Taylor Swift will be absent from the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards, Us Weekly has learned.
The annual awards show is held at New York’s UBS Arena on Sunday, September 7, where Swift, 35, is up for one Moon Person trophy.
The Life of a Showgirl musician is nominated for Artist of the Year alongside Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Bad Bunny, Lady Gaga, Morgan Wallen and The Weeknd.
Swift last attended the VMAs in September 2024, where she walked away with seven trophies for her album The Tortured Poets Department. While Swift attended the ceremony solo, she gave now-fiancé Travis Kelce a sweet shout-out in her Video of the Year acceptance speech.
Taylor Swift Is Ready for ‘Next Era’ of Life Post-Tour With Travis Kelce
“The thing is that this video seems very sad when you watch it, but it actually was, like, the most fun video to make,” Swift said of filming “Fortnight” with rapper Post Malone. “Something that I’ll always remember is when I would finish a take and I’d say cut and we’d be done with that take, I would always just hear someone cheering ‘woo’ from across the studio where we were shooting it, that one person was my boyfriend, Travis.”
She added, “Everything this man touches turns to happiness and fun and magic, so I wanna thank him for adding that to our shoot because I’ll always remember that.”
Swift started dating Kelce, 35, in summer 2023, before the Kansas City Chiefs tight end proposed last month.
“Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married,” she and Kelce captioned a joint Instagram post, alongside a carousel of photos from the peony-filled garden proposal.
Kansas City Chiefs Reference Taylor Swift VMA Speech Thanking Travis Kelce
Speaking about the milestone on his “New Heights” podcast earlier this week, Kelce noted that he feels “giddy” calling Swift his fiancée.
“I appreciate everybody [who] reached out and sent something, and all the posts and all the excitement that’s been going on,” Kelce said on the Wednesday, September 3, podcast episode. “It’s been really fun telling everybody who I’m going to be spending the rest of my life with.”
Kelce also gave his podcast listeners advice for planning the perfect proposal.
“Man, you gotta know your gal. Or your significant other. You can’t let how somebody else does it make you feel like you need to do it that way,” the NFL star told his brother, Jason Kelce. “You might be able to get some ideas from how other people did it, might get the creative juices flowing. I would just say know your partner, know who you’re doing it for and do it for the right reasons, baby.”
Travis recently traveled to Brazil for his Chiefs season opener against the Los Angeles Chargers on Friday, September 5.
The 2025 MTV Video Music Awards airs live Sunday, September 7, at 8 p.m. ET.
