Taylor Swift spoke about gender equality, self-care and making mistakes in her Teen Choice Awards speech.
The 29-year-old star was presented with the first ever Icon Award at the ceremony at Hermosa Beach, California on Sunday (11.08.19) and used her speech to give an inspiring talk to teens, while also announcing that her new single ‘Lover’ will be released on Friday (16.08.19).
Taylor said: "I just want to talk to the fans for a second. You make me so happy. You make me laugh everyday online. I love meeting you. I love loving you. You are just the most generous, amazing people. Thank you for giving me the life I have. Every single minute of every single day, I know you’re the reason I have the life I have and I get to do what I love doing.
"Teen Choice Awards, if anyone’s a teen out there–which it checks out–I think one thing I wish I would’ve known as a teen is mistakes are inevitable, like – screaming, that’s good, it’s nice – I think sometimes you think if you try hard enough to make every decision perfectly, you think you can possibly ace life and never make any mistakes but it’s normal to make mistakes. I just want you to know if you’re out there and you’re being really hard on yourself right now for something that’s happened or for messing up or feeling embarrassed, it’s normal. That’s what’s going to happen to you in life. No one gets through unscathed. We’re all going to have a few scratches on us. So just please, please, we live in an insane world and in an insane time. Please be kind to yourself and please stand up for yourself. Please."
Taylor was introduced to the stage by World Cup winner Alex Morgan and the singer called for equal pay for Morgan’s women’s soccer team.
She said: "I want to talk about Alex Morgan. The fact that she’s here presenting this to me is such an honour. Not only winning the World Cup with her amazing teammates, right? But while they were winning the World Cup, they were also taking a historic stand in terms of gender equality, gender pay gap. Please, please, please support her and her teammates because this isn’t over yet. It’s not resolved. Get online and talk about it. Let people know how you feel about it because what happened to them is unfair; it’s happening everywhere and they are heroes and icons for standing up."
And Taylor – who was presented with a special Teen Choice surfboard with pictures of her beloved cats – also used her speech to reveal more details about her upcoming album ‘Lover’ and new single of the same name.
She said: "I just wanted to tell you there’s so much I’m excited about in the next 12 days until my album ‘Lover’ comes out. The album comes out on August 23, but I wanted to tell you tonight that on the 16th, on Friday, I have a new song called ‘Lover’ coming out, and I’m so excited. I love you more than words can say."
Meanwhile, other winners on the night included the Jonas Brothers, who picked up the Decade award, which recognises their journey over the past 10 years, from reuniting earlier this year to releasing their first album in a decade, ‘Happiness Begins’.
Robert Downey Jr, won Choice Action Movie Actor for his portrayal of Tony Stark and ‘Avengers: Endgame’ was named Action Movie Of The Year.
Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello won the Choice Summer Song prize for their song ‘Senorita’, Louis Tomlinson was awarded Choice Song Mail Artist for ‘Two Of Us’, Noah Centineo, picked up the Choice Comedy Movie Actor award for ‘The Perfect Date’ and Zendaya, won Choice Summer Movie Actress for ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’.
The ceremony was hosted by Lucy Hale and co-hosted by David Dobrik.
Teen Choice Awards winners 2019
Film
Choice action movie – ‘Avengers: Endgame’
Choice action movie actor – Robert Downey Jr (‘Avengers: Endgame’)
Choice action movie actress – Scarlett Johansson (‘Avengers: Endgame’)
Choice sci-fi/fantasy movie – ‘Aladdin’
Choice sci-fi/fantasy movie actor – Will Smith (‘Aladdin’)
Choice sci-fi/fantasy movie actress – Naomi Scott (‘Aladdin’)
Choice drama movie – ‘After’
Choice drama movie actor – Hero Fiennes Tiffin (‘After’)
Choice drama movie actress – Josephine Langford (‘After’)
Choice comedy movie – ‘Crazy Rich Asians’
Choice comedy movie actor – Noah Centineo (‘The Perfect Date’)
Choice comedy movie actress – Laura Marano (‘The Perfect Date’)
Choice movie villain – Josh Brolin (‘Avengers: Endgame’)
Choice summer movie – ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’
Choice summer movie actor – Tom Holland (‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’)
Choice summer movie actress – Zendaya (‘Spider-Man: Far From Home’)
TV
Choice drama TV show – ‘Riverdale’
Choice drama TV actor – Cole Sprouse (‘Riverdale’)
Choice drama TV actress – Lili Reinhart (‘Riverdale’)
Choice sci-fi/fantasy TV show – ‘Shadowhunters’
Choice sci-fi/fantasy TV actor – Jared Padalecki (‘Supernatural’)
Choice sci-fi/fantasy TV actress – Katherine McNamara (‘Shadowhunters’)
Choice action TV show – ‘MacGyver’
Choice action TV actor – Stephen Amell (‘Arrow’)
Choice action TV actress – Gabrielle Union (‘LA’s Finest’)
Music
Choice male artist – Shawn Mendes
Choice female artist – Billie Eilish
Choice R&B/hip-hop artist – Cardi B
Choice rock artist – Panic! At The Disco
Choice song: female artist – Lauren Jauregui (‘Expectations’)
Choice song: male artist – Louis Tomlinson (‘Two Of Us’)
Choice pop song – Ariana Grande (‘thank u, next’)
Choice R&B/hip-hop song – Lil Nas X feat. Billy Ray Cyrus (‘Old Town Road’ [Remix])
Choice Summer Song – Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello (‘Senorita’)