Taylor Swift was honored with the Innovator Award at the iHeartRadio Music Awards on Monday, March 27th, and her friend Phoebe Bridgers made an appearance at the event to present the award. As Bridgers walked onto the stage, she sarcastically stated, “I love public speaking so… I’m not shaking.” But those nervous jitters clearly faded away quickly, as the singer/songwriter then went on to give an immensely heartwarming speech about how important Taylor’s songs were to her development as a songwriter. She stated, “Gradually, my songs started to suck less because instead of trying to sound interesting, I just started telling the truth. Taylor has always told the truth. She’s written songs from exactly where she is.” Taylor’s truth-telling and the snapshots into her real life are both reasons the star has amassed a loyal fanbase of Swifties over the years.
As Phoebe stated at the end of her speech, We’re also “thankful to have grown up in a world with Taylor Swift… or The World: Taylor’s Version.”
It was fun to see these two reunite ahead of Bridger’s scheduled appearances as an opener for Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour. Swift has mentioned in many interviews that Bridgers is one of her favorite artists. The two collaborated on a “From the Vault” track (meaning a previously unreleased song) on Taylor’s 2021 album Red (Taylor’s Version). The song, “Nothing New,” contains powerful and thought-provoking lyrics such as “how can a person know everything at eighteen and nothing at twenty-two.” The tune perfectly encapsulates Bridgers’ and Swifts’ theme of authenticity in their songwriting, and the emotional chaos that comes with being a young adult.
Winning the innovator award wasn’t the only victory Taylor had that night. She also won the award for Song of the Year for her song “Anti-Hero.” Swift noted how special this win was to her, as this was the first time she didn’t pick a first single based on how well she thought it would do on the radio, or on whether or not it would become a ‘hit.’ Well clearly, that strategy worked for her, because “Anti-Hero” may be one of her biggest hits yet.
Better yet, the award was presented to her by the “Boy’s a liar Pt. 2” singers PinkPantheress and Ice Spice. The trio shared a hug as Taylor accepted the award, and the photos the three took together after the ceremony sent Twitter into a frenzy.
One user imagined a reboot of the film Hocus Pocus with the three artists, tweeting, “Hocus Pocus if it slayed.”
Hocus Pocus if it slayed https://t.co/GHMy5ZEtRf
— Brooklyn (@bklynb4by) March 29, 2023
Music reporter Jack Irvin also joined in on the commentary, tweeting, “no thoughts just taylor swift hugging ice spice and pinkpantheress.” It’s true, it was a hug we didn’t know we needed until we got it.
no thoughts just taylor swift hugging ice spice and pinkpantheress pic.twitter.com/oceKmsWNPp
— jack irvin (@jackirvinwho) March 28, 2023
Gen Z queen and America’s newest sweetheart, Ice Spice, also made an appearance in the video dedicated to Swift’s Innovator Award win, in which the rapper refers to Swift as ‘selfless.’
?| Dolly Parton, Selena Gomez, Justin Timberlake, Ice Spice, Simone Biles, Miles Teller, Ed Sheeran, Alex Morgan, and more were featured in Taylor Swift’s Innovator Award honoree video
pic.twitter.com/Ol3kl2QK0U— Taylor Swift Updates ?️ (@swifferupdates) March 28, 2023
We hope this means we can expect a collab in the future. Starting a petition for an Ice Spice feature on one of the 1989 (Taylor’s Version) From the Vault tracks.
Top photo: Screen grab from “Taylor Swift Accepts The 2023 iHeartRadio Innovator Award!” from @iHeartRadio on YouTube.
