Missed the American Music Awards?
Catch up with Swift, Eilish and Lizzo, who took their messages to the people
The American Music Awards belonged to Taylor Swift on Sunday night, as she won a whopping six trophies and subsequently broke the record for the most AMAS of all time. (Michael Jackson was the previous record-holder with 24; Swift now has 29.)
There was no mention of Swift’s battle with Scooter
Braun and Scott Borchetta, executives at her former record label, Big Machine. Last week, the pop superstar alleged the duo were trying to block her from performing her older songs on the AMAS.
In true Swift fashion, she may have hinted at the fight — see how below, along with four more things you missed.
1
Taylor Swift’s speech and medley
Swift loves a good coded message. When she won pop-rock album for Lover, she said, “This album felt like a new beginning. And I also really love my record label, Universal and Republic.” In her note to fans about Braun and Borchetta last week, Swift referred to the pair as “men who are exercising tyrannical control” telling her to “be a good little girl and shut up.” It was no surprise she started her artist of the decade medley with The Man, which takes aim at gender double standards.
2
Billie Eilish’s message
“Earlier this year my album Igor was the No. 1 album in the country. And then this 17-yearold girl who dressed like a quarterback decided to change that,” Tyler, the Creator said by way of introducing Billie Eilish, who won new artist and alternative rock artist. Cut to: Eilish’s fiery performance of All the Good Girls Go to Hell, which looked like the everything was going up in flames — and made even more sense once you saw the message on her T-shirt, which read “NO MUSIC ON A DEAD PLANET.”
3
Lizzo’s performance
Lizzo belted out the ballad Jerome. “AMAS! I don’t know where you’ve been and I don’t know where you’re going. But I know you’re here right now for a special reason. Everybody put your lights up,” she called out, as the crowd switched on the flashlights on their phones. “This light represents the love you have for yourself. So shine bright!”
4
Halsey’s (possible)
Grammys shade
Did Halsey take a dig at her lack of Grammy nominations last week? After the pop star won for pop-rock song for Without Me, she gave a long speech about how she used to care so much about award show trophies, until she grew up and realized they aren’t true validation. “Sometimes you grow up and the stuff that you believed in starts to lose its magic. But music never does ...” 5
Shania Twain’s medley
The Canadian has a new Vegas residency to promote, so she closed out the AMAS with her greatest hits. The audience went crazy, even as she opened with an guitar medley of popular tunes from Swift, Post Malone and Drake. Random? Absolutely. But it was Shania, so she made it work.