Swift Tops Billboard Awards

Swift took home eight awards during the ceremony at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas including top artist, and debuted her new video, “Bad Blood.” “It’s unbelievable that the fans went out and proved what they proved this year, and that’s the only reason I won eight,” Swift said in an interview with The Associated Press. Iggy Azalea, Pharrell, and Sam Smith took home three awards each and One Direction picked up two awards.

Other double winners included Jason Aldean, Hozier, Enrique Iglesias, and John Legend. The night featured numerous music performances but the one that was buzzworthy was Kanye West’s show-closer, which featured pyrotechnics for his songs “All Day” and “Black Skinhead.” The pyro was so prevalent that West could not be seen through it, and he was beeped for up to 10 seconds, an eternity for live television. Even the introduction made news when his inlaws, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, were booed while announcing the performance.

West later apologized to TV viewers, saying he was “grossly over-censored.” He said some of his lyrics were muted for 30 seconds, which misrepresented his voice and performance. Some of the lyrics that were beeped were “with my leather black jeans on,” according to the statement. According to TMZ, West did not do a dress rehearsal and producers were caught off guard by the saucy language they did hear.