Taylor Swift Makes Her Second Political Statement of the Week at the 2018 AMAs
At the American Music Awards on Tuesday night, October 9, Taylor Swift won her twenty-second AMA for Artist of the Year, breaking Whitney Houston’s record to become the most decorated artist of all time. During her acceptance speech for the history-making honor, she not only took the opportunity to thank her fans but also to send a message about how important it is to vote on November 6 in the midterm elections.
Swift began by praising her fans for being “fun,” “funny,” “cool,” and “loyal,” and went on to share how lucky she feels to have their support. Then she revealed what this massive accomplishment truly means to her. “Every time that you have made me lucky enough to ever get to stand on a stage and have something really sparkly in my hands and say thank you, every single time this happens, it means something differently to me,” she said. “It means something different every time, represents something different. This time it represents encouragement and motivation for me to be better, work harder, and make you guys proud as much as I possibly can. So thank you for this incredible symbol of encouragement.”
She continued, “And I wanted to make a mention of the fact that this award and every single award given out tonight were voted on by the people. And you know what else is voted on by the people is the midterm elections on November 6. Get out and vote. I love you guys.”
Fans have taken to Twitter to praise Swift for using her platform to get people to to the polls. “I am glad @taylorswift13 is using her platform to speak out and let us know how important it is to vote this midterm election. I support her 100% we need to stand strong and not accept the mess that is going on in the W.H. and the Supreme Court they both need to be voted out [sic],” wrote on user. “All love for you @taylorswift13,” commented another.
This is the second political statement that the traditionally apolitical Swift made this week. Just days ago she took to Instagram to endorse Tennessee’s Democratic candidates for Senate and House of Representatives. While her endorsement prompted harsh responses from many conservatives, it had a quantifiable impact on voter registration: In the 24 hours after her tweet, 65,000 new voters registered across the country.
Swift may have done something bad in her performance at the AMAs, but clearly she’s doing something really, really good offstage.
