Taylor Swift Wins Artist of the Year at the 2022 American Music Awards: My Fans Gave Me ‘My Happiness’
A diamond's gotta shine. Taylor Swift took home the win for Artist of the Year at the 2022 American Music Awards, marking her seventh time receiving the award.
"In the past few years, I have released more music than I did in the decade preceding that," the "Anti-Hero" songstress, 32, said while accepting the award at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Sunday, November 20, her sixth win of the night. "I really feel like that's down to the fact that you, the fans, made it clear that you wanted to hear lots of music ... I found that the more music I made [and] the more music I put out, the happier I was."
She continued: "I have the fans to thank, essentially, for my happiness. I love you more than I can say. I cannot express how unbelievable it is to me that I get to do this and that you still care. So, thank you underlined with 13 exclamation points."
Swift has been nominated for the AMAs' top prize nine times in total and took home the award in 2009, 2011, 2013, 2018, 2019, and 2020. In 2019, she also became the first female musician to win the Artist of the Decade trophy, which was previously awarded to Garth Brooks in 2000 for his record-breaking success in the 1990s.
“The fact that this is an award that celebrates a decade of hard work and of art and of fun and memories, all that matters to me is the memories that I have had with you guys, with you the fans, over the years,” the Grammy winner said in her acceptance speech at the time. “Guys, we’ve had fun, incredible, exhilarating, extraordinary times together, and may it continue. Thank you for being the reason why I am on this stage, from the very first day of my career until tonight. I love you with all of my heart."
Swift's big win comes one month after the release of her tenth studio album, Midnights. “This is a collection of music written in the middle of the night, a journey through terrors and sweet dreams," she wrote via Instagram about the inspiration for the album in August. "The floors we pace and the demons we face. For all of us who have tossed and turned and decided to keep the lanterns lit and go searching — hoping that just maybe, when the clock strikes twelve … we’ll meet ourselves."
The opening track on the album, "Lavender Haze," was written about her relationship with boyfriend Joe Alwyn who did not accompany her to the AMAs on Sunday. "I happened upon the phrase 'lavender haze' when I was watching Mad Men and I looked it up because I thought it sounded cool, and it turns out that it's a common phrase used in the '50s where they would just describe being in love," Swift explained in an Instagram video last month. "Like, If you were in the lavender haze, that meant you were in that all-encompassing love glow, and I thought that was really beautiful."
The "All Too Well" songstress continued: "I think a lot of people have to deal with this now — not just, like, quote-unquote public figures — because we live in the era of social media ... My relationship for six years, we've had to dodge weird rumors, tabloid stuff, and we just ignore it. And so this song is sort of about the act of ignoring that stuff to protect the real stuff."
In August, a source told Us Weekly exclusively that Swift and Alwyn, 31, are happier than ever with their private relationship. “Taylor and Joe have the best of all worlds right now,” the insider said at the time. “They love dividing their time between England and Nashville and that’s the way they both like it. It became apparent to both of them that they were happiest doing their own thing in a low-key way. That was a big reason why they bonded."
The source added that the couple are "wildly happy together and are excited about their future together."
