Madonna has called out collaborator Sabrina Carpenter and her management team for their tardiness.
The 68-year-old superstar made a triumphant return to the MTV VMAs on Sunday on the back of her acclaimed Confessions 2 album. The project saw Madonna win Artist of the Year, beating out Carpenter, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Bruno Mars and Morgan Wallen.
Her duet with Carpenter, “Bring Your Love,” also won Best Collaboration. During her acceptance speech, Madonna explained how the pairing came about.
“Everybody who knows me knows how impatient I am,” Madonna said. “And when five days passed, and I still didn’t get connected with Sabrina and didn’t hear back from her about whether she wanted to do a song with me, five days, I DM’d her.”
After sliding into Carpenter’s DMs, Madonna insisted, “This is a true story. She answered me back, and... within weeks, we were in the studio together. It was fabulous.” The song has now been streamed over 66 million times on Spotify.
Madonna opened the VMAs for the first time in 23 years, performing “Bring Your Love” and “Danceteria.”
Confessions 2 was awarded Best Album, beating out Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl, Carpenter’s Man’s Best Friend, Olivia Dean’s The Art of Loving, Olivia Rodrigo’s you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, and Drake’s ICEMAN/OVO.
Madonna also won Best Choreography, Best Long Form Video and Best Cinematography.
Swift made VMA history by becoming the most-awarded artist of all time with 33 career wins. Prior to Sunday, she was tied with Beyoncé on 30 awards each.
Swift dedicated her Best Video VMA for “The Fate of Ophelia” to the late Dolly Parton, calling her “the ultimate showgirl” who told stories that were “so vivid and so rich.”
“I think that we were all very lucky to share this planet with Dolly Parton for a time,” Swift said.
Swift was also awarded the inaugural MTV VMA Artist Director Honors. The 36-year-old has written and directed 18 videos during her career.
VMA’s executive producer Bruce Gillmer previously admitted the new award “came from external” influence.
“It was an idea that, quite frankly, the kernel of the idea came from external,” he told the Associated Press last week. “I’ll leave it at that.”
