On Tuesday, May 11th, Taylor Swift took home the global icon award at the 2021 British Awards. She became the first woman and first non-English artist to take home the award. She is also the youngest person ever to win the prize.
The only other artists to win the award have been Elton John in 2014, David Bowie in 2016, and Robbie Williams in 2017. The award recognizes artists’ “immense impact on music across the world and incredible repertoire and achievements to date.”
She went to give a powerful acceptance speech after receiving the award from the Game of Thrones actress, Maisie Williams.
Taylor thanked people who made special appearances during a video made about her career, including Ed Sheeran, Zoë Kravitz, Annie Lennox, and Selena Gómez who said: “Taylor Swift is the same girl I met when I was 15. And she cares so deeply for her fans,” Gomez said in it. “I wish I could be there to support you and hang out with you. You are amazing.”
She recognized the impact her British fans have made in her career and thanked them for all the support she’s received during her whole career.
Swift then thanked her collaborators, including Jack Antonoff, Justin Vernon, Aaron Dessner, and her boyfriend Joe Alwyn.
She then gave an emotional and powerful piece of advice for the rising stars and everyone watching:
“If you’re experiencing turbulence or pressure, that probably means you’re rising. And there might be times when you put your whole heart and soul into something, and if it is met with cynicism or skepticism, you cannot let that crush you, you have to let it fuel you. We live in a world where anyone has the right to say anything that they want about you at any time, but just please remember that you have the right to prove them wrong.”
Taylor Swift has had a good start to 2021. She also made history earlier in the year by becoming the first female artist to win album of the year three times at the Grammy Awards. This one was for her album, folklore, which came as a surprise in June 2020.
In the past year, she has released three albums. She debuted her two surprise sister albums folklore and evermore in June and December 2020. She then released the re-recordings of her famous album Fearless.