Lana Del Rey Receives Visionary Award Down At The Billboard Women In Music Business Conference
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Lana Del Rey wasn’t the main guest at Billboard‘s Women In Music Business Conference last night. (It’s really the Billboard Women In Music Awards, but you see what we did there.) Instead, the night’s headliner was SZA, who’s currently one of the biggest pop stars in the world and who accepted the Woman Of The Year award. But Lana Del Rey was still one of the night’s big names, and she took home the night’s Visionary Award.
Last night’s award show went down at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood, and Olivia Rodrigo, last year’s Woman Of The Year, presented the Visionary Award to Lana Del Rey. Early in the night, the crowd seemed to get very fired up at the sight of Lana and Olivia together.
In her introductory speech, Rodrigo said, “Lana has raised an entire generation of music lovers and songwriters like me and taught them that there’s beauty in their vulnerability and power in their melancholy.”
In her acceptance speech, Lana Del Rey, looking slightly overwhelmed, said that Olivia Rodrigo is “so endlessly glamorous and talented.” She also said nice things about SZA, Rosalía, and Kim Petras, and she had this to say:
If you were wondering, for my fans, I don’t exactly have a long-term vision at all. But if you were curious, I am very, very happy. To be a female singer, that is a wonderful feat. When I released my first album 14 years ago, the waters were not quite as warm, so I’m really happy for everyone who feels like it’s a wonderful time in the culture to be themselves and express themselves. It didn’t feel that way in 2008, and I’m so grateful to be in the best company I’ve ever been in. Thank you. I feel like being happy is the ultimate goal, so I did it.
Here’s Lana’s speech:
In a red-carpet interview, Lana Del Rey shouted out Olivia Rodrigo, Madison Beer, and Billie Eilish, and she said she’d love to work with Eilish at some point.
Rosalía, who accepted the Producer Of The Year award, ended her speech by saying, “Lana Del Rey, te quiero!”
Lana Del Rey’s new album Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd is out 3/24 on Interscope.
