American pop megastar Taylor Swift took home seven trophies on Sept 11 at MTV’s Video Music Awards (VMA), tying her with American hip-hop artiste Beyonce for the most lifetime honours in the 40-year history of the video accolades.
Swift snagged the top prize, Video of the Year, for her bleak, black-and-white video Fortnight featuring American rapper Post Malone. It shows her in a bare psychiatric hospital, a setting she said reflected what she was seeing in her head as she wrote the music for The Tortured Poets Department album.
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“This video seems very sad when you watch it, but it actually was the most fun video to make,” Swift said as she accepted the VMAs Moon Person statuette.
After each take, the 34-year-old would hear a cheer from someone across the studio.
“That one person was my boyfriend, Travis,” she said, referring to Kansas City Chiefs football player Travis Kelce.
“Everything this man touches turns to happiness and fun and magic. I want to thank him for adding that to this shoot.”
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She also thanked her fans for voting for the VMA honours and urged them to cast their ballots in the upcoming United States presidential election. The singer endorsed US Vice-President Kamala Harris in an Instagram post on Sept 10, soon after Ms Harris, a Democrat, finished debating her Republican rival Donald Trump.
The post has since drawn more than 10 million likes, including from American celebrities such as actress Jennifer Aniston, basketball star Caitlin Clark and singer-actress Selena Gomez.
But it attracted trolling as well. Trump supporter Elon Musk, a father of 12 who is chief executive of Tesla and owns social media platform X, wrote on his platform in reference to her signing off as “Childless Cat Lady” in her post: “Fine Taylor… you win… I will give you a child and guard your cats with my life.”
His message was branded “disgusting”, “misogynistic” and “creepy” by netizens.
Mr Trump on Sept 11 dismissed Swift’s endorsement of Ms Harris, saying he “was not a Taylor fan”.
“It was just a question of time,” he told Fox News in an interview. “She’s a very liberal person. She seems to always endorse a Democrat. And she’ll probably pay a price for it… in the marketplace.”
By the end of the awards on Sept 11, Swift brought her career VMA total to 30, putting her on a par with Beyonce, 43. Swift’s other wins on Sept 11 included Artist of the Year, Best Pop and Song of Summer.
The Video of the Year accolade was her third in a row – following an extended version of All Too Well in 2022 and Anti-Hero in 2023 – and fifth overall, making it a record for a single artiste.
When Fortnight won Best Collaboration, Swift praised Malone as “ridiculously talented” and “unfailingly polite”.