Why Ariana Grande Skipped the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards

Ariana Grande has a lot on her plate at the moment. After releasing her smash seventh studio album, Eternal Sunshinethis past spring, the pop superstar has been entirely in Wicked mode, doing serious promo for the highly anticipated film adaptation of the Broadway musical (and wearing lots of Glinda-coded looks in the process). And with all this going on, it seems Grande decided to skip out on the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards.

This may come as a bit of a surprise to fans, given that Grande was one of the most nominated artists of the night—with seven nods, including Video of the Year, Song of Summer, Best Editing, Best Direction, and Best Cinematography for “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait for Your Love),” as well as nominations for Artist of the Year and Best Visual Effects (for “The Boy Is Mine”).

Still, despite tying with Megan Thee Stallion and Sabrina Carpenter as the fourth-most nominated artists of the night, Grande was nowhere to be seen once showtime rolled around.

Grande seemed to hint at her absence a few hours before the show began, when she shared a clip from her “We Can’t Be Friends” video to her Instagram Story, writing: “I just wanted to say thank you and I love you so much to my angel fans who have been riding so hard for ‘We Can’t Be Friends.’ You’re my heart. This will always be my favorite video and the one I am proudest of, no matter what. I am so proud of us and grateful for you @christhedirector and for our teams who brought this vision and story to life with us…”