On Nov. 19, Billboard revealed its honorees for its “Women In Music” issue and announced that SZA is set to receive one of the honorary awards.
Along with Kacey Musgraves and Hayley Kiyoko, SZA will be honored at the 13th annual event held in New York City on Dec. 6. During the event, SZA will be presented with the Rule Breaker Award, an accolade that celebrates women who use their music and platforms to rise above traditional industry expectations and promote a powerful message for other women.
“In their respective genres, SZA, Kacey Musgraves and Hayley Kiyoko are creating necessary space for more personal, authentic expression,” says Ross Scarano, Billboard’s Vice President of Content. “It makes for provocative, perspective-shifting work that is challenging traditional notions of songwriting in R&B, country and pop music. We’re lucky to have three iconoclasts in one room together.”
With the release of Ctrl, SZA has continuously exceeded industry expectations. In March, eight months after its 2017 release, the hit album was certified platinum before surpassing 2.3 billion streams in August. Lead singles “Love Galore” and “The Weekend” went double platinum, with other tracks attaining gold status.
“As a dynamic new voice with an uncompromising songwriting vision, SZA has consistently upended the expectations of a modern R&B star while scoring Grammy nominations, multi-platinum hits from her Ctrl album and a prime slot on Top Dawg Entertainment’s best-selling Championship Tour,” writes Billboard.
Janelle Monáe is included in the list of honorees, along with Ariana Grande and Cyndi Lauper.
Fans can catch the event’s red carpet live on Twitter from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. EST on Dec. 6.
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