Pink’s 2017 VMAs acceptance speech about her daughter and androgyny was fire
After a wild mashup performance of all her greatest hits at MTV’s Video Music Awards, Pink proudly accepted the Video Vanguard Award. Following the VMA’s theme of resisting the system, Pink talked about her own experiences with androgyny during her acceptance speech. And we gave her a standing ovation from our couch.
Pink told VMA viewers that her daughter, Willow Sage recently said she thought she was “the ugliest person she knows,” telling her mom, “I look like a boy with long hair.”
Pink’s response? She went home that day and made a slideshow of all the badass, beloved androgynous superstars out there in the world who “live their truth” to show Willow that even though they “are probably made fun of every day of their lives,” they “carry on, and wave their flag, and inspire the rest of us.
The Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award recognizes performers who have accomplished greatness in the music industry, and Pink is certainly a worthy recipient. As Ellen DeGeneres reminded us last night, Pink’s career has spanned 17 years thus far and the artist continues to make hit after hit.
Her mashup performance could have gone on for an hour, but hey, it’s live TV.
And like David Bowie, Freddy Mercury, Prince, and Janis Joplin — all artists she showed Willow to prove to her that androgyny is beautiful — Pink has challenged gender norms since entering the industry.
“They say that I look like a boy, or I am too masculine, too many opinions, my body is too strong,” Pink said during her speech. “But do you see me growing my hair?” she asked her daughter. “Do you see me changing my body?…Do you see me changing the way I present myself to the world?”
No mama! We do not!
But we all see Pink “selling out arenas all over the world.” And although Pink addressed her daughter when saying, “We don’t change. We take the gravel in the shell and make a pearl,” we know that she’s talking to all of us.
We hear you Pink and we love you!
