00:00Everybody, let's hear it for this year's Breakthrough Award winner, Zahra Laza!
00:11Thank you so much. I'm so, so happy to be on this stage in this room.
00:17And I might be a new face to some of you at home, but I feel like this room have
00:23heard of me.
00:24Because it's the industry, you know.
00:27So I'm not new, and there are so many years of hard work behind an overnight success or a breakthrough.
00:32I've been an artist for over a decade now, but lately things have really changed for me in my life
00:39and my career.
00:40So I've been trying to figure out what was it that happened, what was it that made the change happen.
00:47And when I was younger, I wanted to be the best, so bad.
00:51And the annoying part of being the best in any art is that it's subjective.
00:57And you just have to, what I learned is that you have to be the most you.
01:03Because only you could be the best at that.
01:06And I feel like I become the most me around amazing women.
01:12So I didn't suddenly become, yes, a better performer.
01:16I just changed who I was around.
01:19And that was my breakthrough.
01:21That is what has changed for me.
01:23I started writing all my music.
01:26I put more into, more of me into what I was creating.
01:30And I unlocked myself through other people in rooms.
01:34I made sure was dominated by or fully occupied by women.
01:39Because in rooms full of women, I feel safe and adventurous.
01:43I feel understood and I feel seen.
01:46So thank you to Margo XS, Helena Gao, and M&EK for writing Midnight Sun with me.
01:52Vendla for being my creative rock.
01:55Charlotte for all the visuals.
01:57Sophia for unreal looks.
01:59Katerina for styling.
02:00My whole band, my dancers, Sam and Evelina, for making touring possible.
02:05All the incredible women I've had the honor of working with on my remix album, which is
02:10out on Friday.
02:11Yes, girls trip.
02:13My girls at CAA and Epic Records.
02:15Thank you so much.
02:16To my sister, my mom, and most of all, my manager, Callie.
02:21You believed in me just as much back then when I was a kid and the kids were throwing
02:27grapes at me mid-performance in a high school cafeteria.
02:29To headlining arenas and doing big shows.
02:34I know it hasn't always been easy for you being the only woman in the room many times.
02:41But just by being in those rooms, you are changing the world.
02:46And you are certainly changing my world.
02:48Thank you so much.
02:49I love you.
02:51And thank you to Billboard for honoring us tonight because this is all of us and reminding me
02:57of the power and joy of being one of you.
03:01It's literally the reason I am finally here accepting this award tonight.
03:05Thank you so much.
03:06Thank you so much.
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