Olivia Rodrigo Psychs Out Crowd — Including Selena Gomez! — with Faux Stage Malfunction During Performance at 2023 VMAs

Olivia Rodrigo spilled her Guts onstage at the 2023 MTV VMA Awards.

The singer-songwriter, 20, took the stage at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., on Tuesday night, singing a pair of new hits as she psyched out the crowd with a faux stage malfunction.

Rodrigo kicked things off with her sophomore album Guts' lead single "Vampire," which she sang onstage amid an array of trees while wearing a red bra and skirt combination with white boots.

But as the song picked up, the pyrotechnics behind her appeared to malfunction, and she looked confused as an apparent VMAs staffer appeared to quickly usher her offstage.

The fake-out (a nod to her "Vampire" music video, in which the same thing happens) certainly had the crowd convinced something had gone amiss, and a close-up shot of Selena Gomez showed the Only Murders in the Building star looking confused as it played out.

As Rodrigo exited, her No. 1 hit "Good 4 U" played with a skip until finally all went quiet — and the star returned to the stage in full force, rocking out to her new song "Get Him Back!"

She was joined by a group dressed all in pink as she performed with a blue curtain behind her.

Rodrigo's performance comes days after she released her second LP Guts, the follow-up to her 2021 debut Sour.

Last week, Rodrigo opened up to PEOPLE about the pressure she felt to create a follow-up album for Sour, which helped her win three Grammy Awards.

“For the first few months of writing Guts I was dealing with a lot of noise in my head about whether it was going to be good enough or whether I could ever top what I did on Sour,” she said. “It definitely adds a lot of pressure.”

Check out PEOPLE's full MTV VMAs coverage to get the latest news on music’s big night.

When it came to writing Guts, Rodrigo teamed back up with her producer and songwriting partner Dan Nigro, and said she did her best to follow her gut.

“I had to switch my mindset into just trying to write songs that I would like to hear on the radio and not trying to beat anything or achieve any sort of commercial success,” she said. “Then it became a lot more fun, and the music became a lot better.”

Rodrigo says she also found unexpected ways to alleviate pressure, like spending time with Nigro’s 18-month-old daughter Saoirse.

“If we were ever feeling stressed out, we would go and hang out with his baby, and immediately I’d be like, ‘Okay, I don’t need to worry about what people on Twitter are going to say. This is beautiful, and this is what life’s all about,’” she said. “It would normally cure our writer’s block.”

The singer-songwriter is nominated for six awards this year including video of the year. Also confirmed to perform this year at the VMAs are Lil Wayne, Doja Cat, Kelsea Ballerini, Anitta, Demi Lovato, Karol G, Måneskin and Stray Kids.

The 2023 MTV VMAs are airing live from The Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on Tuesday, Sept. 12 on CBS and BET, BET Her, VH1, Comedy Central, CMT, Logo, MTV, MTV2, Nickelodeon and Paramount Network. Viewers can also catch the show through an MTV.com live stream or on Paramount+.