Taylor Swift Among Honorees at the 2014 Billboard Women in Music Event
Music

The pop star, who turns 25 on December 13, got emotional at the event after Aretha Franklin who was honored with Icon Award serenaded her with 'Happy Birthday'.

AceShowbiz - Taylor Swift was among female musicians honored at the 2014 Billboard Women in Music event. The country-turned-pop superstar accepted the Women of the Year Award during the magazine's luncheon in New York on Friday, December 12.

Swift is the first act to have won the title twice. Of her new achievement, the singer who will turn 25 on Saturday said in front of audience, "Being named Billboard Woman of the Year for a second time is this amazing early birthday present. I turn 25 at midnight tonight, and I fully intend to celebrate like it's 1989." After hearing a few polite laughs, she added, "I knew it was a bad joke when I wrote it, and I just did it anyway!"

She went on talking about music industry and addressing her decision to leave Spotify. "I'm very well aware that the music industry is changing, and I'm open to that change. But I am not open to the financial model that is in place," she said. "I really believe that we in the music industry can work together to bond technology with integrity. And I think we can teach a younger generation about an investment in music, not just the ephemeral consumption of it. I think that there has to be a way for streaming or any future way we access music to fairly compensate the writers."

"I want to thank Billboard for deciding to make me Woman of the Year for the second time," she continued and concluded her speech, "Somewhere right now your future Woman of the Year is probably sitting in a piano lesson or in a girls choir. Today, right now, we need to take care of her. Thank you."

Other honorees at the event included Beyonce Knowles, Iggy Azalea, Idina Menzel, Charli XCX and Ariana Grande. Hayley Williams of Paramore became the first-ever recipient of Billboard's Trailblazer of the Year Award. "Thank you for having me - I wrote [my speech] down because I was afraid I would make eye contact with Beyonce and forget everything," she joked.

Aretha Franklin, meanwhile, was awarded with the first-ever Icon Award. During the Friday event, the soul legend also led all the honorees to sing "Happy Birhday" to Swift. "Aretha Franklin just sang 'Happy Birthday' to me and it will take me decades to recover. #goals," the "Blank Space" hitmaker tweeted afterwards.

Follow AceShowbiz.com @ Google News

You can share this post!

You might also like
Related Posts