Swift took home three awards, bringing her career total to an unmatched 33; previously \u200ctied with Beyonce at 30<\/p>\n
Taylor Swift attends the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles, California, US, September 27, 2026. PHOTO: Reuters <\/p>\n
Taylor Swift’s showgirl-inspired The Fate of Ophelia <\/em>claimed the most prestigious trophy at MTV’s annual Video Music Awards on Sunday, and the singer dedicated the honour to the late country music legend Dolly \u200bParton.<\/p>\n Swift took home three awards at this year’s VMAs, bringing her career total to an unmatched 33. She had previously \u200cbeen tied with Beyonce at 30 awards apiece.<\/p>\n Ophelia<\/em>,\u00a0the first single off the record-breaking 2025 The Life of a Showgirl<\/em>\u00a0album, was named video of the year.<\/p>\n As she held her latest Moon Person trophy, Swift praised Parton as “the ultimate showgirl” who told stories that were “so vivid and so rich.” “I think that we were all very lucky \u200bto share this planet with Dolly Parton for a time,” Swift said.<\/p>\n Parton, an award-winning country singer, songwriter and businesswoman, died in August \u200bat the age of 80.<\/p>\n Earlier in the ceremony, Swift was awarded the inaugural MTV VMA Artist Director Honors. \u2060The 36-year-old has written and directed 18 videos of her roughly 60 videos during her career.<\/p>\n The most recent, for her new single Patient Zero<\/em>,\u00a0\u200bdebuted during the ceremony. The video starred Dakota Johnson and Colin Farrell as a couple in an unhealthy relationship.<\/p>\n “The main reason I love \u200bwriting and directing music videos so much is because you, the fans, make it so much, so much fun,” Swift said. “You actually care about what we’re making.”<\/p>\n She also won best direction for her Opalite<\/em>\u00a0video.<\/p>\n The VMAs were broadcast live on CBS <\/em>and MTV <\/em>and streamed on Paramount+ <\/em>and hosted by Snoop Dogg. Winners in the top categories \u200bwere selected by fan votes.<\/p>\n Pop music legend Madonna led this year’s field of winners with seven awards including artist of the year and \u200bbest dance video for Confessions II — The Film<\/em>.\u00a0She recalled her 1984 performance of Like a Virgin<\/em>\u00a0at the first VMAs, which she said was considered too provocative \u200cfor cable \u2060television at the time.<\/p>\n “I think most of you were probably not yet born,” the 68-year-old told the crowd before explaining that she had to quickly recover during that performance from a shoe mishap.<\/p>\n “I dove onto the stage to try and make myself look cute and sexy,” she said. “My butt cheek was hanging out. In those days, butt cheeks were not hanging out … my manager told me my career was over.”<\/p>\n Speaking about \u200bthe Confessions II<\/em>\u00a0album, Madonna said she \u200bspent the past 18 months “finding \u2060myself, believing in myself and really making the music I wanted to make.” “To me, that really is the definition of being an artist,” she said.<\/p>\n Madonna kicked off the show with a high-energy performance of two of \u200bher recent collaborations. Sabrina Carpenter joined her for Bring Your Love<\/em>\u00a0– a song later named best collaboration – and \u200bCharli XCX took \u2060the stage for Danceteria Afterhours<\/em>\u00a0surrounded by dancers on a set that looked like a club restroom.<\/p>\n In a more quiet moment, Kacey Musgraves paid tribute to Parton by singing the enduring song I Will Always Love You<\/em>.<\/p>\n Lisa, a member of the group Blackpink, won the VMA for best pop video for her \u2060solo effort Dream<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u200bSporting a black outfit with large white fringe sleeves, she spoke through tears as \u200bshe thanked her fans, known as Lillies. “I wouldn’t be here without you guys,” she said. “Thank you so much for your love and support.”<\/p>\n English singer and songwriter Sienna Spiro, who \u200bcombines pop, jazz and soul music, was named best new artist.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Swift took home three awards, bringing her career total to an unmatched 33; previously \u200ctied with Beyonce at 30 Taylor Swift attends the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles, California, US, September 27, 2026. PHOTO: Reuters Taylor Swift’s showgirl-inspired The Fate of Ophelia claimed the most prestigious trophy at MTV’s annual Video Music […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":113883,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.tribune.com.pk\/media\/images\/taylor-dolly1790598661-1\/taylor-dolly1790598661-1-640x480.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t