Body language expert breaks down Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter's 'frosty-looking' hug at VMAs

A body language expert has broken down Ariana Grande and Sabrina Carpenter's awkward looking interaction at the VMAs on Sunday (September 7).

The music pair attended the music awards show at the UBS Arena in New York overnight, with both collecting well-deserved awards for their work in the biz over the past year.

But while the VMAs has been a little quieter this year in terms of major talking points, a 'frosty-looking' hug between Grande and Carpenter certainly has much of the internet talking.

In a video shared across social media, the pop stars were seen chatting backstage and even embraced at one point as they prepared to take to their seats in New York.

Grande and Carpenter spoke backstage (Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for MTV)

However, there was one particular moment that saw Carpenter go in for a hug again, while Grande, the Wicked actor, failed to put her arms round her fellow music star.

Such led to an awkward interaction between the 'Espresso' hitmaker and Grande, with a body language expert now weighing into the debate.

Judi James told the Daily Mail: "[Ariana] holds her arms out for a frosty-looking partial hug that has 'brakes' on it via the holding of the elbows. There is a small dance on the spot with excitement but it is rather low-key compared to the kind of fan-like hand kissing she performed on Lady Gaga."

The body language expert added: "Ariana performed many acts of fan-like lowered status and respect tonight but the body language signals from her greeting ritual with Sabrina tonight suggested she retained her own status while keeping it rather cool.

"The body language looks professional here ... but with the elbow-clutching the suggestion is that these two stars don't know each other very well."

The music stars embraced during the VMAs (Christopher Polk/Billboard via Getty Images)

It comes just days after Carpenter released her new album, 'Man’s Best Friend', on August 29 - which came after she told Rolling Stone in an interview that her 2024 offering, 'Short n’ Sweet', could have been 'stretched out' further.

She told the outlet: "But I’m at that point in my life where I’m like, ‘Wait a second, there’s no rules'. If I’m inspired to write and make something new, I would rather do that. Why would I wait three years just for the sake of waiting three years?

"It’s all about what feels right. I’m learning to listen to that a lot more, instead of what is perceived as the right or wrong move."