Why 2026 Primetime Emmys Host Mariska Hargitay Asked to Hear This Taylor Swift Song During a Photo Shoot

When Mariska Hargitay takes the stage at the Peacock Theater at L.A.

Live in Los Angeles on Monday (Sept.

14) as host of this year’s Primetime Emmy Awards, it will mark the first time in 15 years that a woman has fronted TV’s top awards show. ( Jane Lynch , then starring on Glee , hosted the 2011 show.) Related Here Are All the Winners in the 7 Music Categories at the 2026 Primetime Emmys: Full List Bad Bunny Wins First Primetime Emmy for 2026 Super Bowl Halftime Show: Updated Sabrina Carpenter Wins First Primetime Emmy for ‘The Muppet Show’ Asked by the Los Angeles Times ‘ Yvonne Villarreal how she feels about that surprising fact, Hargitay responded: “It’s unbelievable.

It’s ridiculous, especially with all the brilliant women out there.

But change is hard.

It takes a minute to educate people. … I’m just so honored to be handed that crown.” Midway through the photo shoot for the Times ’ story, Villarreal revealed, Hargitay made a very specific request: “Can you put on ‘The Man’ by Taylor?’ “The Man,” the fourth single from Taylor Swift ’s 2019 album Lover , imagines how Swift’s experience as a person, artist and figure within the music industry would have been different had she been a man, highlighting how much harder women have to work in order to succeed. (“I’m so sick of running as fast as I can/ Wondering if I’d get there quicker if I was a man,” she sings in the chorus).

The song debuted and peaked at No.

23 on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 2019.

At the MTV VMAs in August 2020, Swift won best direction for her work on the video.

It was her first of a record four wins in that category.

During her cover story interview for Billboard ’s Women In Music issue, which ran in December 2019, Swift discussed the song at length with Billboard ’s Jason Lipshutz.

She pointed out specific double standards that exist in everyday life and explained why she wanted to turn that frustration into a pop single.

Here are Swift’s thoughts in full in a separate breakout piece : “It was a song that I wrote from my personal experience, but also from a general experience that I’ve heard from women in all parts of our industry.

And I think that, the more we can talk about it in a song like that, the better off we’ll be in a place to call it out when it’s happening.