MTV VMAs: Everybody asks to sit next to Taylor Swift

'She has so many good friends'

Taylor Swift is a popular name at the VMAs (Sascha Schuermann/Getty Images for TAS)

It’s a real-life case of ‘you can’t sit with us’ when it comes to the MTV Video Music Awards and who has the honour of a seat next to the most powerful woman in the music industry, Taylor Swift.

The hierarchy of the ever-expanding squad is laid bare at the annual award ceremony, where the singer is always sat on the front row, flanked by core members.

According to Gina Esposito, MTV’s vice president for music and talent, the seating arrangement is the product of months of meticulous planning to ensure the action in the audience is as entertaining as the events playing out on stage.

He told Cosmopolitan that, as part of this process, attendees often send requests for the friends they would like to sit with. The list for Swift is usually extensive.

“She has so many good friends, and it was hard to figure out the ‘Taylor’ of it all [in past years], because so many people were requesting to sit by her and sit with her,” Esposito explained. “She’s often really requested.”