Fresh off the release of her latest album, Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé is being recognized for the many different achievements she’s reached throughout her career.
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Iconic singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder presented the “BODYGUARD” singer with the Innovator Award at the iHeartRadio Music Awards in Los Angeles on Monday.
During his introduction, Wonder described a laundry list of Beyoncé’s career accomplishments thus far, which include having a number-one hit across all four decades since the 1990s and being “the first African-American woman to headline Coachella,” according to CNN.
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As Beyoncé took the stage to accept the award, she first acknowledged the “Superstition” singer’s storied career, thanking him “for making a wave for all of us.”
She went on to tell Wonder, “I’m honored to receive this recognition from you…Whenever anyone asks me if there’s anyone I could listen to for the rest of my life, it’s always you.”
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Then, Bey revealed that the “Isn’t She Lovely” crooner played the harmonica on “Jolene,” which appears on her newly-released eighth studio album, Cowboy Carter.
Throughout the rest of her speech, Beyoncé admitted just how grateful she is to be called an innovator, also alluding to the fact that her being innovative throughout her career is the reason she’s often received so much critique.
“Innovation starts with a dream, but then you have to execute that dream, and that road can be very bumpy,” she said in her speech, according to CNN. “Being an innovator is seeing what everyone believes is impossible. Being an innovator often means being criticized, which often will test your mental strength.”
She also thanked artists “who defied any label placed upon them,” name-dropping Rosetta Tharpe, Miss Tracy Chapman, Linda Martell, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Andre 3000, Tina Turner, and Michael Jackson.
Bey concluded by thanking her “husband, my rock, my best friend” Jay-Z and their three children–Blue Ivy Carter, 12, and her six-year-old twins, Sir and Rumi–who “continue to be my inspiration and my biggest blessing.”
