One of my favorite parts of concerts and performance videos is my favorite singers' onstage style. Sometimes, however, something accidentally goes wrong with those glamorous outfits, so the performer has to think on their feet to fix it.
Here are 15 times singers had wardrobe malfunctions on stage (and how they fixed them):
1. When Reneé Rapp made her Saturday Night Live debut in 2024, she kept dancing to keep anyone from noticing as she pulled her jacket over her top, turned around, fixed it, then jumped right back into her choreo with Megan Thee Stallion.
Watch the entire video below, with this part happening at the 1:54 mark:
View this video on YouTube
2. When Taylor Swift played Rio de Janeiro, the Eras Tour briefly became "The Errors Tour" when the heel of her rhinestoned Christian Louboutin Lover boot snapped.
After making it through "Cruel Summer" in one piece, she paused, peeled the broken heel off the boot, and tossed it into the audience.
For the rest of the Lover set, she balanced on her toes like a Barbie doll.
3. Ten minutes into Cardi B's set at Bonnaroo 2019, the back of her skintight sparkly jumpsuit ripped open, so she ran backstage.
Then, she returned wearing a bathrobe, which she kept on for the rest of her performance.
4. When Harry Styles performed in Inglewood, California as part of Love on Tour, he accidentally split his pants right in the crotch during "Music for a Sushi Restaurant."
He covered it up by wrapping a pride flag around his waist like a skirt.
5. When Beyoncé performed "Learn to Be Lonely" from The Phantom of the Opera at the 2005 Academy Awards, she accidentally lost one of her shoes inside of her ballgown, so, as she walked down the stairs, she had to balance on her toes.
She told Oprah Winfrey, "I'm trying to remember the words and my ear monitor's turned off ― and my shoe is off of my foot, actually, inside of the dress. So, I'm on one toe and I'm in one heel, walking down the stairs, and I'm like, 'Oh my god, shoe, please stay in my dress!'"
6. During the Hamburg, Germany stop on Beyoncé's Renaissance world tour, the singer was dancing to "Break My Soul" when her boobs started to break free of her halter top. One of her backup dancers, the Les Twins, took notice and quickly jumped in front of her to block her from the audience. Then, he pulled her hand up to where she needed to cover herself, and both of them flawlessly continued their choreography.
7. While Idina Menzel was performing "Take Me or Leave Me" from Rent at Radio City Music Hall in 2014, audience members alerted her to a wardrobe malfunction.
She joked around as someone from backstage rushed out to help her.
Here's the full clip:
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8. During the Milwaukee show on Kelsea Ballerini's Heartfirst Tour, fans shouted to let her know that there was a sock stuck to the fringe of her sparkly outfit.
Sharing the incident on TikTok, she jokingly added in the caption, "the quick change mishaps continue with #sockgate."
Watch the full video below:
9. When Lil Nas X performed "Montero (Call Me By Your Name)" on Saturday Night Live in 2021, he accidentally split his leather pants mid-pole dance. So, he kept it covered while finishing out the song.
On The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, he said, "I'm pretty much going down the [stripper] pole, doing my little sexy drop down, and boom, I feel air. I'm like, 'OK, there's definitely a breeze going on.' And I also felt some popping still happening while I was down there. You know what the worst part is? At the end of the performance, the dancers are supposed to touch me and tug on me, and they were tugging on the pants. I was like, 'Please God, no.’ ... It was perfect timing. If they would've ripped any other time during the performance, everything...over...I want everyone who thought it was a publicity stunt to see that. It was not. I would never rip my pants in public on purpose."
Watch the full video below, with this part happening at the 2:14 mark:
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10. Later in 2021, Lil Nas X was performing at Florida's Audacy Beach Festival when he noticed his pink gladiator skirt was starting to slip between songs. While trying to fix it, he accidentally tripped over a dancer and fell backwards, but he recovered quickly.
Sharing a fan video of the incident on Twitter, he joked about it, writing, "the universe was determined to embarrass me yesterday lmao."
11. Dinah Jane's outfit tore when Fifth Harmony was playing Buenos Aires on their PSA World Tour. Becky G, the group's opening act, was watching from backstage, so, still in her sweatpants, she ran out with an Argentinian flag to provide coverage for Dinah. However, security thought she was a fan, so they chased her and yanked her offstage. You can watch the full video below at the 0:42 mark.
View this video on YouTube
12. At Z100's Jingle Ball in 2017, Camila Cabello's pants ripped mid-squat.
She joked about it on Twitter afterwards.
13. During a Minnesota show in 2023, Kelly Clarkson paused her performance of "Catch My Breath" when she noticed the top of her dress was slipping. She quickly ran backstage to fix it.
14. While Miley Cyrus was performing "Party in the USA" for her 2022 New Year's Eve special, the chain holding her top together broke, so she kept singing as she turned around and walked off stage. Then, she returned wearing a jacket as a top.
She later told British Vogue, "It actually ended up being incredible press for your girl. What is a live TV performance with everything going right? Live TV is a tight-rope walk. They want to see you dangle, but they don’t want to see you fall. We had promoted the show as, 'It’s Miley Cyrus and Pete Davidson. They’re so wild. You never know what’s going to happen.' Comparably, to Pete, I’m pretty classy. And the ratings were skyrocketing."
Watch the full clip below:
15. And finally, at the end of Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake's 2004 Super Bowl Halftime performance, he tore a bit of her outfit, exposing her breast. She received an unfair amount of backlash from "Nipplegate," severely impacting her career, while he got away virtually unscathed.
At the time, Janet was essentially uninvited from the Grammys, whereas Justin joked about the situation, telling Access Hollywood, "Hey man, we love giving ya'll something to talk about."
However, Justin's faced backlash over the incident in recent years. In a since-deleted 2021 Instagram post, he apologized, writing, "I am deeply sorry for the times in my life where my actions contributed to the problem, where I spoke out of turn, or did not speak up for what was right. I specifically want to apologize to Britney Spears and Janet Jackson both individually, because I care for and respect these women, and I know I failed. The industry is flawed. It sets men, especially white men, up for success. It's designed this way. As a man in a privileged position, I have to be vocal about this. I care deeply about the wellbeing of the people I love and have loved. I can do better and I will do better."
In her 2022 documentary Janet Jackson, Janet said, "Honestly, this whole thing was blown way out of proportion. Of course, it was an accident that should not have happened, but everyone is looking for someone to blame, and that’s got to stop... Justin and I are very good friends, and we will always be very good friends. We spoke just a few days ago. He and I have moved on, and it’s time for everyone else to do the same. We talked once, and [Justin] said, ‘I don’t know if I should come out and make a statement.’ And I said, ‘Listen, I don’t want any drama for you. They’re aiming all of this at me.’ So I said, ‘If I were you, I wouldn’t say anything.’"