Taylor Swift knew she was in trouble when *NSYNC walked into the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards.
After all, the pop star couldn't help but to fangirl over Justin Timberlake, JC Chasez, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick—who reunited for first time as a group onstage at the Sept. 12 award ceremony—when they presented her with a trophy for Best Pop Video.
"I'm not doing well pivoting from this to this," she said, gesturing from the boy band to her award. "I had your dolls. Are you doing something? What's going to happen now?"
The 33-year-old continued, "You're pop personified, so to receive this from your golden pop hands is really too much."
But the Moon Person wasn't the only gift *NSYNC handed to Taylor during their onstage encounter. As the "Cruel Summer" singer approached the microphone, Lance presented her with a friendship bracelet, a trinket often exchanged by Swifties.
"Thank you for the friendship bracelet," Taylor told the band during her award acceptance speech, before thanking the Swifties in the crowd for their constant support. "I love making pop music videos. I also love making country. I love slinking around different genres. And the only reason I'm allowed to do that is because of you, the fans, gave me the opportunity to do that."
She added, "It's all just one big adventure to challenge myself to make music that's different than what I made last."
Taylor—who went into the ceremony with an impressive 11 nominations—and her visuals for "Anti-Hero" beat out Demi Lovato for "Swine," Dua Lipa for "Dance The Night (From Barbie The Album)," Ed Sheeran for "Eyes Closed," Miley Cyrus for "Flowers," Olivia Rodrigo for "vampire" and Pink for "TRUSTFALL" for the award.
*NSYNC's surprise cameo marked exactly 10 years since the iconic quintet's last MTV VMAs appearance, when they took the stage to perform a medley of their hits. During the 2013 show, Justin—who launched his solo career in 2002 after the band went on hiatus—was also honored with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.
Keep reading to see more stars at the 2023 MTV VMAs.
Nicki Minaj
In Dolce & Gabbana.
Taylor Swift
In Versace dress and Ariel Saidian, Anita Ko, and Maria Tash jewelry.
Cardi B
In Dilara Findikoglu.
Shakira with sons Milan & Sasha
In Versace.
Demi Lovato
Olivia Rodrigo
In Ludovic de Saint Sernin.
Doja Cat
In Oscar De La Renta.
Chase Stokes and Kelsea Ballerini
Her in Mônot.
Selena Gomez
In Oscar de la Renta dress and Jimmy Choo shoes.
Megan Thee Stallion
In Brandon Blackwood.
Lance Bass, Joey Fatone, JC Chasez, Chris Kirkpatrick & Justin Timberlake of *NSYNC
Emily Ratajkowski
In Jean Paul Gaultier dress and Melissa Kaye jewelry.
Dove Cameron
In Coach dress and Simon G jewelry.
Tiffany Haddish
In Jason Wu.
Charli D'Amelio
In Shushu/Tong.
Lil Nas X
In Palomo Spain with Bible bag by Aylah Gallardo.
Tinashe
Sabrina Carpenter
Saweetie
In Area.
Dixie D'Amelio
In Maticevski.
Sofia Carson
In Alexandre Vauthier.
Bebe Rexha
Madelyn Cline
In Givenchy.
Anitta
In Schiaparelli dress and Gianvito Rossi shoes.
Coco Jones
In Moschino.
Nelly Furtado
Karol G
In Ashi Studio dress and Jacob & Co. jewelry.
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Chlöe Bailey
In Roberto Cavalli.
GloRilla
In David Koma.