Taylor Swift is in awe of how her music video for “Patient Zero” came together.
“Walking through here and seeing the way that [Emmanuel Lubezki’s nickname] Chivo has lit this and the way the sets are and how brilliantly he has done this production design, I’m kind of rethinking the release of the video,” Swift, 36, said on set in March for a video shared via her Instagram Stories on Sunday, September 27, referring to the award-winning cinematopher. “Like, I need to figure out a way to get this on TV or something.”
The pop star continued, “I’m just, sort of, like, ‘Google, when are the VMAs?’”
Swift captioned her upload, “Turns out the @VMAS are Sept 27 a.k.a. Today.”
The 14-time Grammy winner got her wish because The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore single’s official music video will indeed premiere at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards later on Sunday amid her recognition for the inaugural Artist Director Honors. (Swift earned an additional 11 nods at the 2026 VMAs.)
Swift directed the music video, starring Dakota Johnson and Colin Farrell, and enlisted Oscar-winning filmmaker Lubezki, 61, to handle the cinematography.
Swift released “Patient Zero” on the extended version of her 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, on Friday, September 25, with three other new tracks.
“I was hanging out with a bunch of friends, and one of my friends told us that she had been reached out to by the new girlfriend of an ex of hers, asking for guidance on if she had had the same experiences with this guy,” she told the U.K.’s Capital FM of her writing inspiration for the new tune. “Everyone in our group just immediately started saying like, ‘Oh, I’ve been through that too.’”
Swift continued at the time, “I thought to myself, ‘If this has happened to all of us, it’s such an interesting kind of angle on humanity and on relationships. I wonder if I could write something from the perspective of getting this phone call, and really only from the perspective and the side of the phone call of the ex who’s been through it before.’”
In a teaser for the video, Swift starred alongside Johnson, 36, and Farrell, 50, while traipsing around a mysterious-looking modern house. In a separate scene, Swift appeared to comfort Johnson at a cemetery in front of a headstone mourning a currently unknown daughter who lived from 1989 to 2022.
The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore is out now.
