Gracie Abrams receives praises from Alicia Keys in touching speech

Feeling proud of the Close To You hitmaker’s achievement, the Girl on Fire musician continued, “Because it’s one thing to talk about it, it’s another thing to actually live it and breathe it and execute it and be it and believe in it.”

The Eras Tour opener accepted the honour, saying, “it is an interesting time to be a woman in America.”

Conveying a strong sense of unity and supporting female-fronted leadership, Abrams continued, “I firmly believe that the way we survive and thrive is by leading together, by sticking our necks out for each other especially when it’s difficult and by being in community as much as possible.”

“To improvise off Margaret Mead if you’ll allow: ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed women can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has,'” she added.

She is the Music, a non profit pushing to increase the number of women working in music, was co-founded by Key, Jody Gerson, Ann Mincieli, Sam Kirby Yoh and Dr. Stacy Smith of USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initative.