Phoebe Bridgers Gave An Emotional Speech About Her Mom And Performed At The Women In Music Event

A lot went down at Billboard‘s Women In Music event last night, where Olivia Rodrigo took home the Woman Of The Year award. Some more of the music industry’s most talented and beloved females were also on hand, including Phoebe Bridgers, who performed and got an award of her own, which was presented to her by her mother.

Speaking through tears, Bridgers’ mother introduced the performance, saying, “I’m so grateful that she’s found a way to use her voice to highlight people and causes she cares about. Sometimes I wish that there was a Phoebe Bridgers when I was a teenager — but that would be weird. […] As her mother, I’m beaming with pride to be here. As a fan, I’m just excited for the show.”

As for the performance, Bridgers abandoned her frequently-worn skeleton garb for a white suit and delivered an unaccompanied acoustic rendition of “Kyoto.”

After the song, Bridgers accepted the Trailblazer Award, which, as Billboard notes, is given to “a female artist helping innovate in the industry to create space for future generations of women in music.” Bridgers’ mother presented the award, so she gave her a hug and said, “I knew I was going to get roasted in some way by you.”

After some thank-you’s to her team and other folks of that sort, Bridgers continued, “But mostly, this is for my mom, who waited outside of venues in her car for hours in the middle of the night in the smell in downtown LA to make sure I got home safe from shows. She made me feel like the second coming of Bob Dylan, even when my lyrics were really, really, really bad.”

She then noted her mother’s experience with domestic abuse, collecting herself with a deep breath and exhale before saying, “Yesterday, I asked if it would be OK if I talked a little bit about domestic violence on stage, and she was like, ‘Yeah, totally. It’s your experience, too. Go for it.’ And I was like, ‘Cool. I’m going to say something like, ‘Thank you to my mom for surviving unimaginable abuse and violence.” And she was like, ‘But it is imaginable. Too many people can imagine it.’ So thank you, mom, for showing me how to survive.”

Check out Bridgers’ performance and speech above. Bridgers and her mother also gave a red-carpet interview, so check that out below.