Taylor Swift Delivers Inspirational Speech While Accepting iHeartRadio Innovator Award

Taylor Swift rocked a sparkly jumpsuit while telling fans to give themselves ‘permission to fail’ along the way at the 2023 iHeartRadio Music Awards. Taylor Swift is in the building! The 33-year-old star accepted the 2023 iHeartRadio Innovator Award at the iHeartRadio Music Awards on Monday, March 27 with an empowering speech that encouraged fans to not be afraid to fail. In her heartfelt speech, the global superstar admitted she never intended to become an innovator, but simply followed her gut. “I never a single time woke up in the morning and said, ‘You know what I’m gonna do today? I’m gonna innovate stuff,’” she said with a smile. “What I did do was make the right decisions for me. People want an example of something working before, but I think the coolest ideas, moves and choices are new ones, ones that set a new precedent.”

She then thanked her fans for their continuous support as she tries new things, like switching genres and re-recording her first siz studio albums. “The thing about these exciting nights and moments and specifically this award that I’m so lucky to have gotten is that you know, they’re shining a light on the choices I made that worked out, right?” she continued. “I really really want everyone to know … the hundreds or thousands of dumb ideas that I’ve had are what led me to my good ideas. You have to give yourself permission to fail. I try as hard as I can not to fail because it’s embarrassing, but I give myself permission to.”