIA+ causes, Carpenter has firmly cemented her place as one of pop’s most powerful allies.
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At the 2025 ceremony, Carpenter took home two major awards: Best Pop Artist and Best Album (Short n’ Sweet), while Vania Heymann and Tal Baltuch won Best Visual Effects for the ‘Manchild’ video.
Carpenter’s seventh album, Man’s Best Friend, featuring hits like ‘Manchild’ and ‘Tears’, is out now — watch her VMAs performance of ‘Tears’ below.
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