Swift's 'Patient Zero' Video With Farrell & Johnson to Debut at VMAs — SkimNews
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- Taylor Swift will world-premiere the 'Patient Zero' music video during Sunday's MTV VMAs on CBS and MTV (streaming on Paramount+ Premium), with a teaser dropping Thursday via CBS Mornings and her social accounts.
- Colin Farrell and Dakota Johnson appear in the video, which Swift directed with cinematography by Oscar winner Emmanuel Lubezki (The Revenant, Birdman, Gravity).
- 'Patient Zero' is the lead single from The Life of a Showgirl: The Encore, an expanded edition of last year's album that adds four previously unreleased songs — 'Cleveland!,' 'Pink Clouding,' and 'Babylon' alongside 'Patient Zero' — streaming beginning Friday.
- The 13-second teaser shows a cemetery, water imagery, Swift crying, and Farrell and Johnson in brief flashes, alongside other cryptic visuals.
- The VMAs, hosted by Snoop Dogg, air Sunday 7:30-9:30 p.m. ET/4:30-6:30 p.m. PT on CBS and MTV, with global streaming the next day on Paramount+.
Why it matters: Swift is stacking a Friday album drop and a Sunday VMA world premiere into a single 48-hour promotional window — a play that funnels her 100M-plus social following directly into VMAs ratings and Paramount+ sign-ups. The Lubezki cinematography credit and A-list co-stars signal Swift is treating 'Patient Zero' as a prestige visual release, not a standard single rollout.
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