Well Swifties, Taylor Swift skipped town when fans were expecting her to make a big announcement at the 2025 American Music Awards. The show aired on May 26 from Las Vegas, but Swift skipped the red carpet and was missing from the crowd. So did Taylor Swift attend the 2025 AMAs? It seems like she had better plans.
Swift was nominated for six different awards at the 2025 AMAs, including Artist of the Year, Favorite Touring Artist, and Favorite Female Pop Artist. She was also nominated for Album of the Year for The Tortured Poet’s Department, Favorite Pop Album for The Tortured Poet’s Department, and Collaboration of the Year for her song âFortnightâ featuring Post Malone. Swift has won 40 AMA awards over the years (not including any 2025 wins), making her the record-holder for the most AMA awards won by any music artist.
Considering the amount of nominations she had for 2025, fans were expecting to see Swift at the show. Plus, fans had been theorizing that Swift would use the show as the opportunity to announce the release of her final unreleased pre-recorded album, reputation (Taylor’s Version).
The first major hint that reputation (TV) might’ve been on the way was that the categories on Swift’s merch store were listed in a specific order: Apparel, Music, Accessories, and Sale. Coincidentally, the first letter of each of those categories spelled out AMAs. As if that wasnât suspicious enough, the sale price of those items under Sale were either 26% or 13% off. Of course,13 is an iconic number for Swift, so that was a given, but 26 is very specific. Fans thought that could’ve been a reference to the AMAs, which took place on the 26th of May.Â
Another theory that new music was coming related the number 12. On Swift’s site, 12 items were listed as 26% off. Fans noticed that when Swift attended the 2025 Grammys back in February, she was wearing earrings with 12 rubies on each ear. Reputation was Swift’s sixth album, and the second version (Taylor’s Version) â 6×2 â could equal 12. Other Swifties thought the number 12 could’ve been a nod to a brand new album, which would be TS12.
One more hint of a possible release on AMAs night came from Swift’s team itself, which sealed the deal for fans that something was up. On May 6, Taylor Nation reposted a tweet on X regarding voting for Swift’s AMAs categories. The tweet specifically said, âAnd our town, it looks so sMall from wAy up here. Screamed, âvote for the chairmanâ at the night sky!â Notice how the only letters capitalized in this statement spell out AMAs.
Unfortunately, all the theories seemed to prove false, since Swift didn’t make an appearance at the 2025 AMAs. Swift was last seen in public on Friday, May 23 with her boyfriend Travis Kelce on a dinner date in West Palm Beach, Florida. But that doesnât mean that a new album drop or rerelease still isnât possible. Fans just might have to hold out a little longer. Either way, the Swiftie community will be waiting patiently.