Billboard Women in Music is a music awards event that recognizes the most successful female singers, musicians, and producers in the music business for that year. It is a mix between a red carpet gala, an awards evening and also a concert that allows tens of thousands of everyday people to experience their favorite world-renown artists perform live in front of them.
In this article, we are going to be going through what makes this event special and all the information about how it came into existence in the first place.
Celebrities That Attended This Event.
The majority of the celebrities who attended this event were female which is no surprise considering this event is an awards evening for the biggest names in the music world.
- Hayley Kiyoko, an American singer from Japanese ancestry, Kiyoko has been in the music industry since the age of 21 from the year 2011. Her first major single was called ‘What I Need’ that was released in 2018 and featured another American singer called Kahlani. Since then, Kiyoko has been a major music artist and has even released her own comic book.
- Evie Irie, although not as well-known currently Irie is hailed as the next big thing, she is still a teenager this Australian pop singer has managed to be noticed by major record label executives.
- Rapsody, an African American rapper from North Carolina who was a member of the H2O collective that was formed in 2004. Currently, she is signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation record label.
- Normani, discovered on the X Factor USA where she was put in girl group Fifth Harmony, even though she is part of the group as of late Normani has been releasing more solo work and has even been called the next Beyonce.
- Alicia Keys, one of the biggest and most successful female singers in the early 2000’s, throughout her career it is estimated that Alicia Keys has sold over 60 million albums worldwide.
- Victoria Monet, an American singer, and songwriter who was signed at 19 by Atlantic Records, Money is one of the most talented songwriters out there who has wrote songs for famous acts such as Fifth Harmony, Nas and T.I to name just a few.
- Paloma Mami, is a twenty-year-old Chilean American singer who is currently signed to Sony Latin and is seen as one of the brightest stars in the booming Latin music scene.
- Justine Skye, becoming famous from Tumblr for her personal blog, Justine Skye is a Disney actress and also a singer who has taken 2019 by storm and there are big hopes for her as she is just 19 years old.
- Taylor Swift, American singer and other famous and popular women.
How Did the Event Come into Existence?
The first-ever Billboard Women In Music Awards event was held in 2007 when legendary American country singer Reba McEntire won the first award at the age of 52 making her to this day one of the oldest recipients of this award. The event is organized by the Billboard magazine, which is one of the oldest entertainment magazines in the world, having been founded in the year 1894.
Every single year since the event’s inception the winner of the ‘Woman of the Year Award’ has also been on the front page cover of the Billboard magazine. Apart from being founded to celebrate women in music, the event is also an attempt by the Billboard Company to diversify its revenue stream as magazine sales have been falling around the world due to most people preferring to read news for free on the internet.
This year’s event is a special one as it celebrated 125 years since the founding of the Billboard magazine which is the company organizing this entire event.
Awards Given out at Billboard Women In Music.
As the event has progressed more and more award categories have been included, originally the first award was the ‘Woman of the Year’ award in 2017 that to this day remains the main award of this awards evening. And as mentioned further above, only the winner of this award gets the chance to be featured on the cover of the Billboard magazine.
The second award to be added was the ‘Rising Star Award’ in 2008 that celebrates the biggest breakthrough figures in the industry and throughout the years has been nominated to acts such as Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj and Ariana Grande that have become world-renowned musical acts.
Other awards that have been added over the years include the ‘Trail Blazer Award’ added in 2014, the ‘Group of the Year’ award added in 2015 and ‘Chart Topper’ released in 2014.
