Taylor Swift becomes first-ever female Global Icon at BRIT Awards 2021

Taylor Swift bagged the Global Icon Award at the 2021 Brit Awards. She officially became the first woman and first non-English artist to win the award. But that’s not all— she's also the youngest person to take the highly esteemed award home— like a true global icon.

Taylor accepted the award in O2 Arena on Tuesday wearing a sparkly two-piece Miu Miu outfit. The Games of Thrones star Maisie Williams presented this honour to Taylor and said, “Taylor’s ability to stand up for what she believes in has made her an inspiration around the world.” The 31-year-old singers best friends— Ed Sheeran, Selena Gomez, Zoë Kravitz and Annie Lenno also appeared in a small reel to express their pride in Taylor’s accomplishments.

The 11 times Grammy Award winner went on to thank her British fans in her acceptance speech for the years of unconditional support she received from them.

“Hey, because of you, last year I even almost played Glastonbury. We all know what happened next. The world changed, and I ended up making three albums instead."

Taylor then went on to name all “the amazing, creative people” she worked closely with in the past year—Jack Antonoff, Justin Vernon, Aaron Dessner and her boyfriend Joe Alwyn. She thanked her family and friends and said:

"If there's one thing that I've learned it's that you have to look around you every day and take note of the people who have always believed in you and never stop appreciating them for it."

Before wrapping up her speech, Taylor addressed the “incredible new artists in the room” and her fans watching at home and inspired them with her words brimming with wisdom. She said:

“If you’re being met with resistance, that probably means that you’re doing something new. If you experience turbulence and pressure, that probably means you’re rising. And there might be times when you put your whole heart and soul into something and it’s met with cynicism or scepticism. You can’t let that crush you. You have to let that fuel you.”

She ended her speech with: "I love you all, thank you so much for this beautiful honour thank you to the Brits," she said to end her speech.