Katy Perry roared onto the VMAs stage Wednesday night to accept the 2024 Video Vanguard — and planted a fat one on her significant other, Orlando Bloom, who presented her with the iconic honor.
The “Rise” singer, 39, took home the VMAs’ top honor — essentially MTV’s take on a lifetime achievement award.
Bloom gushed over his longtime love, with whom he shares 3-year-old daughter Daisy. The “Troy” star called Perry by her real name — Katy Hudson — before telling her, “Baby, so proud of you.”
He then introduced her, and she sang a medley of her greatest hits, including “Dark Horse,” “E.T.,” “California Gurls,” and more.
Perry follows in the footsteps of other legendary artists who have taken home the prize, including Shakira, Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj, Madonna, Janet Jackson, LL Cool J, Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna, Justin Timberlake, Missy Elliott, David Bowie and even The Beatles.
Perry and Bloom are no strangers to PDA.
The singer recently made headlines for saying she performs an X-rated sex act on the movie star if he goes the dishes. Perry also didn’t scold Bloom when a photo showing him checking out Kim Kardashian’s butt went viral.
Perry hasn’t been to the VMAs stage since 2017, when she took on the dual duties of host and performer. She closed that year’s ceremony with a performance of “Swish Swish” alongside Nicki Minaj.
The “Dark Horse” singer has won five other VMAs over the course of her career. She earned three awards in 2011 for Video of the Year, for “Firework,” and Best Collaboration and Best Special Effects, both for “E.T.,” featuring Kanye West.
She followed up those wins with a fourth Moon Person in 2012 for Best Art Direction (“Wide Awake”) and one more in 2014 for Best Female Video (“Dark Horse” featuring Juicy J).
Perry also becomes only the 10th artist to win both Video of the Year and the Vanguard Award, joining the rarefied ranks of Madonna, Peter Gabriel, R.E.M., Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Pink and Missy Elliott.
Even more impressively, the former “American Idol” host scored a VMAs first on Wednesday night, becoming the first person to have both hosted the show and received the VMAs’ two top honors (Video of the Year and Video Vanguard).
Perry has had her share of memorable moments at the VMAs over the years as well.
In her VMAs debut back in 2009, the singer joined forces with Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry to give a rousing rendition of Queen’s iconic “We Will Rock You.” She turned out another showstopping number in 2013, ending the awards show with a performance of her song “Roar” in front of the Brooklyn Bridge.
Aside from her VMAs honors, Perry has racked up a heap of other achievements over her career, amassing a cumulative 115 billion streams and selling over 70 million adjusted albums and 143 million tracks worldwide.
She’s one of just five recording artists in the history of the Recording Industry Association of America to enter the 100 Million Certified Songs club, and has six singles and one album that have all been Diamond-certified.
Perry’s Video Vanguard win follows the release of her new single, “Lifetimes,” and comes ahead of her new album, “143,” dropping on September 20.
