ROCKING THE VOTE
Music awards show gets political
Taylor Swift began her week with a rare political post on social media, and at the American Music Awards she continued the conversation by encouraging fans to vote in the upcoming midterm elections.
Swift won four honours including artist of the year at the fan-voted show on Tuesday in Los Angeles, beating out Drake, Ed Sheeran, Imagine Dragons and Post Malone for the top prize.
“This award and every single award given out tonight were voted on by the people. And you know what else is voted on by the people?” she said.
“The midterm elections on Nov. 6. Get out and vote. I love you guys.”
Swift said Sunday she was voting for Tennessee’s Democratic Senate candidate Phil Bredesen, breaking her long-standing refusal to discuss anything politics.
Voting was a hot topic at the AMAS. Host and Golden Globewinning Black-ish actress Tracee Ellis Ross wore a shirt that said, “I am a voter,” and comedian-actor Billy Eichner told the audience, “The biggest election of our lifetime is happening.”
“Please grab your friends and tell them to vote. Now is the time. If you believe in equality for women, for people of colour, for the LGBTQ community. If you believe that climate change is real and that we need to do something about it,” he said onstage before presenting an award.
“And you can go to Vote.org like Taylor Swift told you to,” he said.
Swift made history by becoming the most decorated woman in the show’s history with 23 AMAS. Despite having the year’s top-selling album and three No. 1 hits, Drake didn’t win a single award. He did not attend the show but tied Cardi B with most nominations walking into the AMAS.
Swift kicked off the show with a performance of I Did Something Bad, while Cardi B — who won three honours — picked up the night’s first award, favourite hiphop-rap artist, which she dedicated to her daughter.
“I really want to thank my daughter,” said Cardi B, who gave birth to Kulture Kiari Cephus in July. “I gotta prove people wrong. They said I wasn’t going to make it after I had a baby.”
The three-hour show closed with a rousing tribute to Aretha Franklin, who died in August. Gladys Knight, Ledisi, Mary Mary, Donnie Mcclurkin and Cece Winans were among the musicians who paid tribute to the Queen of Soul’s gospel roots and her iconic album, Amazing Grace.
Rapper-singer Xxxtentacion, who was fatally shot in June, was also honoured: He won favourite soul/r&b album for his 2017 debut, 17. It was days after he was named best new artist at the BET Hip-hop Awards.
His mother, Cleopatra Bernard, said she was honoured to accept the award on behalf of her son. “I’m so nervous,” Bernard said as the audience cheered her on.
Kane Brown swept the country categories with three wins, including male artist, album and song.
Post Malone, who wore a baby blue suit and performed, won favourite pop-rock male artist, Carrie Underwood was named favourite country female artist and Khalid picked up favourite soulR&B male artist.
Other performers included Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez and Shawn Mendes.