Grammy Award-winning R&B legend Mary J. Blige received a Billboard Icon Award from fellow legendary Grammy-Award-winning pop singer, actress, and dancer Janet Jackson.
Blige was honored with the award at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards, which aired via NBC. on May 15. Her longtime friend, iconic record executive, and entrepreneur, P. Diddy, brought her onto the stage following a montage video of her musical journey featuring H.E.R., Ella Mai, Taraji P. Henson, Missy Elliott, Gabrielle Union, and Queen Latifah.
Diddy was the award show’s host that night.
“What makes an icon?” Jackson said before the montage aired. “Is it the ability to create, explore, and practically pioneer an entire musical genre? Is it the amassing of millions of dedicated fans that breathe your art daily…Is it a multidecade career full of not only hits but those songs that make you feel a certain way when you hear them?… The answer is all of the above. The answer is tonight’s recipient of the 2022 Billboard Icon Award: Mary J. Blige. She is recognized by Billboard as one of the most successful R&B-hip-hop artists in the modern era, with 11 Billboard Awards, nine Grammy Awards, [and] over 75 million records sold. Mary J. Blige represents truth. Her music has always given us comfort because she sings me, she sings you…Mary has made a commitment to her fans to always be her authentic self.”
From one Icon to another, @JanetJackson is here to present the #BBMAs Icon Award to @maryjblige ✨ #IconMJB pic.twitter.com/UnkJ6jzguZ
— Billboard Music Awards (@BBMAs) May 16, 2022
After the brief video honoring her legacy, the 56-year-old handed Blige her award.
“Wow, I’m in a dream right now. Thank you so much,” the New York native said. “Janet Jackson…speaking of icon, you were always one of our biggest inspirations growing up. The way the world is now, I think people think icons are born that way [or] they become a legend overnight, but that is definitely not the case. It takes a lot of time, hard work…trial and error to achieve greatness. What an icon means to me is overcoming obstacles to accomplish the unthinkable and [being] widely admired for having influence over a multitude of people, and that is what I’ve always represented.”
.@maryjblige is an icon with a multi-decade career full of hits! 👏 Congrats on being the recipient of the 2022 #BBMAs Icon Award! #IconMJB pic.twitter.com/4tIcYUMryR
— Billboard Music Awards (@BBMAs) May 16, 2022
She added that her debut marked the beginning of a movement that inspired inner-city women who went through the same hardships she did, which was expressed in her music. She even made it a point to tell the audience that she was proudly ghetto fabulous.
“I was ghetto fabulous, and I still am. So ghetto, so fabulous…and people were threatened by that. And now everybody wants to be ghetto fabulous. The message in my music has always been that we are not alone in our struggles, and I’m not alone now. For so long, I was searching for a real love, but I finally found my real love. And that real love is me. Who’s managing Mary J. Blige now? Me.”
Blige also shouted out Diddy and her other longtime friend, legendary stylist Misa Hylton, for “having the vision for our image.”
She had much to celebrate as she worked on numerous projects and recently launched her inaugural Strength Of The Woman festival in Atlanta.
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Named after Blige’s highest-charting album from 2017 of the same name, the three-day festival was devoted to music, tech, beauty, wellness, and financial literacy.
Live Nation originally announced the event on Mar. 10.
