Fall is great for many reasons: cooler weather, fall fashion, Halloween decorations and, most importantly, award shows! Award shows are full of drama, extravagant outfits and speeches that make us laugh and cry. In honor of the start of award show season, I am rounding up my top five award show speeches.Â
Swift has a treasure trove of iconic award show speeches to choose from, but her speech after receiving Songwriter-Artist of the Year at the Nashville Songwriter Awards in 2022 takes the cake. This speech reflected her stellar songwriting abilities.
Swift explained how she organizes her lyrics into three categories: quill, fountain pen and glitter gel pen. For example, songs such as “Ivy” fall into the quill category. Swift describes “quill songs” as lyrics that sound like they were written by “Emily Dickinson’s great grandmother while sewing a lace curtain.” Songs in the “fountain pen” category are more modern but with a poetic twist. A perfect example of this is “All Too Well.” Finally, “glitter gel pen” songs are fun, upbeat and don’t take themselves too seriously, just like the hit “Shake it Off.” Swift’s speech combined all three of these categories harmoniously.
After receiving the Grammy for Best Urban Contemporary Album for “Lemonade” in 2017, BeyoncĂ© Carter Knowles delivered a beautiful and inspiring speech. She explained that she hoped her album would help society “confront issues that make us uncomfortable.”Â
“It’s important to me to show images to my children that reflect their beauty so they can grow up in a world where they look in the mirror — first through their own families, as well as the news, the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the White House and the Grammys — and see themselves,” BeyoncĂ© said.Â
Even though she was snubbed Record of the Year, “Lemonade” remains number one in the hearts of her millions of fans – the Beyhive.Â
We can always count on Jennifer Lawrence to make us laugh, and her acceptance of the Best Actress award for her performance in “Silver Linings Playbook” at the 2013 Oscars is no exception. In a relatable fashion as always, Lawrence tripped up the stairs to the Oscars’ stage.Â
“You guys are just standing up because you feel bad that I fell and that’s really embarrassing, but thank you,” Lawrence laughed.Â
Halle Berry made history when she became the first Black woman to win the Best Actress award for her performance in “Monster’s Ball” in 2002. As the actress held back tears of joy, she dedicated the award to “every nameless, faceless woman of color that now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened.” Her emotional speech was a true reminder of how important on-screen representation is.Â
Award shows still have a long way to go in terms of diversity and inclusivity. To this day Halle Berry remains the only Black woman to receive the Best Actress Oscar.Â
This year, Jonathan Groff received the Tony award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for his role in the dramedy “Merrily We Roll Along.” This was Groff’s first Tony Award. He delivered a heartfelt speech in which he thanked his parents and teachers for always supporting him no matter how outlandish his dreams seemed. Groff’s speech started as a narrative of his life. He described growing up in the cornfields of rural Pennsylvania, dressing up as Mary Poppins, acting out scenes from “I Love Lucy” and dreaming of the big city.Â
“Thank you for always allowing my freak flag to fly without ever making me feel weird about it.” Jonathan said to his family in the audience.Â
This year’s award season will present a new array of speeches, so be sure to tune in.