Lady Gaga was honored with the Innovator Award at the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards on Monday night (March 17), and her acceptance speech celebrated the notion that “the most powerful innovation is your authenticity.”
She was presented the award by Doechii, who said the superstar helped the “Denial Is a River” rapper embrace her “weird” side, adding, “Gaga was and always is new, fresh and different. Not only is that OK, but it’s ideal.”
After taking the stage, the “Abracadabra” pop star continued that sentiment, honoring the beauty of weirdness and human differences in every aspect, from age and race to sexual orientation and physical expression. “Winning an award honoring my entire career at 38 years old is a hard thing to get my head around,” she began. “On the one hand, I feel like I’ve been doing this forever. On the other hand, I know I’m just getting started. Even though the world might consider a woman in her late 30s old for a pop star — which is insane — I promise that I’m just getting warmed up.”
She also discussed her “controversial” career moments that defined her career and made her who she is, from her LGBTQ+ anthem “Born This Way” to arriving at the 2011 Grammy Awards in an egg. “If I learned anything in the three decades I’ve been at this, it’s that the most powerful innovation is your authenticity,” she told the cheering crowd. “Every time I was the only woman in the room, the loudest voice was inside my own head telling me not to compromise. Listening to that voice always showed me exactly where I belonged.”
Gaga also acknowledged the community that inspired her, including artists David Bowie, Elton John, Madonna, Stevie Wonder, Cher and her late friend and collaborator Tony Bennett, “who taught me to embrace the classics but never be bound by them.” She also honored the “fiercely brilliant Italian-American women” in her lineage “who reinvented their destinies with nothing but strength and dreams and determination.”
“Those women, my ancestors, they’re the greatest innovators I’ve ever known,” she continued, before ultimately thanking her fans, the affectionately called Little Monsters. “Thank you for always seeing me so clearly from The Fame to Mayhem. Because you saw me, I learned to see myself. To the LGBTQ+ community, you taught me bravery before the world was able to listen. You have changed the world for the better, and your courage fuels mine every single day,” she shared.
Gaga concluded her heartfelt speech by telling the crowd, “To every artist that’s ever been told they’re different, complicated or too much, please never change. Break the mold. The world doesn’t need another copy. It desperately needs your original.”
Watch Gaga’s full acceptance speech at the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards here.
