Perhaps the sweetest part of Taylor Swift's performance at the 2019 American Music Awards, where she performed a medley of her hits to celebrate being crowned Artist of the Decade? The moment the camera panned to her parents, Andrea and Scott, who were visibly bursting with pride in the audience. Standing right beside them was Selena Gomez, Swift's beloved friend for a decade, singing along with Swift's parents to "I Knew You Were Trouble." All three of them cried as Swift's performance ended.
To mark her Artist of the Decade award, Swift performed a series of her hits in chronological order, starting with "Love Story" and weaving her way all the way through to "Lover," the title track of her latest album. Following "Love Story" was "I Knew You Were Trouble," the hit track supposedly written about Harry Styles following their dalliance. The camera panned to Swift's parents in the audience, who stood with Gomez, all of them belting out "I Knew You Were Trouble," word for word, along with Swift.
Later, as Swift wrapped up her performance, the camera panned once again to Swift's mom, Andrea, who was tearing up watching her daughter (I mean, wouldn't you?).
We are all Andrea Swift rn. #TaylorOnAMAs pic.twitter.com/CnUOpWUNZANovember 25, 2019
And Selena was in tears, too:
Swift and her mom share a particularly close relationship. She told Rolling Stone earlier this year: "My mom is the one who's seen everything...God, it takes so long to download somebody on the last 29 years of my life, and my mom has seen it all. She knows exactly where I’m coming from. And we talk endlessly."
Andrea also got a shout-out in, among other songs, Swift's song about Kanye West, "This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things." Sang Swift: "And here's to my baby/ He ain't reading what they call me lately/ And here's to my momma/ Had to listen to all this drama."
Here's Taylor's full acceptance speech:
As for Gomez and Swift, they've been close for over a decade, and Gomez has alluded to the fact that she's also close to Swift's family. Last May, Gomez said:
I have to say thank you to my best friend of about 12 years, almost 13, and the reason why she has been one of my best friends is because this person has never ever judged a single decision I’ve made. She’s always met me where I’ve been. She’s encouraged me when I’ve had nothing to be encouraged about, and I don’t know if I would be as strong as I am if I didn’t have you and your family because you’ve changed my life.
Okay, now I'm crying, Andrea's crying, Selena's crying, we're all freaking crying!
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