Lana Del Rey was honored with the Visionary Award at the 2023 Billboard Women in Music Awards at the YouTube Theater in Los Angeles on Wednesday (March 1). And last year’s Woman of the Year, Olivia Rodrigo, stopped by to introduce the trailblazing singer-songwriter.
Rodrigo, a chart-topping, award-winning superstar is just 20 but she’s already packed in more highlights than many would achieve in a full life. But tonight, it was all about Del Rey and the many and varied gifts she’s shared with her fans.
“Lana has raised an entire generation of music lovers and songwriters like me,” Rodrigo enthused, “and taught them that there’s beauty in their vulnerability and power in their melancholy.”
Like many of us, it was 2012’s “Video Games” that hooked-in Rodrigo. “I still consider that song to be probably the best love song of all time,” she explained. “She captures sadness, anger and sensuality in a way only the greatest of songwriters ever could.”
The greatness doesn’t end with those “perfectly written albums, life-changing poetry and heavenly voice,” said Rodrigo, praising the living legend’s “unwavering authenticity.”
Billboard’s Visionary Award recipient, she continued, “has forged her own path, her entire career constantly raising the bar for herself and creating art that pushes boundaries and changes lives.”
Rodrigo, a three-time Grammy Award winner, is one of those fans who’s life is changed by Del Rey, for the better.
Read Olivia Rodrigo’s induction speech in full below.
Hey guys, I am so grateful to be here tonight celebrating so many incredible women. And I’m beyond honored to present the visionary award to someone who couldn’t be more deserving of it if they tried, Miss Lana Del Rey.
Lana’s career has spawned 15 Hot 100 hits and eight consecutive top 10 albums on the Billboard 200. She’s brought equal passion to poetry, photography and film, including collaborations with soundtracks like “Big Eyes” and “The Great Gatsby.”
More important than her lost list of accolades though, is the unique way she impacts everyone who encounters her in her music. 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.
The first song that I ever heard of Lana’s was “Video Games.” I still consider that song to be probably the best love song of all time. She captures sadness, anger and sensuality in a way only the greatest of songwriters ever could.
What I admire most about Lana though, even more than her perfectly written albums, life-changing poetry and heavenly voice is her unwavering authenticity.
Lana has forged her own path, her entire career constantly raising the bar for herself and creating art that pushes boundaries and changes lives.
She never sacrificed her unique voice and perspective on a world and an industry that constantly tries to put people in a box. And if that doesn’t make you a visionary, I truly don’t know what does.
She’s also just the coolest, kindest, nicest girl to ever exist, and Lana…I love you.