Swift wins artist of year again; Timberlake also has big night
Taylor Swift’s fans have done it again, voting her the American Music Awards artist of the year for a third time.
Swift won Sunday night’s top honor, giving her a leading four trophies as fans celebrated the women of pop music. Swift didn’t perform, but she was a constant presence on stage and the camera alighted on her as she danced to stars like Kendrick Lamar and Luke Bryan.
Justin Timberlake was next with three wins. One Direction and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis won two awards and Rihanna was given the AMA’s first Icon Award to go with her win as favorite soul/R&B female artist.
Ben Haggerty, the rapper known as Macklemore, accepted the award for favorite rap/hip-hop album, then quoted Martin Luther King Jr. in a live satellite feed from the rap group’s latest tour stop.
“Due to the fact that we are in Florida tonight accepting this award I want to acknowledge Trayvon Martin and the hundreds and hundreds of kids each year that are dying due to racial profiling and the violence that follows it,” he said. “This is really happening. These are our friends, our neighbors, our peers and our fans, and it’s time that we look out for the youth and fight against racism and the laws that protect it.”
Florida became a focal point after Martin’s killer was freed under the state’s stand your ground law.
Katy Perry opened the show looking like a princess out of a classic Japanese painting. Perry’s performance of “Unconditionally” included dozens of colorfully clad dancers.
Perry was the early focus of the awards show, held at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, arriving on the red carpet in a black strapless dress to screams from hundreds of fans. She said before the show she wanted to up her game, given the chance to open, and the whirling stage production was a wash of colors and movements before she disappeared in a puff of smoke.
One Direction was at times drowned out by screams during an understated performance of “Story of My Life.”
Miley Cyrus shut things down with a performance that wasn’t quite as over the top as her previous appearances this year. Cyrus and a lip-syncing cat performed “Wrecking Ball.”
