Between fangirling over *NSYNC, dancing to Shakira and racking up a whopping nine Moon Person trophies, Swift, 33, had a big night at the 2023 MTV VMAs — which, unfortunately, appeared to include her losing part of her ring.
The singer-songwriter, who accessorized her seemingly Reputation-inspired VMAs look with an assortment of gold and silver jewelry, appeared to break one of her rings during the night and — thanks to a camera feed that focused exclusively on her, per Variety — the moment is immortalized.
In a snippet of the Tuesday night broadcast that was shared on X (formerly known as Twitter) by a Swift fan account, it appears that the diamond in the center of the Midnights songstress’ ring fell off as she watched the ceremony.
In the footage, Swift seemingly recruits staff members at the venue — the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey — to help her scour the ground for the missing stone, with one person even using a flashlight in the search effort.
While showing one of the event employees her broken ring, the “Karma” singer, in true Swift fashion, made a very concerned (and meme-able) face, turning the unfortunate event into a bit of a viral moment.
It is not clear from the clip if Swift ever recovered the missing ring, and she did not wear it on stage while accepting VMAs after the hubbub subsided.
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The gold statement ring is a vintage onyx and diamond ring from Van Cleef & Arpels that is being sold for $12,000 by Joseph Saidian & Sons, who provided the singer with the vintage sparkler.
According to its Instagram account, the New York City jewelry dealer also provided Bebe Rexha and Saweetie with jewelry for their 2023 VMAs looks.
Thankfully, Swift had a lot going for her at the VMAs outside of the broken ring fiasco.
The “Cruel Summer” singer won nine of the 11 categories she was nominated for, taking her total career VMA wins up to 23. She now has the second most overall VMA wins (the No. 1 spot is held by Beyoncé).
For "Anti-Hero,” the singer won song of the year, best pop video, best direction, best cinematography, best visual effects and the most coveted prize of the night, video of the year, becoming the first person to win it four times.
"OK. This is unbelievable," she said while accepting the Moon Person trophy for video of the year. "This is... I just want to say that the fact that this is a fan-voted award means so much to me based on the memories that we've made recently."
Swift went on to reminisce about her Eras Tour, which kicked off its record-breaking run in March and will begin a new leg in November.
"I've just been on a tour that has been the most joyful and exhilarating experience," Swift said. "And we're not even halfway done with it. It's really felt like the adventure of a lifetime this past year. I cannot believe that it was a year ago at the VMAs that I announced the Midnights album.”
She continued, “And all I have to say tonight is thank you. I’m blown away. Thank you so much to the fans. I love you so much."
