Taylor Swift's dance to Katy Perry at the VMAs goes viral thanks to Travis' shoutout

A video of Taylor Swift dancing to Katy Perry’s performance of “Teenage Dream” at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) has gone viral.

Swift dominated the awards ceremony on Wednesday night, taking home seven awards, making her the most-nominated solo artist in VMA history. The “Bad Blood” singer was already the most nominated artist at the start of the night and ended up winning her 30th VMA, surpassing Beyoncé's record as a solo artist. Beyoncé has won 25 VMAs alone; she won two with Jay-Z and two with Destiny's Child.

Swift is used to showing her excitement whenever someone performs at an awards show, and Wednesday night was no different. The 14-time Grammy winner was spotted singing and dancing to Perry's hit alongside her friend Suki Waterhouse.

A video of Swift's dance was shared by the account @TheSwiftSociety on X (formerly Twitter) with the caption “Taylor Swift sings along to Katy Perry.” At the time of writing, the post had already been viewed over 1 million times.

Newsweek has emailed a Swift spokesperson outside of normal business hours for comment.

This wasn't the only time Swift went viral during the VMAs. She also made a splash on the internet when she thanked boyfriend Travis Kelce, a tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs, in her acceptance speech for Video of the Year for “Fortnight” featuring Post Malone — beating out Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, Doja Cat, Eminem and SZA.

“When you watch this video, it seems very sad, but it was actually the most fun video to make. Something I'll never forget is that whenever I would finish a take and say cut and we would finish that take, I would always hear someone cheering from across the studio where we were shooting it, and that one person was my friend Travis,” Swift said as the crowd erupted in cheers.

“Everything this man touches turns into happiness, fun and magic and I want to thank him for bringing that to our shoot because I will never forget it.”

A clip of her thanking Kelce was sent to X by the official VMA account with the caption: “The sign on our hearts says it's still reserved for @taylorswift13's shout-out to @tkelce during her acceptance speech at the #VMAs.”

At the time of writing, the video has been viewed over 153,000 times.

“Seriously though, Taylor's mention of Travis was incredibly touching,” one person commented.

“'My friend Travis' why am I giggling and striving,” posted another.

A third person added: “Oh my God [oh my God] She said publicly for the first time: “My friend Travis. I like to hear that.”

At the beginning of her speech, Swift thanked those she collaborated with on the music video and invited some of them on stage, including Post Malone. She also thanked actors Josh Charles and Ethan Hawke, who appeared in the video.

“Directing this video, putting the script together and writing it was a wonderful experience, and that’s because of all the people I got to do it with – and that includes [actors] Ethan Hawke and Josh Charles, who had great cameo appearances, including my great cameraman [and] Rodrigo Prieto, who goes out of his way to work with female directors,” Swift said.

“He's a genius and I can't believe I got to work with him and Ethan Tobman, my amazing production designer who I worked with on the Eras tour. Post Malone, who we all love so much.”

The pop superstar concluded her speech by urging people to register to vote in the upcoming election, just a day after Swift eagerly awaited Vice President Kamala Harris following the politician's debate with former President Donald Trump.

This is the third year in a row that Swift has won the video music award. She won the award in 2023 for “Anti-Hero” and in 2022 for “All Too Well (10-Minute Version) (Taylor's Version).”