For the sixth time ever and the third year in a row, Taylor Swift took home the title of Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards. This time, however, the star wasn’t around to pick up the prize at the show—and she had a really good reason for skipping.
In 2019, Taylor expressed anger over her former record label, Big Machine Label Group, selling her master recordings to Scooter Braun, who is the manager of Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, and a slew of other high-profile artists. Since, she has vowed to rerecord the albums she made with Big Machine…which is exactly what she was doing on Nov. 22, the night of the AMAs.
Standing in the recording studio against the backdrop of a zodiac tapestry (hmm, a potential Easter egg for Swifties to uncover?!) Taylor, who surprise dropped her latest album Folklore in July 2020 less than a year after her album Lover was released, expressed gratitude over winning the Artist of the Year award.
