Taylor Swift might not have actually said anything about her ongoing feud with Scooter Braun and her old record label at Sunday night’s American Music Awards, but that didn’t mean she didn’t address it.
To celebrate being named the Artist of the Decade at the annual music bash, the US star performed a melody of her hits, and took the opportunity to reference recent stories that she was being prevented from performing some of them.
And the way she did it was very Taylor Swift.
She kicked off her set with The Man, a track from her latest album in which she sings about the difficulties of navigating the music industry as a woman.
And to make even more of a point, Taylor appeared on stage dressed in an oversized shirt emblazoned with the titles of the six albums now owned by Scooter Braun after he bought out her old label.
It didn’t go unnoticed...
At one point, it didn’t look like Taylor would be able to perform the medley of her hits at all after she accused Scooter and Scott Borchetta, the founder of Big Machine, of blocking her from doing so.
Things came to a head last week when Scooter finally addressed the accusations, revealing that he and his family have received death threats.
Later in the evening, Taylor received a standing ovation as she collected her award for Artist Of The Decade, toasting her fans in her acceptance speech as her parents Andrea and Scott watched on.
She said the honour celebrated 10 years of “hard work and of art and of fun and memories”, adding: “All that matters to me is the memories I have had with you guys, with you the fans, over the years.
“We’ve had fun, incredible, exhilarating, extraordinary times together and may it continue I am so lucky to get to do this.”
Taylor also collected the gong for Favourite Pop/Rock Album for her latest album Lover.
In another possible dig at her former record label, she praised her current home Republic Records, a division of Universal Music Group.
She thanked the label 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,” she added.