“I’m in a dream right now,” the R&B legend declared after being presented with the honour by Janet Jackson.
Mary J. Blige, an indispensable voice in the history of R&B and hip-hop and a 10-time Billboard Music Award winner, was presented with the Icon Award at the 2022 BBMAs on Sunday night (May 15).
Bestowed with the honour of former Icon Award recipient Janet Jackson, Blige brought the house down at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, earning ovations before, during and after an acceptance speech that touched upon her prolonged rise and emotional honesty.
“Mary J. Blige represents truth,” Jackson told the arena while describing Blige as an indisputable icon. “Her work has always given us comfort because she sings me, she sings you.” Artists such as Queen Latifah, Missy Elliott and H.E.R. also congratulated Blige in a taped montage before the Icon took the stage
Blige, now over 30 years into her illustrious career, spoke about the hard work and trial and error that helped her steadily rise. “The way the world is now, I think people think icons are born that way,” she said. “They become a legend overnight. But that’s definitely not the case.”
The icon waxed poetic about how, through personal pain and heartache, “God helped me to channel those emotions and experiences into my music.” Blige also discussed her come-up amidst a hip-hop scene that was still being too widely dismissed by the mainstream. “I was ghetto fabulous, and I still am,” Blige declared to wild applause. “And people were threatened by that. And now everyone wants to be ghetto fabulous.”
Before thanking a laundry list of friends, family members and supporters — including BBMAs host Diddy, whom Blige described as her “big brother,” and Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine for asking her to perform at the most recent Super Bowl halftime show — the superstar dropped the line of the night, which re-contextualized one of her biggest hits. “The message of my music has always been we are not alone in our struggles,” Blige said. “I finally found my real love, and that real love is me.”
Blige is the 11th artist to receive the Icon Award, which recognizes outstanding artists who have achieved excellence on the Billboard charts and have made an indelible mark on the music itself. The previous Icon Award recipients have been Neil Diamond, Stevie Wonder, Prince, Jennifer Lopez, Celine Dion, Cher, Mariah Carey, Garth Brooks, P!NK and Jackson.
The Billboard Music Awards are produced by MRC Live & Alternative, a division of MRC. MRC and Penske Media are co-parent companies of Billboard.
