(UPI) — Taylor Swift took home the Video of the Year award at the MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday for her video The Fate of Ophelia, an evening that largely showcased the talents of Madonna, who was honored as Artist of the Year.
Swift’s video triumphed over notable nominations, including Ariana Grande’s hate that i made you love me, Bruno Mars’ I Just Might, GENER8ION’s STORM featuring Yung Lean, Madonna’s Confessions II – The Film, and Sabrina Carpenter’s Tears.
In her acceptance speech, Swift dedicated the award to the late Dolly Parton, who passed away last month, expressing that she was “the ultimate showgirl … We were all very lucky to share this planet with Dolly Parton.”
Additionally, Swift was presented with the inaugural MTV VMA Artist Director Honors, given to “groundbreaking music artists whose work behind the camera has expanded the possibilities of music video and advanced the art of visual storytelling.”
Furthermore, the ceremony saw the world premiere of her new single Patient Zero, which she directed, featuring Colin Farrell and Dakota Johnson with cinematography by Oscar winner Emmanuel Lubezki.
Madonna, for her part, also had a successful night, winning the Artist of the Year among 11 nominations she received.
Swift was nominated nine times, while both Grande and Carpenter had seven nominations each.
In a competitive evening, Madonna outshined Swift for the top artist title, along with other nominees like Grande, Mars, Morgan Wallen, and Carpenter.
Snoop Dogg hosted the event at Peacock Theater, where he welcomed the Queen of Pop as she kicked off the show with her first live VMAs performance in 23 years.
During her performance, she sang her collaboration with Carpenter, Bring Your Love, initially reclining on a grand piano while Carpenter played, and then launching into a choreographed dance sequence.
Shortly after her performance, she received one of her awards for Best Collaboration with Carpenter for the same song.
One moving moment of the night was when Kacey Musgraves honored Parton with a rendition of her iconic song, I Will Always Love You, just a month after the beloved country star’s passing.
Musgraves, who was friends with Parton and was nominated for Best Country at the VMAs for “Dry Spell,” had also performed a tribute at her concert in Boston on August 28.
The award for Best New Artist of the Year went to 21-year-old Sienna Spiro, a British singer-songwriter acclaimed for her powerful voice and reminiscent of 1960s girl groups.
LISA won Best Pop for Dream featuring Kentaro Sakaguchi, surpassing fellow nominees including Grande’s hate that i made you love me, Charli xcx’s SS26, Olivia Rodrigo’s drop dead, Carpenter’s House Tour, Tate McRae’s Nobody’s Girl, and Swift’s The Fate of Ophelia.
In a notable win, the South Korean boy band BTS received the Song of the Year award for Swim.
