The VMAs have always been a big deal in the Swiftie universe, so, naturally, fans have been dying to know: Will Taylor Swift attend the VMAs in 2025?
The 35-year-old is nominated for artist of the year—her 71st nomination overall. Unfortunately, E! News confirmed on September 5 that Swift won’t make it to this year’s show, held on September 7 in New York, after all.
The news is surprising considering Swift could make history this year. She’s currently tied with Beyoncé—also nominated at this year’s awards—for the most Video Music Awards wins, with 30 Moon Men trophies to her name. Not to mention, she’s had a banner August, announcing her new album, The Life of a Showgirl, out October 3, as well as her engagement to boyfriend of two years Travis Kelce. Swift was also rumored to be headlining the 2026 Super Bowl, though nothing has been confirmed yet.
There could be many reasons for Swift’s decision to skip this year’s show—maybe she’s just tired? Plus, the show falls at the start of football season. As we learned from Swift’s appearance on Kelce’s New Heights podcast, the pop star is now a diehard football fan, despite knowing next to nothing before she and her fiancé began dating. Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs will take on the Los Angeles Chargers this evening, September 5, in São Paulo (yes, in Brazil!) for game one of the regular season. TBD on whether Swift will be in attendance, but if we had to guess, we’d say she’ll be there.
Of course, it’s totally possible that she could hop on a plane post-game and land in New York with plenty of time to spare before the red carpet on Sunday, but after two years of nonstop travel for the Eras Tour, I imagine that the appeal of traversing international borders every other day has kind of worn off.
Though Swift is skipping the VMAs 2025, fans have many Swiftian VMA moments to look back on fondly, from her Girl Squad era to the Midnights album announcement to last year’s Dior red-carpet moment. And isn’t it also so sweet that after everything that went down at the 2009 VMAs, both Beyoncé and Swift are tied for the most wins in VMA history? And none for Kanye West, bye!
