Yahoo Lifestyle Lady Gaga Makes Bold Statement Against Ageism: 'I'm Just Getting Warmed Up’
While accepting the Innovator Award, Monday, March 17 at the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards, Lady Gaga spoke out against an injustice she sees in the music business.
“Winning an award honoring my entire career at 38 years old is a hard thing to get my head around,” she said, accepting the award from rapper Doechii. “On the one hand, I feel like I’ve been doing this forever. On the other hand, I know I’m just getting started. Even though the world might consider a woman in her late 30s old for a pop star—which is insane—I promise that I’m just getting warmed up.”
While presenting the award, the “Denial Is a River” rapper also praised the singer for showing her how to embrace her “weird” side. “Gaga was and always is new, fresh and different, “Doechii said. “Not only is that OK, but it’s ideal.”
Gaga touched upon that side of her persona during her acceptance speech while she addressed some of the more controversial moments in her career, including the LGBTQ+ anthem “Born This Way” and her decision to turn up at the Grammy Awards in 2011 in an egg.
“If I learned anything in the three decades I’ve been at this, it’s that the most powerful innovation is your authenticity,” she said as the crowd applauded. “Every time I was the only woman in the room, the loudest voice was inside my own head telling me not to compromise. Listening to that voice always showed me exactly where I belonged.”
Gaga also took time out to acknowledge the wide range of artists who influenced and inspired her, including David Bowie, Madonna, Elton John, Cher and her late collaborator and friend Tony Bennett. They “taught me to embrace the classics but never be bound by them,” she said.
The “Abracadabra” singer also shouted out the “fiercely brilliant Italian-American women” in her family tree “who reinvented their destinies with nothing but strength and dreams and determination.”
“Those women, my ancestors, they’re the greatest innovators I’ve ever known,” she said, before shifting gears to thank her loyal fans, known as Little Monsters.
“Thank you for always seeing me so clearly from The Fame to Mayhem. Because you saw me, I learned to see myself. To the LGBTQ+ community, you taught me bravery before the world was able to listen. You have changed the world for the better, and your courage fuels mine every single day,” she said.
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