At the 2021 Oscars on Sunday (April 25), H.E.R. took home the coveted Best Original Song Award for her collaboration with Dernst Emile II and Tiara Thomas, “Fight For You.” The song was featured in the soundtrack for Judas and the Black Messiah, which also landed Daniel Kaluuya a Best Supporting Actor award.
H.E.R. beat out competing songs in The Trial of the Chicago 7, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se) and One Night in Miami, and performed the ballad during the award ceremony.
“I am so, so, so grateful, not only to win but to be a part of such an important, important story,” H.E.R. said in her acceptance speech. “Thank you to the Academy — I’ve always wanted to say that! I have to thank God for giving us these gifts. And my parents, my beautiful mother who’s here with me today and my father at home. All those days of listening to Sly & the Family Stone and Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye really paid off, so thank you dad.”
“Musicians, filmmakers, I believe we have an opportunity and a responsibility to tell the truth and write history the way that it was and how it connects us to today and what we see going on in the world,” she continued. “Music is power… and as long as I’m standing I’m always gonna fight for us, fight for my people and fight for what’s right.”
In an Instagram post, she added, “AN OSCAR WINNER?!? GOD IS SO GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!” She also thanked Judas and the Black Messiah director Shaka King, RCA Records’ SVP of Marking Archie Davis, her support team and more.
The accomplishment also means H.E.R. is well on her way to an EGOT after winning two Grammy Awards in 2019 and another two earlier this year. If — or more likely when — H.E.R. is awarded a Tony and Emmy Award, she’ll be able to claim the prestigious title.
“Oh, there’s absolutely going to be an EGOT in my future, hopefully,” she told “Entertainment Tonight.” “But yeah, I’m also super passionate about acting as well, so you may see me up here as an actress. And I love musicals; me and Brandy have been talking about it a lot. She’s inspired me since she did a musical.”
See H.E.R.’s Instagram post about her recent Oscar win below.