Taylor Swift had a record-setting night on Tuesday (Sept. 12) at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards, where she won nine moonpeople, just one short of the all-time single-night record of 10 held by Peter Gabriel from 1987.
The hardware was great, but judging by the videos and photos from the night, the real highlight for Taylor was when *NSYNC surprised the crowd inside the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. (as well as viewers at home) by reuniting on stage to present her with with the best pop video award for “Anti-Hero.”
Swift — whose awards show surprised face reactions are legend, truly could not calm down when her childhood icons called her up to accept the night’s first award. As the quintet walked out on stage, Swift was immediately on her feet, screaming and covering her face with her hands as Justin Timberlake did a “we’re not worthy” bow to the audience.
JT did the honors, announcing “the unstoppable Taylor Swift” as the winner, prompting the singer to take a deep breath and hug seatmate Ice Spice and the rest of her team before slapping fan hands on the way to stage. Once there, she hugged the men of *NSYNC — JT, Chris Kirkpatrick, Joey Fatone, JC Chasez and Lance Bass (who gave her a friendship bracelet) — and admitted, “I’m not doing well pivoting from this to this.”
“Like, I had your dolls… are you doing something? What’s going to happen now?” she wondered, saying she needed to know what was next for the idols, who she dubbed “pop personified.” The moment was so sweet, even Timberlake posted a clip of Taylor’s reaction.
Watch the full video, and some Twitter clips of the special moment, below.
