Los Angeles, Nov 23 (IANS): Singer Taylor Swift won Artist of the Year award for the third year in a row at the American Music Awards, but had to skip the ceremony.

In 2019, Swift expressed anger over her former record label, Big Machine Label Group, selling her master recordings to Scooter Braun, who is the manager of singers like Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande. So, she was busy re-recording the albums she made with the label, on November 22, the night of the AMAs, reports eonline.com.

"Thank you so much for this. This is a fan-voted award, which means so much to me. You guys have been beyond wonderful all the years of my career, but especially this one, when we've been so far apart, we haven't been able to see each other in concert, but I still feel really connected to you through the music," she shared.

"Your reaction to 'Folklore' and all the ways in which your imagination honoured that album, I just love you so much and am really, really lucky because of you," she added.

Swift added: "The reason I'm not there tonight is I'm actually re-recording of all my old music, in the studio where we originally recorded it so it's been amazing, and I can't wait for you to hear it. Have a great night. I love you so much."