Taylor Swift shook off haters who predicted her ‘Reputation Stadium World Tour’ would be a "flop", as she collected the prize for Tour of the Year at the iHeartRadio Music Awards.
The ‘Shake It Off’ singer gave an empowering speech as she collected the accolade at the ceremony at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on Thursday night (14.03.19), during which she admitted the turn out for the extensive run "did wonders" for her "self-esteem", after people said she would be playing to half empty stadiums.
She said: "One of the most wonderful things about the way that this whole tour turned out is that, for, like, the entire six months leading up to the first show of this tour, every headline that I read was, this is going to be a massive failure.
"And it really did wonders for my self-esteem. It was really great to hear people saying that I was going to be playing to nearly empty stadiums."
The 29-year-old superstar went on to thank her fans for being the "unforeseeable factor" in her critics’ "forecast" by coming out in force at her shows last year.
She continued: "I’ve learned a lot.
"One of the things I’ve learned is that life is really unpredictable and people can make forecasts and they can make predictions, but those predictions and forecasts may not come true if there is an unforeseeable factor involved, and that unforeseeable factor in this case was my fans."
Dedicating the award to her loyal following – who are known as Swifties – she said: "I honestly owe everything, everything in my life to you."
The tour – which saw the ‘End Game’ hitmaker supported by Camila Cabello and Charli XCX – was in fact a huge success, with Taylor breaking her own record of having the highest grossing North American tour by a female artist, previously held by the singer’s ‘The 1989 World Tour’.
Whilst on the podium, Taylor also promised her fans that if she has new music coming out, they will be the "first" to get the scoop.
She said: "I just wanted to let you know that when there is new music, you will be the first to know."
Taylor Swift shakes off haters with iHeartRadio Music Awards speech
