Taylor Swift becomes first recipient of MTV Artist Director Honor — Rolling Stone

Taylor Swift became the first recipient of the Artist Director Honor at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards. The award was presented to the singer by Dakota Johnson, who called Swift a creator of emotional worlds and praised her work on music videos, Rolling Stone reports.

Work on music videos

During her speech, Swift said that she has been creating music videos for 20 years. According to her, during that time she has been involved in making 60 videos, approximately 18 of which she wrote and directed herself.

The singer thanked her fans, as well as all the people she worked with on these projects. After her speech, she presented a new video featuring Dakota Johnson and Colin Farrell.

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Nominations and previous wins

At the 2026 MTV VMAs, Swift received 11 nominations, including in the Artist of the Year category. The video for “The Fate of Ophelia” from Life of a Showgirl is nominated for Video of the Year and in several creative categories.

Swift has been nominated eight times in the Best Direction category. She won four Moon Person awards for directing the videos “The Man,” All Too Well: The Short Film, “Anti-Hero,” and “Fortnight.” This is a record in the Best Direction category: David Fincher has three such wins. On the eve of the ceremony, the singer released an expanded version of Showgirl with four tracks, including “Patient Zero.”