--- title: How Ariana Grande Turned Her VMAs Song Into a Family Affair description: The 'Sweetener' singer brought up the women in her family for her performance of "God Is a Woman" at the 2018 MTV VMAs on Monday night. canonical: https://time.com/5373291/ariana-grande-vmas-family/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-21T16:46:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:54:27.332Z og:title: Here's the Story Behind Ariana Grande's VMAs Power Posse og:description: The "God Is a Woman" singer brought her family to the stage for her performance og:url: https://time.com/5373291/ariana-grande-vmas-family/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt475cafb213f17930/69893844db2987405826078d/ariana-grande-vmas-family.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 2018 MTV Video Music Awards - Show og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's the Story Behind Ariana Grande's VMAs Power Posse twitter:description: The "God Is a Woman" singer brought her family to the stage for her performance twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt475cafb213f17930/69893844db2987405826078d/ariana-grande-vmas-family.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Explaining Ariana Grande's Power Woman Posse Who Stole the Show During Her VMAs Performance ## Video: Celebrities Walk the 2018 VMAs Pink Carpet [Watch (HLS stream): Celebrities Walk the 2018 VMAs Pink Carpet](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/uNvctn9I.m3u8) (1:49)  _Published 2018-08-21. 2018 Video Music Awards Red Carpet_  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Aug 21, 2018 4:46 PM UTC  Lani Grande, Marjorie Grande, Ariana Grande, and Joan Grande onstage during 2018 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall on August 20, 2018 in New York City. Lani Grande, Marjorie Grande, Ariana Grande, and Joan Grande onstage during 2018 MTV Video Music Awards at Radio City Music Hall on August 20, 2018 in New York City.John Shearer—Getty Images for MTV  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Aug 21, 2018 4:46 PM UTC For [Ariana Grande’s](http://time.com/5372771/vmas-2018-ariana-grande-nicki-minaj/) performance of [“God Is a Woman”](http://time.com/5337217/5-songs-you-need-to-listen-to-this-week-57/item/god-is-a-woman-ariana-grande/) at the [2018 MTV Video Music Awards](http://time.com/5371991/vmas-2018-recap/) at Radio City Music Hall on Monday night, it wasn’t enough just for the [_Sweetener_](http://time.com/collection-post/5277962/ariana-grande-next-generation-leaders/) star to recreate a decadent “Last Supper”-style tableau of dancers and gilded costumery, replete with Grecian columns and celestial skies swirling in the background. Grande decided to bring home the message of the song even further by inviting up her family onto the stage for the end of the song, too. She welcomed aunt Lani Grande, grandmother Marjorie Grande and mom Joan Grande to center stage towards the end of the performance, joining hands with her grandmother and mom as she continued to sing the anthem praising womanhood. The entire performance kept the female-forward message strong: she was backed by an inclusive mix of dancers, all of them women, as they re-enacted the ode to spiritual femininity. Besides putting on a glittering show for the audience, which included her fiancé [Pete Davidson](http://time.com/5372525/ariana-grande-pete-davidson-2018-mtv-vmas-red-carpet/) in the front row, Grande also took home an award during the course of the evening — for her new album’s lead single [“No Tears Left to Cry,”](http://time.com/5247823/5-songs-you-need-to-listen-to-this-week-49/item/no-tears-left-to-cry-ariana-grande/) which nabbed the Best Pop trophy. During an awards show devoid of much of the star power and surprises of years past, Grande’s touching tribute to her family was a standout moment. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5373291/ariana-grande-vmas-family/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5373291/ariana-grande-vmas-family/"},"headline":"Explaining Ariana Grande's Power Woman Posse Who Stole the Show During Her VMAs Performance","datePublished":"2018-08-21T16:46:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:54:27.332Z","description":"God is all of the women in Grande's life","url":"https://time.com/5373291/ariana-grande-vmas-family/","keywords":["Newsfeed","awards","Ariana Grande"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt475cafb213f17930/69893844db2987405826078d/ariana-grande-vmas-family.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt475cafb213f17930/69893844db2987405826078d/ariana-grande-vmas-family.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2018 MTV Video Music Awards - Show","caption":"2018 MTV Video Music Awards - Show","creditText":"John Shearer—Getty Images for MTV","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5373291/ariana-grande-vmas-family/","name":"Explaining Ariana Grande's Power Woman Posse Who Stole the Show During Her VMAs Performance"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Celebrities Walk the 2018 VMAs Pink Carpet","description":"2018 Video Music Awards Red Carpet","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/uNvctn9I/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-08-21T03:08:03.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/uNvctn9I.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5373291/ariana-grande-vmas-family/","duration":"PT1M49S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5373291/ariana-grande-vmas-family/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```