Taylor Swift made history after being the first three-time winner of the Video of the Year award at the MTV VMAs. The singer-songwriter won the Video of the Year at the MTV VMAs 2022 for the short film on the 10-minute version of her 2012 breakup song All Too Well. Taylor’s acceptance speech at the award ceremony at Kia Forum, California, on Sunday night was a happy shock for fans — her next album, Midnights, is going to drop on October 21.
The singer thanked the cast and crew of her short film All Too Well that included Stranger Things star Sadie Sink and Teen Wolf’s Dylan O’Brien along with cinematographer Rina Yang. She also thanked her fans for their support which made her re-record her songs and make the short film.
Talking about making history, Taylor Swift beamed proudly while saying, “For the first time in VMA history, four of the directors nominated in the Video of the Year category are women,” said Taylor and gave a shoutout to her fans by saying, “you embolden me.”
The four other nominees in the category were Billie Eilish for Happier Than Ever, Madonna for Madame X, Olivia Rodrigo for Driving Home 2 U and Kacey Musgraves for Star-Crossed.
And this is also the first time that an artiste went home with this award thrice. The other two times Taylor had won the MTV VMA Video of the Year were for You Need to Calm Down in 2019 and Bad Blood (featuring Kendrick Lamar) in 2015. Here’s what the three videos are about and why we love them.
All Too Well: The Short Film (winner in 2022)
The winner of the MTV VMAs 2022 best longform video, All Too Well, was written and directed by Taylor. Featuring Sadie Sink and Dylan O’Brien, the 14-minute-55-second film is based on the 10-minute version of Taylor’s song of the same name. The story behind the short film is rumoured to be based on Taylor’s relationship with her ex-boyfriend, Jake Gyllenhall, although the singer-songwriter has not confirmed it.
The All Too Well film is split into different segments – An Upstate Escape, The First Crack in the Glass, Are You Real?, The Breaking Point, The Reeling, Thirteen Years Gone, and The Remembering. The segments trace the various phases of the relationship between a young woman and an older man (played by Sadie and Dylan) and how the first flush of love gradually transforms into heartbreak for the woman. The video garnered 74 million views on YouTube and is one of Taylor’s most popular songs ever.
You Need to Calm Down (winner in 2019)
Directed by Drew Kirsch and Taylor Swift, You Need to Calm Down is part of Taylor’s 2019 album Lover. You Need to Calm Down is upbeat and all about voicing support for the LGBTQ+ community. The lyrics ‘You just need to take several seats and then try to restore the peace / And control your urges to scream about all the people you hate / ’Cause shade never made anybody less gay so’ are a direct statement on homophobia.
With an ensemble of mostly queer celebrity cameos – Ellen DeGeneres, Billy Porter, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Hayley Kiyoko and RuPaul – and easter eggs including the cake grab from the Blank Space music video, the video had Katy Perry and Taylor coming together in a hug that was a possible hint at the end of their alleged long-standing feud.
Bad Blood ft. Kendrick Lamar (winner in 2015)
Directed by Joseph Kahn and produced by Taylor Swift, Bad Blood is a song from Taylor’s fifth album 1989 released in 2014. The music video is allegedly about the feud between her and Katy Perry, as the lyrics ‘Did you have to do this? / I was thinking that you could be trusted’ talk about friends betraying one another.
While Taylor has neither confirmed nor denied the story behind the song, she admitted in an interview to Rolling Stone magazine that it was about a fellow female popstar. The song video, set in a futuristic landscape, is full of fiery explosions and an enormous celebrity cast including Swift’s squad of friends – Selena Gomez, Lena Dunham, Gigi Hadid, Hailee Steinfeld, Martha Hunt, Jessica Alba, Hayley Williams, Zendaya and Cara Delevingne.
