Taylor Swift Is Competing Against BFFs in These 2024 VMAs Categories

We’re not anticipating any bad blood at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards — but Taylor Swift will have plenty of healthy competition with some of her BFFs.

The pop star, 34, is up for a total of 10 awards at this year’s ceremony, which will be held at the UBS Arena in New York on Wednesday, September 11. While the biggest accolade of the night, Video of the Year, doesn’t include anyone from Swift’s inner circle, she will go up against pals like Sabrina Carpenter, Camila Cabello and Post Malone in the majority of the other categories.

For Artist of the Year, Swift and Carpenter, 25, go head-to-head alongside other nominees Ariana Grande, Bad Bunny, Eminem and SZA. The blonde duo will also fight it out in the Best Pop, Song of the Year, Best Direction, Best Editing and Best Art Direction categories.

While Swift is competing solely with her breakout single from The Tortured Poets Department, “Fortnight” (a duet with Malone, 29), Carpenter has two songs from her Short N’ Sweet album in the running: “Please Please Please” and the radio-dominating hit “Espresso.”

Best Pop will also see Swift up against longtime pal Cabello, 27, whose fourth studio album, C,XOXO, dropped in June. Best Collaboration, meanwhile, features Malone twice, meaning Swift is both competing with and against her duet partner. (Malone’s “I Had Some Help” featuring Morgan Wallen earned a nod.)

Swift has bonded with a lot of her closest friends through music over the years. She took Cabello with her for the 1989 tour in 2015 and found a pal in Malone through their “Fortnight” collaboration.

Carpenter, for her part, grew up as a vocal fan of Swift before the pair took their first photo together at the 2022 VMAs afterparty. Two years later, Carpenter landed a spot as the opening act for the South American leg of Swift’s worldwide Eras Tour, and their relationship blossomed from there.

“I’m not gonna say I peed my pants because that sounds really graphic and maybe not sanitary, but I think it really just caught me off guard,” Carpenter told Who What Wear in January of being asked by Swift to join the tour. “It was very much a childhood dream come true. I still probably have not processed it if I’m being completely honest with you.”

After her final Eras show in March, Carpenter took to social media to thank Swift for bringing her along for the ride.

“And the most thank-you’s I’ve ever thank-you’d to Taylor. I feel so lucky to witness the magic that is you and this tour,” she captioned an Instagram photo of her time on the road. “There is truly no one like you and there never will be! I love you with all my heart and i will cherish this taybrina era (and all the eras) till the end of time 💞💞💞.”

In June, Carpenter addressed rumors that there was drama brewing between her and Swift after she chose to do a Skims campaign for Kim Kardashian, a longtime foe of the “Anti-Hero” singer.

“In that scenario, I’ve been very, very communicative with her about that situation, and I just love her so much and support her till the end,” Carpenter told Rolling Stone at the time. “So it was no weirdness for me, but I know people will just say things because that’s all they have time to do.”

Carpenter shut down feud rumors again two months later when she clarified that she did not need to “ask permission” from Swift to be part of the campaign. She also noted that she and Swift have become “best, best friends” who support each other through all their respective endeavors.

“It’s so cool for me to get a perspective on this whole process from her and the community of artists that I feel I’m close to — to get advice from them on stuff that you can’t just ask the internet,” she explained to Variety. “We’re always playing each other our [music], and whenever I start to think, ‘Maybe I’ll get on Twitter and say something about this,’ I’m always like, ‘Maybe I’ll write a song instead.’”

The 2024 MTV Video Music Awards air on MTV Wednesday, September 11, at 8 p.m. ET.