Taylor Swift’s absence from Monday night’s American Music Awards has sparked fury among her fans who believed she was set to announce another album.
Swift, 35, was nominated for six awards, including Artist of the Year and Album of the Year. While she lost in every category last night, she retains the title of most decorated artist with 40 AMA wins in her career.
Fans were fully prepared for Swift to announce Reputation (Taylor’s Version), one of the final albums she has yet to rerecord as part of the process of her taking ownership of all her masters. But she didn’t appear at the AMAs at all, resulting in a torrent of posts from disappointed fans.
“WHERE TF IS TAYLOR SWIFT AND WHY DID THE AMA'S END EARLY??????? AND WHERE. IS. REP. TV.” one fan questioned on X.
“Propaganda I unfortunately fell for: Taylor Swift announcing ‘Rep TV’ on the AMAs,” another wrote.
“Watched the entire AMAs and Taylor Swift didn’t even show up and announce ‘Reputation TV,” someone else chimed in.
Some were disappointed by Swift losing all six awards as voted on by fans, writing: “It’s genuinely baffling how she didn’t even win Favorite Touring Artist. Would’ve been a different tune if she came there to announce her album. Seems like they were mad she didn’t attend because Swifties know how to vote.”
Other fans seemed to be prepared for a Swift absence, writing: “I really don't think she will announce Rep tv on the day when everyone is expecting it.”
Several supposed teasers had fans convinced Swift would appear to announce the Reputation rerecord.
Influencer accounts dedicated to Swift posted lists of “26s,” the date of this year’s AMAs, fully believing they were getting the announcement during the show.
Swift’s website was also given a refresh ahead of the show, sending fans into a frenzy. Four new sections of the site spelled out AMAS — Apparel, Music, Accessories, and Sale — sparking further speculation that the announcement would come during the ceremony.
The speculation followed Swift’s re-recorded Reputation song being used in a pivotal scene in the final season of The Handmaid’s Tale.
A new version of the hit “Look What You Made Me Do,” featured on the original 2017 Reputation album, was used in the opening scene of the penultimate episode of the Hulu show.
Swift’s struggle with the master recordings began back in 2019, when the music label Big Machine Records, which the singer had been signed to from 2006 to 2018, was sold to music mogul Scooter Braun — best known as the man who discovered and signed pop star Justin Bieber.
Along with ownership of the company, Braun also gained rights to the master recordings of all the music Swift had created during her time with the label. This included her first six albums: Taylor Swift (2006), Fearless (2008), Speak Now (2010), Red (2012), 1989 (2014), and Reputation (2017).
Swift said she was dismayed by the news that her master recordings had been sold, claiming she had previously begged for the chance to buy back her own work. Less than two months later, Swift revealed that she would be re-recording her first six studio albums in order to gain total control and ownership of her past work.
Reputation and her debut album, Taylor Swift, are the final two albums she has yet to rerelease.
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