It’s been a whirlwind 24 for hours for Taylor Swift—which, given that this is Taylor Swift we’re talking about, is certainly saying something. A typical day in her career doesn’t involve so much…patriotism?
After her Instagram post endorsing Kamala Harris for president landed like a lightning strike in the minutes following Tuesday night’s presidential debate—releasing an entire hive of bees into conservative pundits’ bonnets while simultaneously mobilizing hundreds of thousands of visitors to voter registration websites in just a matter of hours—she won the first award of the night at Wednesday’s MTV Video Music Awards.
She was also the night’s big grand finale, taking home Video of the Year, a moment she used to, for one of the first times, publicly thank Travis Kelce, as well as encourage fans to turn their attention from voting for awards shows to voting in the upcoming presidential election.
Swift was a surprise attendee at the show, and, when she arrived on the red carpet, many people thought she would use her stage time to continue her galvanizing championing of Harris. She conspicuously didn’t mention Harris at all during the show, instead bringing up politics her own way. Call it “Taylor Delivers New Political Message at the VMAs (Her Version).”
Picking up the award for Best Collaboration with Post Malone for their song “Fortnight” (and video, I guess, given the ceremony?), Swift used her speech to remember the lives that were lost on 9/11.
“Waking up this morning in New York on September 11th, I’ve been thinking about what happened 23 years ago, everyone who lost a loved one, and everyone that we lost,” she said. “That’s the most important thing about today, and everything that happens tonight falls behind that.”
She went on to thank Post Malone, praising the virtues that make him “everyone’s favorite person to collaborate with”: his versatility, down-to-earth personality, and unfailing politeness. She joked that she keeps trying to get him to stop calling her “ma’am.”
For his part, Malone marveled at the many hats Swift wears during every project, including directing the “Fortnight” music video from bizarre positions, like while strapped to an operating table for one show. “It was pretty badass,” he said.
Swift bookended the night with another speech in honor of “Fortnight.” In it, she made a rare public profession of love for her boyfriend, Travis Kelce. (At least, vocally...we’ve all seen the PDA.)
She recalled how, during the music video shoot, there would be one person she could hear supporting her, clapping and shouting “woo!” after every take. “That one person was my boyfriend, Travis,” she said. “Everything this man touches turns to happiness and fun and magic, so I want to thank him for adding that to our shoot, because I will always remember that.”
Fans who thought she might cap off the night by continuing her championing of Harris left disappointed—though Swift didn’t leave politics out of her speech entirely. She ended by mobilizing all the fans who voted for her to win the VMA: Go vote for real: “Please register to vote for something else very important that’s coming up, the presidential election.”
It was an unexpectedly patriotic opening to VMAs, in general. Host Megan Thee Stallion opened the show by strutting out in a leotard bedazzled in America’s red, white, and blue, which she joked she borrowed from fellow Houston native Simone Biles.
Then Flavor Flav and Team USA gymnast Jordan Chiles paired up to present the first award, which Flav detoured to present Chiles, whose bronze medal in the floor exercise was controversially taken away, with a bedazzled clock necklace—a glammed-up version of his own signature neckwear.
But aside from Swift’s words later in the night and another appearance from Chiles to encourage viewers to register to vote, politics was largely absent from the show that once was renowned for sparking discourse and controversy.
