On Tuesday night, Taylor Swift gave her first award show performance in three years at the 2018 American Music Awards. The Reputation singer opened up the show singing "I Did Something Bad" from the album, and she killed it. At one point, Swift pointed to herself while singing, "They're burning all the witches, even if you aren't one."
Her performance comes only two days after she made a rare political statement on her Instagram endorsing two Tennessee Democratic candidates, Phil Bredesen and Jim Cooper, ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. "In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now," she wrote on Instagram. "I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country."
After Swift made her endorsement, voter registration increased, and fans analyzed her performance very closely. They quite literally compared it to a witch ritual when she sang the lyrics, "They're burning all the witches, even if you aren't one."
Swift is nominated in four categories tonight: artist of the year; favorite female artist, pop/rock; favorite album, pop/rock; and favorite tour of the year.
