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Lizzo makes powerful statement with Billboard Music Awards speech: 'Use your voice'

After taking home her award for top song sales artist, the “Truth Hurts” singer used her moment at the mic to encourage people to “remain true to who you are.”
2020 Billboard Music Awards
Lizzo accepts her award for top sales artist during the 2020 Billboard Music Awards held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California.Andrew Gombert / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
/ Source: TODAY

Musical sensation Lizzo used her moment in the Billboard Music Awards spotlight to encourage her fans and people watching to keep making sure their voices are heard — both in the upcoming election and life in general.

She took home the award for top song sales artist on Wednesday night, and after making the requisite thank-you's at the beginning of her speech, she launched into an inspiring diatribe.

“I just want to say, I’ve been thinking a lot about suppression and the voices that refuse to be suppressed,” she began. “I wonder, would I be standing here right now if it weren’t for the big Black women who refused to have their voices be suppressed?

“And I just want to say right now, if you’re at home right now watching this and you are thinking about changing yourself to feel worthy, this is your sign to remain true to who you are.”

Lizzo has long been an inspiration for being unapologetically herself. In 2019, she told TODAY she had been inspired as a young woman by Missy Elliot.

“Watching her really gave me hope and I think representation is so important,” she said at the time. “There was no one else that I could see myself in and that really gave me the courage and the audacity to believe in myself when the world doesn’t really give me that.”

She added that the fact her music has always served as her therapy, so the fact that so many other people around the world identify with it now “makes it so much better and worthwhile.”

In her speech on Wednesday night, she encouraged people to vote and speak out for what they believe in.

“When people try to suppress something it’s normally because that thing holds power. They’re afraid of your power,” she said. “There’s power in who you are, there’s power in your voice. So whether it’s through music, protests or your right to vote, use your power, use your voice and refuse to be suppressed.”