The 2021 American Music Awards crowd was full of major stars, but a few celebs were noticeably absent from the event, which took place on Sunday, November 21.
Taylor Swift, for one, was nominated for a few awards throughout the night but decided to skip the ceremony. When taking home the award for Favorite Pop Album for her 2020 record, Evermore, the songstress did record a video acceptance speech. Clad in a denim shirt and her signature red lipstick, Taylor thanked fans for their ongoing support.
“Thank you so much to the fans. This is such an amazing honor, the fact that you would do this for Evermore. I’ve always been so proud of this album. I’ve always looked at Evermore as sort of Folklore‘s adventurous, fun younger sister,” the “All Too Well” musician said before sharing a special shout-out about her recently re-released record. “Also, I just want to say to the fans, thank you for all the amazing support that you have thrown my way with Red (my version). It’s been so much fun. I’m so lucky to be in your life and to get to have you in mine. Have a great night. Love you guys.”
Similarly, Ariana Grande decided to miss out on the awards show despite her multiple nominations. The “Positions” singer was up for multiple awards, including Artist of the Year, Favorite Female Pop Artist and Favorite Pop Album, among others. As fans know, Ariana has been keeping a pretty low-profile following her May wedding to Dalton Gomez. But, days prior to the 2021 AMAs, eagle-eyed fans spotted the singer at Harry Styles‘ Love on Tour concert in Los Angeles. She’s also been hard at work promoting the first drop of her R.E.M. Beauty line, which was released earlier this month.
“I decided to name it r.e.m. because I feel like that song really encompasses a lot of my favorite parts of my sound sonically,” Ariana told ELLE earlier this month. “And also REM rapid eye movement: focusing on dreams and focusing on the eyes and eyes being kind of like our best way to articulate — better than you can with words sometimes.”
While Selena Gomez wasn’t nominated for any awards, she was also absent from the show. Megan Thee Stallion — who was scheduled to perform — also missed out, along with Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa and Justin Bieber to name a few. Scroll through our gallery to find out why.
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