Swift again bags AMA supreme honor
For third straight time, she wins artist of year
Taylor Swift won her third consecutive artist of the year prize at the American Music Awards, but she missed the show for a good reason. She said she’s busy rerecording her songs’ masters after her catalog was sold.
Last year, music manager Scooter Braun, who manages Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande, announced that his Ithaca Holdings company had acquired Big Machine Label Group, the home of Swift’s first six albums. This month, Braun said he sold the master rights to Swift’s first six albums to an investment company.
Swift acknowledged the sale on social media and said she would not work with the new buyers because Braun is still involved. Instead, she began rerecording her albums.
Swift beat out Bieber, Post Malone and Roddy Ricch to win the top award. She also won favorite music video and favorite pop/rock female artist.
The Weeknd lost artist of the year, but he still kicked off his all-star week as a big winner. Days before he’s expected to land multiple Grammy nominations, the pop star dominated the 2020 American Music Awards with multiple wins.
The 30-year-old won favorite soul/ R&B male artist, favorite soul/r&b album for “After Hours” and favorite soul/r&b song for “Heartless” on Sunday, two days before the 2021 Grammy nominations are announced.
The Weeknd was one of several artists who appeared live at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles for the fan-voted awards show. Others recently taped their performances because of the coronavirus pandemic, though host Taraji P. Henson, who appeared live from the venue, said the few audience members sitting in the mezzanine practiced social distancing, wore masks and had been tested for the virus.
Henson joked that A-list celebrities were in the audience, including Beyoncé, though cardboard cutouts of the singer, Jay-z and other stars appeared in seats.
But a good number of chart-toppers were in the building.
Bieber and Shawn Mendes kicked off the AMAS with a pre-taped performance of their new duet “Monster,” marking the first time they performed the song together.
Katy Perry, in her first performance since giving birth to her first child, gave a strong performance of the emotional and hopeful song “Only Love,” which featured a surprise guest appearance from Darius Rucker, who sang and played guitar.
With flaming red lights glaring behind her, Billie Eilish sang her new song “Therefore I Am,” as her brother songwriter-producer Finneas backed her on guitar.
Jennifer Lopez and Maluma teamed up to perform their new songs “Pa’ Ti” and “Lonely” from the film “Marry Me.”
24kgoldn and Iann Dior, who currently have the country’s No. 1 song with the smash hit “Mood,” also performed. The multi-genre track is the rare song that has reached No. 1 on both the rap and rock charts.