Yung Lean and GENER8ION Premiere 'Storm II' at 2026 VMAs

Yung Lean and GENER8ION premiered their collaboration "Storm II" live at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards, staging the song's first television performance and marking both acts' debuts at the ceremony.

The duo recreated the track's music video with a troop of dancers dressed in school uniforms, performing choreography by Damien Jalet. Yung Lean opened the set by seizing a Moon Person trophy, carrying it to the main stage and smashing it on the ground — a direct mirror of the video's imagery. As the song faded out, he broke from the formation and spat a blue ice cream cone into the camera lens.

The performance drew on the two-part "Storm" project, whose first installment entered the night with four nominations: Video of the Year, Best Long Form Video, Best Direction for Romain Gavras, and Best Choreography for Jalet.

"Storm" faced heavy competition for Video of the Year. The category included Ariana Grande's "Hate That I Made You Love Me," Bruno Mars's "I Just Might," Madonna's "Confessions II – The Film," Sabrina Carpenter's "Tears," and Taylor Swift's "The Fate of Ophelia."

Both collaborators behind the "Storm" visuals bring established credentials to the project. Gavras previously won the VMA for Best Direction for M.I.A.'s "Bad Girls." Jalet, known for his hypnotic choreographic style, gained wider recognition in the music world through his work with Thom Yorke on the short film Anima.

The VMA premiere positions "Storm II" — and the second chapter of the GENER8ION partnership — for the kind of awards-cycle attention its predecessor received, with the ceremony's platform giving the collaboration its largest live audience to date.