Taylor Dominates 2019 AMAs
• As expected, Taylor Swift was the major focus of Sunday’s American Music Awards broadcast. After a week or so of an intense social media blitz — would she or wouldn’t she be able to perform her promised career-spanning medley during her “Artist Of The Decade” honor at the AMAs… that burning issue was safely put to rest, as Taylor’s highly anticipated performance went on as planned. Oh, and in addition to her “Artist of The Decade” hardware, Taylor won five AMAs, including “Artist of The Year” and “Favorite Album, Pop/Rock” for Lover, handily breaking Michael Jackson‘s long-standing record of most American Music Awards wins of all time.
Taylor set the tone from the outset while accepting her first award of the evening, “Favorite Album, Pop/Rock,” when she said, “This album really felt like a new beginning, and I also really love my record label, Universal and Republic. Monte Lipman, Lucian Grainge, thank you for being so generous to me and allowing me to make whatever music I want to make. As a songwriter it’s so thrilling to me that I get to keep doing that.”
After being introduced by legendary singer-songwriter Carole King, Taylor performed her medley as advertised, (wearing a white shirt emblazoned with the titles of her Big Machine albums), cranking out “The Man,” “Love Story,” “I Knew You Were Trouble,” “Blank Space” and “Shake It Off,” (joined by Halsey and Camila Cabello), and her latest single, “Lover,” accompanied by ballet dancers Misty Copeland and Craig Hall. After her medley, Taylor said the segment “was in so many ways a dream come true — that performance was even more fun than I hoped it would be.”
The show kicked off with a couple of highly produced opening numbers — the first by Selena Gomez, who performed two new songs, “Lose You To Love Me” and “Look At Her Now,” followed by a spirited performance by AMA host Ciara. After that, the evening’s slate of performers was impressive — Shania Twain, Lizzo, Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello, Billie Eilish (winner of “New Artist Of The Year” and “Favorite Artist, Alternative Rock”); Green Day, Halsey (who won her first-ever AMA); Jonas Brothers, Kesha feat. Big Freedia, Dua Lipa, Post Malone feat. Ozzy Osbourne, Travis Scott and WATT, Christina Aguilera and A Great Big World, Toni Braxton, and Thomas Rhett.
