AMAs 2019: Taylor Swift Details ‘Complicated’ Year in Artist of the Year Speech

Taylor Swift may have set a monumental record at the 2019 American Music Awards when she became the most-awarded artist of all time, but getting there wasn’t easy. Accepting the award for Artist of the Year, the 29-year-old singer opened up about the “complicated” past year, which has included her mother’s ongoing cancer battle as well as her feud with her former record label, Big Machine Records, and Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun.

“I really don’t have anything articulate to say,” Swift began her speech, which came not long after she was named Artist of the Decade. “I just – just the fact that 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. And not – a lot of them are things that haven’t been public, and I wanted to thank you so much for being the thing that has been a constant in my life.”

“This industry is really weird where like sometimes people who do what we do feel like, as I’m sure some of you feel like this too with your lives, like you feel like your stock is either up or down and people either like you or they don’t or you’re feeling bad about yourself,” she continued.

“I don’t know what I’m talking about other than the fact that this year for me has been a lot,” she added in part. “It’s been a lot of good. It’s been a lot of really complicated and so on behalf of my family and me, thank you so much for being there and for caring.”

Saying that she was “nominated against some absolutely iconic artists,” Swift called it “crazy” and said that “tonight was an amazing night full of the most unforgettable performances.”

“This is such a great year in music,” she added. “The new artists are insane. I’m lucky to be here. I know that every step of the way. Thank you so much.”

Swift’s appearance at the AMAs came just a week after her feud with Borchetta and Braun was reignited after the singer alleged that she was being forbidden from performing her old hits. Despite the accusations and the back-and-forth banter it sparked, Swift performed a medley of “The Man,” “Love Story,” “I Knew You Were Trouble,” “Blank Space,” “Shake It Off” and “Lover.”