RAYE Makes VMAs Performance Debut With 'Where Is My Husband!'

RAYE took the stage at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday night for her first-ever performance at the ceremony, delivering a high-energy rendition of her hit single "Where Is My Husband!" Dressed in a floor-length white fur coat over a glimmering red dress, the 28-year-old opened her set with "I Will Overcome," a track that references the late Amy Winehouse, before launching into the song that earned her a Song of the Year nomination this year. The performance, which took place in Los Angeles and aired on CBS and MTV, featured a six-piece string section and more than a dozen additional musicians, according to Rolling Stone.

The set included an updated recording of her grandmother, whose voice appears on the original studio version of the track. "I know you have been promoting this song for a long time," her grandmother says in the recording. "But be patient, my granddaughter. Your husband is coming." RAYE went into the night as a two-time VMA winner but had never performed live at the ceremony until this year, according to Billboard.

She was added to a performer lineup that also included Lisa, Shaboozey, and Sienna Spiro. The show was hosted by Snoop Dogg and opened with a cameo-filled performance from Madonna, her first at the VMAs in 23 years. "Where Is My Husband!" is RAYE's highest-charting single to date, debuting on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 90 in October 2025 and peaking at No. 11 in April 2026.

It spent 30 weeks on the chart before falling off. The song appears on her sophomore album, This Music May Contain Hope, which was released in March and reached No. 11 on the Billboard 200. In a Rolling Stone review of the album, Rob Sheffield wrote, "The south London belter has a story to tell on This Music May Contain Hope, and it's an epic autobiography of romantic despair and nonstop emotional turmoil. Her mighty pipes are as unstoppable as her flair for mascara-melting melodrama."

Later in the show, RAYE also assisted in a tribute to George Michael's greatest hits alongside Sombr, Adam Lambert, and Teddy Swims, according to Billboard.