Taylor Swift dropped the music video for her latest single “Patient Zero” during the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards Sunday night.
Swift premiered the video after accepting the inaugural artist director honor. It stars Swift, alongside Dakota Johnson and Colin Farrell — Johnson introduced Swift with the honor onstage. The music video features Johnson as Farrell’s current lover. It’s clear from the video it’s not a healthy relationship. Throughout the video Swift mirrors Johnson, as she sings about knowing what what the actress is going through because she was man’s “patient zero.”
After an incident at an event, Farrell makes a comment to Johnson that he thought “she was different,” which leads the actress to ask who she’s different from. The video cuts to Swift living out exactly what Johnson’s been living through, revealing that Farrell poisoned Swift, leading to her death. The music video ends where it began, Johnson looking at a grave, only it’s now revealed that it’s Swift’s grave. The actress leaves a rose atop the gravestone for the woman.
“Patient Zero” one of four new songs on the singer’s special deluxe edition of her latest album, The Life of a Showgirl: Encore Edition. She released the new version of the album on Friday, which featured the other new songs “Babylon,” “Pink Clouding” and “Cleveland!”
“About a year ago, you guys did a truly unfathomable thing. Something that completely blew my mind… You gave ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ the biggest first week for an album in history,” Swift wrote on Instagram last week to announce the album. “I took a trip to Sweden to celebrate with Max and Shellback, my two collaborators on this album. Really we just wanted to reflect and take in how grateful we were for the moment we were in, but there was a studio there and we did what we do when we feel anything at all: We wrote more songs. I hope you love them, because they were born out of pure gratitude for your exuberance for and celebration of the album we made.”
The pop superstar arrived just before the show decked out an a black dress, with a mesh cutout, and a glittered silver long skirt. Her hair was styled in a long bob. She stopped to take pictures on the red carpet before the show.
Hosted by Snoop Dogg, the 2026 MTV VMAs aired on CBS on MTV. The show is taking place live from Los Angeles — well, almost live. The Ravens-Cowboys game on CBS delayed the televised start of the show by roughly 20 minutes; however, the ceremony started in person on time, meaning those in the audience in L.A. are seeing what happens before the viewers at home do.
It’s the first time the award show has taken place in L.A. in nearly a decade — the last time being in 2017 when Katy Perry hosted the ceremony at The Forum. The ceremony is produced by Gunpowder & Sky. Van Toffler serves as producer. Jesse Ignjatovic of Den of Thieves, Barb Bialkowski and Bruce Gillmer serve as executive producers alongside Barry Barclay and Floris Bauer. Melanie Block co-executive produces, while Gary Lanvy serves as co-producer. Snoop also executive produces alongside producers Sara Ramaker and Jasmin Ratansi. Jen Proctor serves as executive talent producer.
The 2026 VMAs kicked off with a cameo-filled performance from pop icon Madonna — Sabrina Carpenter, Charli XCX, Sombr, Seth Rogen and more made appearances throughout, with the first two performing alongside Madonna. It was the first time the legendary singer has performed at the award show in 23 years.
Other performers at the show included Lisa, Sienna Spiro, GENER8ION, Kacey Musgraves, Teddy Swims, Sombr, Gunna and Yung Lean and more. Taylor Swift received the inaugural MTV VMA Artist Director Honors. Nirvana was honored with the iconic video vanguard award. The show also included tributes for the late Dolly Parton and George Michael.
Read the full article here
