Posted by Emily Exton on 09/07/2012 at 11:27 AM News

The Popdust Files: 2012 vmas, chris brown, harry styles, katy perry, niall horan, one direction, rihanna

Rihanna was the queen of last night’s Video Music Awards, taking a seat atop her literal throne and surveying the Staples Center crowd of wannabes who only wish they could be as badass as she is. In between performing “Cockiness/We Found Love” and forgetting to thank Calvin Harris during her acceptance speech for Video of the Year, RiRi had the opportunity to interact with a few friends, enemies and potential exes. With Drake to her left, Chris Brown in the building and likely dozens of non-famous folk who’ve had NSFW dreams about her hovering nearby, what’s a girl to do?

Cameras caught Rihanna head straight for her former beau after his Best Male Video win, capturing her stop, kiss him on the cheek, exchange a few words and end it all with an embrace. Call it confusing, shocking and unacceptable, but anyone who sat through her primetime chat with Oprah knows that none of this has been easy on Ri, particularly when it’s all going down in the public eye. The restraining order has been dropped and they’re “friends” now, so any documented physical interaction is just an example of Rihanna being cordial, right? Same goes for allowing A$AP Rocky to grab a piece of her behind.

On a lighter note, One Direction was on top of the world, taking home three Moonmen—Best Pop Video, Most Share-Worthy Video and Best New Artist—and playing “One Thing” to a packed house. And as an official mascot to 1D—what with their X Factor history and repetitive mentions on “Up All Night”—Katy Perry’s a fan, too! One who takes the group’s live performances very seriously.

IF ONE DIRECTION DOESN’T PERFORM ON THE VMA’S I AM GONNA JUMP OFF THIS LEDGE

— Katy Perry (@katyperry) September 6, 2012

Once that was cleared up, Katy was able to enjoy the boys’ success right along with them, taking their mutual love public with a string of smooches on the big stage and offering herself up for any potential remake of The Graduate that’s currently kicking around.

“And here’s to u mrs.robinson, I guess I can deal with that [sic],” Niall tweeted in response—likely after a giving himself a cold shower and a change of clothes. But not to be outdone by his mate, cougar-loving Harry Styles managed to get some sugar as well.

Hmm. Looks like that one lingered a bit. Hide your daughters, America. These guys are riding high.