Taylor Swift premiered the new music video for her The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore track “Patient Zero” at the 2026 Video Music Awards on Sunday night. The clip, which co-stars Dakota Johnson and Colin Farrell, follows a slowly dissolving marriage (Johnson and Farrell), while the husband’s now-deceased ex-wife (Swift) haunts them from a distance. Cara Delevingne makes an appearance too. There’s a quasi twist you’ll probably see coming but I won’t spoil it here.
The VMAs were a fitting occasion for Swift to drop a video, as she received the last-minute, inaugural Artist Director Honors this year, a new award reserved for acts “whose work behind the camera has expanded the possibilities of music video and advanced the art of visual storytelling,” an MTV spokesperson said in a statement. Swift was up for nine VMAs total on Sunday, making her the second-most nominated artist of the night, next to Madonna’s 13.
The premiere also capped off a busy week for Swift, who dropped an expanded edition of her 2025 album on Friday. Swift wrote the four new songs on The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore—”Patient Zero,” “Cleveland!,” “Pink Clouding,” and “Babylon”—with TLOAS co-producers Max Martin and Shellback.
Follow along with all of Pitchfork’s coverage of the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards.