The Billboard Women in Music Awards took over Hollywood on Wednesday night, with Keke Palmer hosting a ceremony that moved from a packed red carpet to emotional speeches and live performances. Zara Larsson won Breakthrough Artist, Mariah the Scientist took Rising Star, and Ella Langley turned a record-breaking country run into one of the night’s loudest moments.
The carpet itself told the story of the evening. Yahoo spoke with more than 15 artists across pop, country and hip-hop, while Teyana Taylor was the last to arrive and stopped to hug people in her path. Among the guests were Taylor, Larsson and the Oscar-winning KPop Demon Hunters trio Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami, who later danced and sang from their seats during Larsson’s set.
Larsson opened early in the night with “Midnight Sun,” then later used her acceptance speech to cut against the myth of instant success. “There are so many years of hard work behind an overnight success,” she said, adding that she had stopped chasing being “the best” and instead aimed at becoming “the most me.” The line fit a show built around women who have spent years climbing before getting their turn in the spotlight.
Langley’s moment carried a different kind of weight. She had recently broken a decade-old record held by Taylor Swift, and on the carpet she laughed that her head was spinning “around like an owl,” before adding that it was “pretty scary” and “nuts.” Onstage, Lainey Wilson introduced her as “still Ella,” then Langley delivered a stripped-down version of her No. 1 hit “Choosin’ Texas” and admitted, “I really tried to write a speech for a long time, and then I procrastinated until right now.” She thanked her largely female team and said power, to her, meant strength, resilience and coming back even when you do not want to.
Mariah the Scientist kept her remarks centered on the room around her, saying everybody there was an inspiration. The show’s emphasis on women across genres was not accidental: the performances, the carpet and the speeches all fed into the same argument, that longevity and reinvention matter as much as the breakout moment. For a night that began with a celebration of rising stars and ended with a country singer talking about fighting for her place, Billboard Women in Music answered its own headline plainly: the women being honored are no longer waiting to be noticed; they are already running the show.
