By Mesfin Fekadu, Music Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --Taylor Swift has moonwalked past Michael Jackson's record at the 2019 American Music Awards, taking home six honors including artist of the year and artist of the decade.
The pop star, who walked into Sunday night's show with 23 AMAs, surpassed the King of Pop's 24 wins at the fan-voted show. She rambled onstage as she won the final award of the night — artist of the year — and repeatedly thanked her fans for always showing up — during both the good and bad times.
"This year has been a lot of good, a lot of really complicated, so behalf of my family and me, thank you so much for being there and caring," said Swift, who now has 29 AMAs.
It was a family affair at the AMAs: Swift's father and teary-eyed mom sang along as the singer performed a medley of her hit songs — a performance Swift said in a Nov. 15 social media post was put in jeopardy by Scott Borchetta and Scooter Braun, the owners of her master recordings.
She didn't mention the men during her acceptance speeches at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, but this did thank her new label for allowing her to freely express herself as an artist.
"This album really felt like a new beginning, and I also really love my record label, Universal and Republic. Monte Lipman, Lucian Grainge, thank you for being so generous to me and allowing me to make whatever music I want to make," Swift said after winning favorite pop/rock album for "Lover," her first album not released on Borchetta's Big Machine Label Group. "As a songwriter it's so thrilling to me that I get to keep doing that."
Swift's other wins include favorite female pop/rock artist, favorite adult contemporary artist and favorite music video for "You Need to Calm Down."
Other big winners at the AMAs included Khalid and BTS — neither act attended the show but won three prizes.
Billie Eilish picked up two awards — new artist of the year and favorite alternative artist. She also took the stage — surrounded by fire — to perform her song, "All the Good Girls Go to Hell."
Lizzo, who was nominated for three honors but walked away empty handed, screamed at the top of her lungs while performing the ballad "Jerome," one of several songs from her album that earned her a leading eight Grammy nominations.
Christina Aguilera was a vocal powerhouse when she took the stage alongside A Great Big World and rock icon Ozzy Osbourne — who has been recovering from a bad fall that took place earlier this year — was a highlight as he performed with Post Malone and Travis Scott.
Shania Twain closed the night with a memorable performance. Other nostalgic performances included Toni Braxton and Green Day.
Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello heated up the stage as they stood close together while singing "Senorita," staring in each other's eyes as they sang from one microphone at times. They even rubbed noses at the end.
The pair won collaboration of the year for their No. 1 hit song. Other winners included Dan + Shay, Halsey and Lil Nas X. Top nominee Post Malone took home favorite rap/hip-hip album for "Hollywood's Bleeding" and Carrie Underwood was appropriately teary-eyed as she won favorite country album for "Cry Pretty."
"It's been a wonderful year," Underwood said.
Selena Gomez kicked off the AMAs as Swift and Halsey got out of their seats to cheer their pal on. R&B singer Ciara hosted the show, which aired live on ABC.
Here's a list of the winners at the 2019 American Music Awards:
— Artist of the year: Taylor Swift
— New artist of the year: Billie Eilish
— Collaboration of the year: Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello, "Senorita"
— Favorite pop/rock female artist: Taylor Swift
— Favorite pop/rock male artist: Khalid
— Favorite pop/rock duo or group: BTS
— Favorite pop/rock song: Halsey, "Without Me"
— Favorite pop/rock album: Taylor Swift, "Lover"
— Favorite rap/hip-hop artist: Cardi B
— Favorite rap/hip-hop song: Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, "Old Town Road"
— Favorite rap/hip-hop album: Post Malone, "Hollywood's Bleeding"
— Favorite soul/R&B female artist: Beyoncé
— Favorite soul/R&B male artist: Bruno Mars
— Favorite soul/R&B song: Khalid, "Talk"
— Favorite soul/R&B album: Khalid, "Free Spirit"
— Favorite country female artist: Carrie Underwood
— Favorite country male artist: Kane Brown
— Favorite country duo or group: Dan + Shay
— Favorite country song: Dan + Shay, "Speechless"
— Favorite country album: Carrie Underwood, "Cry Pretty"
— Favorite alternative rock artist: Billie Eilish
— Favorite adult contemporary artist: Taylor Swift
— Favorite Latin artist: J Balvin
— Favorite contemporary inspirational artist: Lauren Daigle
— Favorite electronic dance music artist: Marshmello
— Favorite social artist: BTS
— Favorite music video: Taylor Swift, "You Need to Calm Down"
— Artist of the decade: Taylor Swift
— Tour of the year: BTS
— Favorite soundtrack: "Bohemian Rhapsody"
Damien Chazelle, Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons On The Return Of “Whiplash” To Theaters After 10 Years
Ten years after " Whiplash " took the film world by storm, Damien Chazelle's breakthrough feature is returning to theaters nationwide Friday.
In 2014, "Whiplash" was the ultimate indie movie Cinderella story — a Sundance discovery made by a 20-something that that would go on to become both a box office hit and an awards darling: It won three Oscars, including for J.K. Simmons ' portrayal of a semi-sadistic and ever quotable jazz ensemble instructor; launched Chazelle's directing career into the A-list stratosphere; and established Miles Teller as a next generation movie star. Now, audiences will get another chance to experience it on the big screen.
Chazelle, Teller and Simmons spoke recently about the re-release, their memories of the 20-day shoot (including when Teller accidentally broke his co-star's rib) and making something with staying power. Remarks have been edited for clarity and brevity.
Q: What has it been like watching "Whiplash" settle into the culture in the past decade?
CHAZELLE: It's very cool, a little surreal. It doesn't feel like 10 years. It's fun to have a moment like this to relive it a little bit.
SIMMONS: It's sobering to know that I'm 10 years older. It's kind of shocking and kind of awesome that the movie actually holds up. I just saw it a few days ago in Toronto: That's a good piece of cinema.
TELLER: This is the first time I've ever had a movie re-released. I'm still fairly young into my career, but it's an incredible movie. The one thing that's frustrating for me is that people just yell out at me all the time, " not my tempo." So that's stuck around well.
SIMMONS: Maybe if you get the tempo... Read More