Taylor Swift Reflects on Art of Songwriting as She Wins Song of the Year at 2023 VMAs: ‘Maybe We All Have the Same Issues’

It’s certainly not exhausting rooting for Taylor Swift at the VMAs!

The pop icon, 33, scored big at the 2023 MTV VMA when she took home the award for song of the year for her Midnights smash “Anti-Hero” Tuesday night. 

After being presented with the trophy by Nelly Furtado and Timbaland — who himself bowed down to the singer-songwriter — Swift gave hugs to all in her row, including Eras Tour opener Sabrina Carpenter.

“I’m sorry, I’m just very millennial-triggered by my choices of presenters tonight,” Swift said while receiving the award, shortly after already scooping the trophy for best pop from *NSYNC. “You guys are gonna do something right? Oh my God.”

Swift then took a moment to express that she’s “really really lucky” to create music alongside collaborator Jack Antonoff, who she called “one of my best friends in the world.”

“He’s so talented it’s incomprehensible. And I’m so lucky I’ve been making music with him since we worked on an album called 1898. We’ll continue working together til’ 2089.”

“I am so so happy because this is validating my favorite part of what I get to do,” she later added of her latest Moon Person. “I started writing songs when I was 12 and it always starts with a very isolated emotion. A very specific type of insecurity or self-loathing that I feel like I’m the only one who is healing in that moment. But then when I go out on tour and I’ve got a stadium singing words back to me, it brings me to this very relaxing feeling of, ‘Maybe we all have the same issues.’ Thank you so much to the fans. I love you so much, this means the world to me.”

Check out PEOPLE’s full MTV VMAs coverage to get the latest news on music’s big night.

Taylor Swift.

Jason Kempin/Getty

Swift once again became everybody’s hero (and shattered records) when she announced last month that a concert film of her Eras Tour would be coming to theaters across the country starting in October. 

Taylor Swift The Eras Tour concert film broke an all-time record for single-day AMC advance ticket sales with $26 million and became Fandango’s best first-day ticket seller of the year so far.

“The Eras Tour has been the most meaningful, electric experience of my life so far and I’m overjoyed to tell you that it’ll be coming to the big screen soon 😆,” Swift wrote on Instagram. 

The global icon’s next big milestone is set to come shortly thereafter, as she’ll release 1989 (Taylor’s Version) on Oct. 27. 

The 2023 MTV VMAs are airing live from The Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on Tuesday, Sept. 12 on CBS and BET, BET Her, VH1, Comedy Central, CMT, Logo, MTV, MTV2, Nickelodeon and Paramount Network. Viewers can also catch the show through an MTV.com live stream or on Paramount+.