Raise your glass to Pink! The 41-year-old singer received the Icon Award at the 2021 Billboard Music Awards on Sunday, May 23. The superstar is one of 10 artists to ever win the honour, joining the company of Garth Brooks, Cher, Neil Diamond, Celine Dion, Jennifer Lopez, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey.
Before accepting the accolade, presented by Jon Bon Jovi, Pink took the stage at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles to perform some of her greatest hits. The show-stopping routine marked the musician’s first Billboard Music Awards performance in five years and, of course, she totally nailed it, singing “All I Know So Far,” “So What,” “Who Knew,” “Just Like a Pill,” and “Just Give Me a Reason.” Her 9-year-old daughter Willow Sage Hart even joined her on stage and performed a series of acrobatic stunts to their song “Cover Me in Sunshine.” Pink also attended the award show with her 4-year-old son Jameson Moon Hart.
“Willow, nailed it. Jameson, nailing it,” she said during her acceptance speech. “I love what I do and I love the people that I get to do it with. And we’re pretty good at what we do, but it wouldn’t matter if no one came to see us and play with us. So all you guys out there and around the world, thank you for coming out. Thank you for letting us all heal together. I cannot wait until we can do it again, til we can just sweat all over each other. And just this is an absolute honour.”
‘Willow, nailed it. Jameson, nailing it,’ she said during her acceptance speech. ‘I love what I do and I love the people that I get to do it with. And we’re pretty good at what we do, but it wouldn’t matter if no one came to see us and play with us’
Pink also recalled how she had a crush on the 59-year-old rocker when she was a kid. “I think you might already know this, but I did not come out of my room for a week when you married Dorthea,” she said earlier on. “I was 8. I ripped your poster off my wall. I replaced you with Sebastian Bach. And I’m very glad you found lasting love, Jon, but you broke my heart. I take this as an apology.”
And before she left the stage, she gave her fans some words of wisdom. “Dream big,” she said, “because what if it comes true?”
Pink can add this trophy to the three Billboard Music Awards she already has on her shelf. According to a press release shared by Dick Clark Productions and NBC earlier this month, the Icon Award recognizes “outstanding artists who have achieved excellence on the Billboard Charts and have made an incredible mark on music itself.” And with 22 years on the charts-during which she’s landed more than 30 songs on the Hot 100 list and eight top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 rankings, Pink definitely meets the criteria.
“As a little girl, I always dreamed about being a singer and sharing my love of music with the world,” she said in the press release. “Years later, to receive the Billboard Music Awards Icon Award is hard to fathom! I feel so honoured to join the ranks of music idols like Cher, Garth Brooks, Janet Jackson and Stevie Wonder. It’s a true ‘pinch me’ moment and I feel humbled and blessed.”