On Thursday night (December 12) Billie Eilish accepted Billboard's Woman of the Year award, and the 17-year-old gave a very on-brand speech that began with noting how the other women honored at the event gave speeches that were long AF. After getting the silliness out of her system, the "Bad Guy" singer thanked the rebellious female artists who came before her.
“I wanna thank all the women in the past who have been the reason I can be the way I am and do what I want, and paved the way for me and an entire generation of young women,” she said. “Women who, in the past, who have done what they weren’t supposed to do has made my life a lot easier and made me able to do what I want and be who I want.”
the anti-pop star went on to quip that Taylor Swift stole half of what she was going to say in her powerful Woman of the Decade speech, when she referenced her own Woman of the Year words from five years ago. “Taylor’s speech earlier, she stole half of what I was gonna say,” Eilish laughed. “In 2014, she won this award and she basically said, ‘Right now, your future woman of the year is someone in a piano lesson, in a choir, and we need to take care of her.’ I was 11 at the time and I was in a choir and I was learning to play piano and you took care of me. So thank you.”
Watch Eilish's speech below.
Eilish is heading back on the road next year and is encouraging fans to help fight the climate crisis by offering free concert tickets to those who get involved with Global Citizen. She's set to perform at iHeartRadio's ALTer Ego in January before embarking on her WHERE DO WE GO? tour in March 2020. Tickets to the tour are available now.
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