Taylor Swift Slams 'Toxic Male Privilege' And Stans Billie Eilish In A Candid Speech

Just hours before ringing in her 30th birthday, Taylor Swift gave the awards show equivalent of the freedom-fighting Braveheart speech, passionately calling for far less "toxic male privilege" in the music industry.


The energy and anticipation indoors L.A.'S The Palladium was palpable as Swift took the stage —soundtracked by her own feminist anthem "The Man," certainly — at Thursday night's (December 12) Billboard Females in Music Awards. And, impressively, she contained the audiences attention as she launched into a 14-minute acceptance speech for the first-ever Woman of the Decade Award. While in it, she complex the sexism she's faced as a lady artist, and then bluntly called out Scooter Braun, who she's been feuding with within the past few months over the rights to her master recordings.


Swift recalled learning that her masters had been sold "without [her] approval, consultation, or consent," and revealed, "Scooter never contacted me or my team to discuss it prior to the sale or perhaps once it was reported. I'm fairly certain he knew exactly how I would feel about it, though.


"Let me just mention that the definition of the toxic male privilege in our industry is people saying, although he's habitually been nice to me,' as soon as I'm raising valid concerns about artists and their rights to own their music," she continued. "And needless to say he's nice to you. If you're in this room, you have something he needs." (Cue some audible gasps from the crowd of industry players.)


"The fact is that private equity is what enabled this man to think, according to his own social media posts, that he may purchase me,'" Swift mentioned. However I'm of course not going willingly."


Swift's speech wasn't all doom, gloom, and shade, though — she also praised the people who have stuck up for her and who have defended artists' rights to control their work.


however the most astonishing thing to discover was that it could be the females in this industry who would have my back, and show me the most vocal support at one of the most challenging times," she shared. "And I am going to never, ever forget it. Like, ever."


The Lover singer then rattled off a long list of up-and-coming artists who she thinks are pushing pop forward, despite being contained to a "impossible common as girls. Among them: Billie Eilish, Lizzo, Dua Lipa, Halsey, Normani, H.E.R., Becky G, King Princess, and Tayla Parx. She even praised Lana Del Rey because the most influential artist in pop."


Swift's speech was the initial one of the night, plus it was a tough act to follow. However, the rest of the evening's honorees — including Eilish, Nicki Minaj, and Megan Thee Stallion — shined in their own ways. Here are the highlights.

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  Nicki Minaj beautifully paid tribute to Juice WRLD.
  
  
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  Despite earning the first-ever Game Changer Award, Minaj didn't want her speech to be all about her. As she noted, "It doesn't feel comfortable to talk about me any time someone so critical to our culture died." The Queen MC then told a sweet story about Juice WRLD, who died last week at the age of 21. Recalling a night on tour with each other, she shared, "He contained my hand and notified me to stay calm and pray. I was shocked that he notified me that, however right there in that moment, I did feel calm and wondered, 'What am I actually worried about?'" She went on to call the late rapper a "kindred spirit," and then called for more empathy for people who may be struggling from addiction or mental health issues.
  
  
  
  
  



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  Rosalía stunned the room with an a cappella performance.
  
  
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  Immediately after a sweet introduction from Lauren Jauregui — who noted that Rosalía's "star power is rising so fast, it's cosmic" — the Spanish singer took the stage for a transfixing medley of "Catalina" and "Di Mi Nombre." She went fully a cappella, backed only by a couple of singers who contributed the occasional backing vocals and handclaps. She followed it up with an identically charismatic speech in which she vowed to "never stop up until I visualize the same assortment of ladies as males in the studio."
  
  
  
  
  



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  Megan Thee Stallion had a post-finals party onstage.
  
  
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  While accepting the Powerhouse Award, the "Hot Girl Summer" rapper revealed that she was late to the show because she was taking a finals exam. Meg kept it short and sweet, promising, "I really like to grind. I really like to work. I'm just getting began. Y'all gonna visualize where I take it." She later returned to the stage to close the show with money Shit," and we have to imagine DaBaby was smiling somewhere.
  
  
  
  
  



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  Alicia Keys loosened each person up.
  
  
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  The Impact Award recipient encouraged the crowd to bask in "the proper, real energy" of getting with each other to "celebrate each other's badassness." "You're a little bit tight," she joked to the room, before launching into a speech touting her own She Is the Music, a non-profit serious about giving females more possibilities in the music industry.
  
  
  
  
  



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  Brandi Carlile gave Maggie Rogers a big co-sign.
  
  
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  Rogers recalled how Carlile once "took [her] under her wing and brought out the perfect in [her]," and the Trailblazer Award recipient returned the passion throughout her funny, heartfelt speech. "Your feminism and your artistry have inspired me to no end," Carlile instructed them Grammy Best New Artist nominee. "You are absolutely one of my main go to new artists out there."
  
  
  
  
  



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  Alanis Morissette proved why she is a living icon.
  
  
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  The '90s rock veteran used her Icon Award speech to admit that fame is a "isolating" experience and that she often noticed it hard to be susceptible as a performer. "I just desire to salute the girls who go to work who are sensitive and terrified, and still go," she mentioned. Notably, she also capped her time onstage with a cheeky shoutout: "Thank you, patriarchy, for crumbling and falling."
  
  
  
  
  



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  Billie Eilish thanked Swift and other girls in the industry for taking care of her.
  
  
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  The 17-year-old must have known that the crowd was getting slightly restless right after an almost three-hour show, because she joked about some of the evening's earlier "long as fuck" speeches and vowed to keep hers short. However she made her time onstage count, accepting the Woman of the Year award by shouting out Ariana Grande's "touching" acceptance speech from last year. She also quoted Swift's speech from earlier in the evening, in which the 30-year-old noted the significance of taking care of budding young artists. "You took care of me," Eilish mentioned with a smile. And the ripple effect of ladies supporting ladies continues!