Taylor Swift Wins AMAs Artist of the Year, But Skips Show To Rerecord Old Songs

Taylor Swift won big at the 2020 American Music Awards but had a good reason to miss the award’s show in-person this year…and it wasn’t because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The “Folklore” singer accepted her award for Artist of the Year via video and revealed during her acceptance speech that she’s been busy recording music.

“The reason I’m not there tonight is I’m actually re-recording all my old music in the studio where we originally recorded it and it’s been amazing, and I can’t wait for you to hear it,” she said.

Taylor started her speech thanking her fans who voted for her in the coveted category of the evening.

“This is a fan voted award, which means so much to me. You guys have been beyond wonderful. All the years of my career, but especially this one, when we’ve been so far apart, we haven’t been able to see each other in concert, but I still feel connected to you through the music. Your reaction to “Folklore,” and all the ways in which your imagination honored that album, I just love you so much and I am really really lucky.”

When @TaylorSwift13 tells us there's "not a lot going on at the moment" but then accepts her Artist of the Year in the recording studio…. #AMAs pic.twitter.com/JCRHUX3rEN

— American Music Awards (@AMAs) November 23, 2020

The 30-year-old also won for Favorite Pop Rock Female and Favorite Music Video.

Taylor’s award show win comes after news broke after her music catalog was being sold for the second time in less than two years. Variety reported that Scooter Braun’s company Ithaca Holdings recently sold the master rights to the pop star’s first six albums to an investment firm for more than $300 million.

Scooter’s company first acquired Taylor’s catalog as part of their purchase of her former record label, Big Machine Label Group in 2019. When news of that acquisition first broke, Taylor spoke out strongly against the move.

In a Tumblr post, she accused Scooter of years of quote, “incessant manipulative bullying” and argued that she was never given the chance to purchase her masters herself.

Now, as her music catalog changes hands yet again, Taylor is sharing her side of the story. In a lengthy social media message to fans, the “cardigan” singer said before the sale, her team had tried to buy back her masters from Scooter but there was a major hitch. She claimed that Scooter’s team wanted her to sign, “an ironclad NDA stating I would never say another word about Scooter Braun unless it was positive,” and that she had to sign before they could even start the negotiation process.

Taylor wrote in part, “I would have to sign a document that would silence me forever before I could even have a chance to bid on my own work,” adding, “he would never even quote my team a price. These master recordings were not for sale to me.”

Taylor then said that a few weeks ago, she got a letter from a private equity firm called Shamrock Holdings. According to the songstress, the letter said that the firm had bought her masters but wasn’t allowed to tell her first.

Taylor wrote, “the letter told me that they wanted to reach out before the sale to let me know, but that Scooter Braun had required that they make no contact with me or my team, or the deal would be off.”

Taylor said she was, “hopeful and open to the possibility to a partnership with Shamrock.” But she soon found out something that made it a non-starter: Taylor claims that per Shamrock’s agreement with Scooter, the music mogul will continue to profit off those song sales into the future.

Taylor shared the letter she sent to Shamrock explaining that very issue, which read in part, “I simply cannot in good conscience bring myself to be involved in benefitting Scooter Braun’s interests directly or indirectly.”

Adding, “it’s a shame to know that I will now be unable to help grow the future of these past works and it pains me very deeply to remain separated from the music I spent over a decade creating, but this is a sacrifice I will have to make to keep Scooter Braun out of my life.”

Taylor also told Shamrock in her letter that she’s rerecording her old songs.

She explained in part, “I hope you understand that this is my only way of regaining the sense of pride I once had when hearing songs from my first six albums and also allowing my fans to listen to those albums without feelings of guilt for benefitting Scooter.”

In her note to fans, Taylor elaborated more on the rerecording process, writing in part, “it has already proven to be both exciting and creatively fulfilling. I have plenty of surprises in store.”

Both Scooter and Shamrock Holdings have yet to publicly comment on Taylor’s claims, and Access Hollywood has reached out for comment.

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