Taylor Swift made several points about nemesis Scooter Braun in a record-breaking AMAs night
Taylor Swift wore a shirt stencilled with the names of her first six albums at the AMAs. (Getty)
Taylor Swift referenced her ongoing dispute with Scooter Braun and Scott Borchetta as she became the most decorated artist in American Music Awards (AMAs) history.
Swift performed a career-spanning medley just over a week after she claimed that she had been banned from singing her old songs at the award show by Borchetta, founder of her former record label Big Machine Records, and Braun, who recently purchased the label and with it her pre-2019 back catalogue.
In the end, she was able to sing past hits such as ‘Blank Space’ and ‘Love Story’, with Camila Cabello and Halsey joining her for a special rendition of ‘Shake It Off’.
In a nod to her record label drama, Swift took to the stage in a white shirt stencilled with the titles of her first six albums (those that now belong to Braun).
Taylor Swift’s AMA performance includes song about being a woman in a male-dominated industry.
She began by singing a snatch of ‘The Man’, which includes lyrics such as “I’m so sick of running / As fast as I can / Wondering if I’d get there quicker / If I was a man” and “I’m so sick of them / Coming at me again / ‘Cause if I was a man / Then I’d be the man”.
To cheers, she ripped off the shirt to whizz through her discography, ending with a piano-led version of ‘Lover’ accompanied by ballet dancers Misty Copeland and Craig Hall.
Taylor Swift was joined by singer Camila Cabello and bisexual icon Halsey during her AMAs performance. (Getty)
Afterwards, Swift was handed the artist of the decade award by singer-songwriter Carole King.
Thanking fans, she said that the star-studded performance had been “in so many ways, a dream come true” and “even more fun than I hoped it would be”.
Taylor Swift references record label drama in AMAs acceptance speech.
Later in the night, Swift returned to accept artist of the year and referred back to her recent, well-publicised dramas.
“The last year of my life has had some of the most amazing times and also some of the just like hardest things I’ve gone through in my life,” she said.
The singer also alluded to “a lot of things that haven’t been public”, thanking fans for “being the thing that has been a constant in my life”.
Throughout the night she picked up a further four awards, including favourite music video for the LGBT-themed ‘You Need To Calm Down’. Overall she brought her career total to 29 AMA trophies, beating Michael Jackson’s record 24.
Elsewhere, Halsey won favourite song (pop/rock) for ‘Without Me’ while Lil Was X won the equivalent award for rap and hip-hop, for his record-breaking ‘Old Town Road’.
