Saweetie, Doja Cat, H.E.R., Summer Walker and more were honored last night (March 2) at the annual Billboard Women in Music Awards. Broadcast live from the YouTube Theater at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, California; the stars were awarded for their contributions to and leadership in the industry.
H.E.R. was honored with the Impact Award, which she said felt “insane.”
“Honestly, it makes me wanna continue my journey of music and continue to write,” she said after receiving the award. “I realized that — when I was a kid, my dad told me, ‘If you don’t love this without the money, you’re not gonna love this with the money.’ And I knew that money was never the goal. I knew I loved this and I didn’t wanna do anything else.”
“But I started to realize when I would perform and I would meet the people that love my music, they would say things like, ‘You saved me,'” she continued. “‘You got me through a really tough time.’ ‘Your music is speaking my language.’ ‘You’re making me think differently.’ And I realized it’s more than just what I love to do and it’s more than therapy for me; it’s also impacting so many others, and that makes me want to continue writing and doing my thing.”
During the ceremony, Doja Cat was also honored with the Powerhouse Award, Saweetie took home the Game Changer Award and Summer Walker won the Chartbreaker Award.
Walker thanked Billboard for the honor on Instagram. She also showed love to her “mentor” Ciara, who hosted the event.
“Thanks Ciara for being so humble & sweet to me cause these b****** really be rude as hell lol,” she captioned a photo posing with the “Goodies” singer. “You’ve slick been a mentor [and] you looked so beautiful tonight.”
See some posts from the evening on social media below.