Taylor Swift added another feather to her cap on Thursday when she took home the Artist of the Year trophy at the 2026 iHeartRadio Music Awards.
The 36-year-old pop sensation was presented the honor by American figure skater Alyssa Liu.
While accepting the trophy, Taylor praised Alyssa for bringing so much “joy” to her and the world at the 2026 Olympics.
“I was so inspired by how much hard work, work, effort and love you have for what you do.” bad blood the hitmaker told the two-time Olympic gold medalist before addressing the audience.
Taylor continued, “Receiving the Artist of the Year award, which is… I love being an artist. I love writing songs more than anything in the world, and I didn’t think I was an artist when I first started doing it.”
shake it off The lyricist then remembered how his hobby of songwriting evolved into a full-fledged artistic craft.
“I didn’t think I was an artist when I first started doing it,” Taylor shared. “It was a hobby… and then it was my favorite hobby. And then it was just what I wanted to do, getting home early from school. It was like, I couldn’t wait to get back to my guitar in my room and write a song.”
The pop megastar recalled, “I just want to say that when I was 12, I had the opportunity to spend thousands of hours working on my art, practicing making mistakes through trial and error and it was all completely unattainable? So, that was just me and my art.”
During his speech, Taylor also urged artists to protect their art and warned that the Internet would “try to destroy it.”
Taylor said, “If I had one hope for you, I would say I hope you nurture your hobbies and your passions — just between you and that craft.”
She said, “Whatever you feed on the Internet will be an attempt to commit murder. And I don’t want that for your dreams.”
