Bad blood with Kanye? Taylor Swift shakes it off with Grammys acceptance speech

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Taylor Swift Takes a Jab at Kanye West in Her Grammy Speech
Taylor Swift Takes a Jab at Kanye West in Her Grammy Speech

Taylor Swift appeared to hit back at Kanye West during her acceptance speech at the Grammy Awards.

A song on West's new album The Life Of Pablo includes lyrics that claim he propelled "that b***h" Swift to fame. While West tweeted that the pop singer had given her approval, a representative for Swift said she had cautioned him for "misogynistic" language in the song and had not been aware of the actual lyric.

The American singer, 26, became the first woman to win album of the year twice, and had a message for "all the young women out there".

She told the audience at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles: "There are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame.

"But if you just focus on the work and don't let those people sidetrack you, some day when you get where you're going you will look around and know it was you and the people who love you who put you there, and that will be the greatest feeling in the world."

Swift also won Grammys for best pop vocal album for 1989 and best music video for Bad Blood, her collaboration with rapper Kendrick Lamar.

Lamar, who led the nominations with 11 nods in nine categories, won five Grammys, including best rap album for To Pimp A Butterfly.

British singer Ed Sheeran won his first Grammy at the ceremony, triumphing in the best solo performance category for his single Thinking Out Loud.

Collecting his trophy, Sheeran thanked his parents, saying: "They have flown over the past four years to come to the Grammys, and every time they go: 'Maybe next year!'"

Sheeran's friend Swift, who was also nominated in the category for her hit Blank Space, leapt to her feet and cheered as his name was announced before he ran over to embrace her.

British superstar Adele was accompanied by just a pianist for her highly anticipated performance of All I Ask from her album 25 - but her performance was plagued with sound issues early on.

She remained unfazed and ended it with a tribute to Lamar, shouting: "I love you Kendrick, you're amazing."

Later, she tweeted an explanation, telling her 25.2 million Twitter followers: "The piano mics fell on to the piano strings, that's what the guitar sound was. It made it sound out of tune."

The evening featured a string of tributes to artists who have died since the last ceremony, including Earth, Wind & Fire founder Maurice White, Eagles musician Glenn Frey, Motorhead frontman Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister and David Bowie.

Lady Gaga performed an emotional medley of Bowie's hits in tribute to her hero, who died earlier this year.

She opened the performance dressed as Ziggy Stardust, complete with newly dyed red hair, singing Space Oddity before breaking into Changes, Ziggy Stardust, Suffragette City, Rebel Rebel, Fashion, Fame, Let's Dance and Heroes.

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