Demi Lovato brought rock versions of some of her past pop hits to the 2023 MTV VMAs, which is taking place at New Jersey’s Prudential Center tonight (September 12).
The pop star is set to release a new album, ‘Revamped’, on Friday (15) that is comprised of new reimagined versions of tracks from across their back catalogue.
Lovato aired some of those new versions during the VMAs tonight, opening her set with a rock version of ‘Heart Attack’. They followed that song with ‘Sorry Not Sorry’, which boasted huge bursts of fire on stage and her guitarist sliding to the front of the stage on their knees as they played the instrument.
The star wrapped up their performance with a rendition of ‘Cool For The Summer’, uniting the likes of Taylor Swift, Lil Nas X, and more in singing and dancing along.
demi lovato performing ‘heart attack’, ‘sorry not sorry’ and ‘cool for the summer’🔥 #vmas
pic.twitter.com/3U5aR2Ry7Q— 2000s (@PopCulture2000s) September 13, 2023
“With ‘Revamped’, I wanted to pay homage to the songs that resonated the most with fans and played a big role in my career by breathing an exciting new life into them,” Lovato said in a statement. “Creating this project has been incredibly fun and allowed me to express my passion for rock music in a new way, and I feel so much closer to my older music because of it.”
Elsewhere at the VMAs, Lil Wayne kicked off the awards show with a performance of ‘Uproar’ and ‘Kat Food’. Olivia Rodrigo followed him with a rendition of ‘Vampire’ and ‘Get Him Back!’, recreating elements of the video for the former track.
Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion also gave their new collaboration ‘Bongos’ its live premiere, while Doja Cat aired three songs from her upcoming new album ‘Scarlet’. Nicki Minaj used her performance to preview ‘Pink Friday 2’ with a clip of an unreleased song.
*NSYNC reunited for the first time in a decade to present Taylor Swift with the award for Best Pop, while the pop star praised her collaborator Jack Antonoff when picking up Song Of The Year. “We will continue making music until 2089,” she joked.
Other performances still to come include Diddy, Fall Out Boy, Måneskin, Stray Kids, Tomorrow X Together and Anitta, and more.
Check back to NME.com for all the latest action from the 2023 MTV VMAs as it happens.
