2015 American Music Awards: Taylor Swift Leads Nominations

ABC will air the AMAs, which Jennifer Lopez hosts for the first time, live from Los Angeles' Microsoft Theater on Nov. 22.

Taylor Swift is the most nominated artist at the 2015 American Music Awards. The singer is up for six categories, including artist of the year. The Weeknd and Ed Sheeran are one nom behind with five each, while others like Sam Smith,Nicki Minaj and Meghan Trainor scored four chances at a trophy.

The nominees were partially revealed by Joe Jonas and Charlie Puth this morning (Oct. 13) on Good Morning America followed by a Snapchat announcement. ABC will air the AMAs, which Jennifer Lopez hosts for the first time, live from Los Angeles' Microsoft Theater on Nov. 22. 

10 Ways ACL Weekend Two Was Different

Historically, the second weekend of a music festival double-header is always better for myriad reasons. Weekend One fest-goers will probably be quick to disagree, but my observation is grounded in experience – I’ve attended every double weekend of Coachella and Austin City Limits since their expansions (in 2012 and 2013, respectively). 

Each year, a similar narrative plays out: celebrities and looky-loos flood the first weekend hoping to stake an “I saw it first” claim. They believe their weekend is where the party’s at, though most of them -- especially at Coachella -- lounge around at some offsite house party for most of each day, then mosey in for a couple headliners, imposing a suddenly claustrophobic air on those who’ve stuck it out all day. After all, if you’re wealthy, what does it matter how much you dropped on premium entry just to see two or three bands? The artists know this (if they’re smart), and often turn in somewhat duller sets for those more ambivalent patrons. 

Then Weekend Two rolls around and the vibe shifts dramatically: the “scene” crowd largely thins, the bands become more comfortable (they’ve already had a dress rehearsal to boot), and what culminates is a festival full of real music fans -- people who went broke buying passes, who will put up with the elements all day sans complaints, who will wait countless hours in the sun at a barricade to see their favorite acts and leave with the unassailably euphoric feeling that the whole three-day endeavor was curated just for them. That experience has been periodically magnified when an artist takes advantage of their encore appearance by making drastic changes (for example: the Weeknd bringing out Kanye Westfor a surprise mini-set during Coachella’s second go-round earlier this year), but most shows are perfectly mirrored.

Watch Lady Gaga's 'Til It Happens to You' Behind-the-Scenes Clip: Exclusive

Lady Gaga drew praise for her powerful song against sexual assault, "Til It Happens to You," co-written by herself and Diane Warren for the 2015 documentary The Hunting Ground.

Now, Billboard can exclusively premiere a behind-the-scenes video about the tune, which finds the actors in the music video discussing their own experiences with assault and what they hope people take from the inspiring song.

Lady Gaga to Be Honoroed as Billboard's 2015 Woman of the Year

"The way Gaga sang the first verse of the song, she really captured that loneliness so perfectly. Really vulnerable and fragile,” co-producer/music supervisor Bonnie Greenberg says in the below clip.