• Taylor Swift won best direction for “The Man” at the 2020 VMAs on Sunday.
  • The video, which disguised Swift as a man to illuminate and denounce sexist double standards, marked the singer’s directorial debut.
  • Swift is now the first solo female artist to win the award, which is not fan-voted, but rather decided by industry professionals.
  • Fans are celebrating her win as a major “glow up” – especially considering she was interrupted by a man during her first-ever VMAs acceptance speech.
  • Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Taylor Swift won best direction at the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday – becoming the first solo female artist to receive the industry-voted award.

The 30-year-old singer-songwriter was honored for “The Man,” her directorial debut, which premiered in February.

In the video, Swift is disguised as an obnoxious man, who is constantly celebrated for doing the bare minimum; “The Man” was also nominated for the video for good award for illuminating and denouncing sexist double standards.

“This is amazing,” Swift said during her acceptance speech, which was filmed remotely. “This is the very first video that I’ve ever directed on my own. I’m just so grateful for this. I want to take an opportunity to say thank you to the team who believed in me as a first-time director and made this video with me.”

"I want to say thank you to everyone in the industry who voted for this video," she continued. "But I also really want to thank the fans because you are the only reason why the industry cares about anything that I do."

"Everything that you guys have done with 'Folklore' this summer, I'm just so blown away and taken aback by your generosity to me. So, thank you for everything. I hope I get to see you soon."

Fans are celebrating Swift's win as a major "glow up" - especially considering her history with the VMAs.

As any pop culture enthusiast will remember, Swift was interrupted by a man named Kanye West during her first-ever VMAs acceptance speech in 2009. West insisted onstage that Swift's "You Belong With Me" video did not deserve to win best female video over Beyoncé's "Single Ladies."

"When a young Taylor Swift won her first VMA, a more famous man interrupted her by taking her microphone and said she didn't deserve it," one Twitter user wrote in Spanish. "Today, she won best director for a video that exposes how men can do s--- with impunity. Poetic."

The same sentiment was loosely translated by a popular Swift fan account, who added, "i'm proud of her what a glow up."

https://twitter.com/likeafolksong/status/1300264684394811392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Other fans said that Swift is "her own competition," or more simply that she "IS the music industry."

https://twitter.com/taylucifer95/status/1300230024700792832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfwhttps://twitter.com/noangeIl/status/1300451375449616385?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Even Reese Witherspoon congratulated Swift on her major win.

You can see a full list of 2020 VMA winners here.