Kacey Musgraves honored the late Dolly Parton with an emotional rendition of "I Will Always Love You" during the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards telecast Sunday night. The performance opened with a clip of Parton singing the 1974 hit on an episode of The Dolly Parton Show. Musgraves wore a hot pink sequined gown with feathered cuffs designed by Miron, purple eye shadow matching the on-screen clip, and voluminous hair reminiscent of Parton. Musgraves has cited Parton as one of her biggest musical influences and joined an all-star CMA salute in 2016 with Reba McEntire, Jennifer Nettles, Martina McBride, and Carrie Underwood. She also took part in a 2019 Grammys tribute alongside Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Maren Morris, and Little Big Town, calling Parton the "ultimate songwriter" at the time. Parton died Aug. 25 at age 80 after a brief battle with cancer; Musgraves publicly mourned her, writing "Dolly. This really really hurts" and "The world feels a lot less sparkly all of a sudden." The VMAs performance marked Musgraves' first time on the VMAs stage in five years, and she is nominated this year in the Best Country category for "Dry Spell."
