Taylor Swift dedicated her Video Of The Year victory at last night’s MTV VMAs to the late Dolly Parton, describing the country legend as the “ultimate showgirl”.
Swift picked up the night’s top prize at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles yesterday (September 27) for ‘The Fate Of Ophelia’, having written and directed the video herself.
After thanking fans and the team behind the visual, she turned her attention to Parton, who died last month aged 80.
“I want to thank and dedicate this award to one person… and that person is the ultimate showgirl, Dolly Parton,” Swift said.
She went on to praise the vivid storytelling in Parton’s songwriting, saying listening to her music could feel like watching a music video, and hailed the way the singer channelled the events of her life and career into “love and gratitude” for her fans.
Swift added that she felt fortunate to have been one of those fans and said the world had been lucky to share the planet with Parton.
Watch the speech below:
Taylor Swift dedicates Video of the Year award to “the ultimate showgirl, Dolly Parton” at #VMAspic.twitter.com/fcuFrVQajW
— Deadline (@DEADLINE) September 28, 2026
The tribute came just over a month after Swift shared an emotional message following Parton’s death, calling her a “gift that kept on giving” and praising her combination of “true grace and true grit”.
Swift and Travis Kelce had also supported Parton’s literacy charity, the Imagination Library, as part of a $26million package of donations to charities across the US earlier this year.
The admiration was mutual. In 2022, Parton praised Swift for standing up for herself amid criticism of her songwriting, describing her as “a great writer – with or without anybody”.
“She knows who she is and what she wants,” Parton added at the time.
Swift has also recently spoken about feeling an increasingly strong connection to the Nashville scene in which she began her career. Last month, she said she felt “more loyal” to her “country roots” than ever, crediting the people she encountered there with shaping her as both an artist and songwriter.
Elsewhere during last night’s VMAs, Swift made history by becoming the most-awarded artist in the ceremony’s history.
She entered the night tied with Beyoncé on 30 wins, before moving ahead when she received the inaugural Artist Director Honors, recognising her work behind the camera.
Swift subsequently won Best Direction for ‘Opalite’ and Video Of The Year for ‘The Fate Of Ophelia’, bringing her career total to 33 VMAs.
The ceremony also featured a separate tribute to Parton from Kacey Musgraves, who performed ‘I Will Always Love You’ alongside archival footage of the late singer. Musgraves had previously honoured Parton with a cover of ‘Here You Come Again’ just days after her death.
Swift also used the ceremony to premiere her new ‘Patient Zero’ video, starring Dakota Johnson and Colin Farrell, following the release of ‘The Life Of A Showgirl: The Encore’ last week.
In NME’s three-star review of ‘The Life Of A Showgirl’, Kristen S. Hé wrote: “To seek escapism is not a sin, but the best pop music makes the personal feel like life or death.”
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