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- Olivia Rodrigo seemingly experienced a stage malfunction at the MTV VMAs.
- The malfunction ended up being an act which referenced her music video for Vampire.
- Rodrigo was also nominated for awards and won Best Editing.
While performing her song Vampire at the MTV Video Music Awards, Olivia Rodrigo experienced a stage malfunction that ended up being part of an act. The performance fooled some viewers and VMA audience members.
Her performance was seemingly marred by exploding pyrotechnics, a falling camera and props, and a tilting light rig.
Rodrigo continued to perform her song during the 'chaos' until a backstage person came to Rodrigo's defence, escorting her offstage. This was specifically after a red curtain fell from the ceiling.
Her performance, along with the seeming mistakes, directly mirrors the music video for Vampire. In the video and VMA performance, she sits on fake grass and sings. The stage set-up directly recalls the music video's set design.
The stage performance mirrors the chaotic pyrotechnics, falling props, cameras, and broken light rigs.
Even her distressed reaction and the backstage crew member coming to her rescue is a reference to the music video.
Audience members were also shocked by the performance, with footage showing distressed reactions on the faces of celebrities, especially Selena Gomez.
This coincidentally mirrored the music video, too, where Rodrigo also does a stage performance to a large audience, who are equally unsettled by the stage malfunctions.
In an interview with DORK, Rodrigo said of her song Vampire:
She continues, "It's a song about feeling confused and hurt, and at first, I thought it was meant to be a piano ballad."
When she and her producer started working on it, they juxtaposed the lyrics with "big drums and crazy tempo changes".
"So now it's like a heartbreak song you can dance to," she added.
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Rodrigo returned to the stage to perform her song Get Him Back with a group of dancers.
The two songs Rodrigo performed were from her latest album, Guts. She received multiple nominations on the night, including a win for Best Editing.
WATCH HER PERFORMANCE HERE:
