Erykah Badu Praises Womanhood, Proves Why She’s an Icon for Billboard Women in Music Speech & Performance

Upon being presented with this year’s Icon award at Billboard Women in Music 2025 by next-gen R&B star Summer Walker, Erykah Badu didn’t waste any time drilling down to the heart of the occasion.

“Sisters, how y’all feel?” drawled the Dallas native as she scanned the YouTube Theater audience. Then to resounding applause, she declared, “This night is for us! It’s a night to celebrate the womb of the world, the womb of life, the womb reverse of all things. The smartest creature on planet Earth. The wisest, the most invincible, sexiest, purest, finest. The woman. I want to thank God for giving me the opportunity to be born a woman!”

The five-time Grammy Award winner had just delivered an exuberant performance of her funky 2007 non-album track “Annie Don’t Wear No Panties” to the delighted audience of fellow music stars, industry executives and music fans. And she did so in keeping with the inimitable and eclectic style that’s made her such an influential singer-songwriter, performer and musical visionary for multiple generations since breaking through in 1997 with her debut album, Baduizm.

Badu wore a black-hooded capelet atop a tan-colored oversize pants outfit (think Teletubbies) featuring exaggerated breasts, feet and booty — the latter of which she shook to full effect at one point during the song, eliciting rowdy audience laughter. That was just one of several memorable moments during Badu’s award presentation segment.

Saluting Badu’s “fearless artistry,” Walker shared that her idol and mentor has been her “fave artist” since she was 12. And that it was also the multifaceted Badu, in her role as a doula, who delivered Walker’s twin sons.

During the remainder of her acceptance speech, Badu went on to thank all mothers. “I want to thank my mother and all the mothers,” she continued. “Miss Tina [Knowles], you said it well. I see Doechii’s mama out there, all the mothers. Thank you so much for giving us so much inspiration and examples of what it means to be resilient, what it means to take charge, what it means to be courageous, what it means to be authentically ourselves. And that’s all we gonna be. That’s all I want to be.”

Then she concluded with an anecdote involving her youngest daughter. “I don’t really have a lot of things to say,” said Badu, “but I want to end with this story. My daughter is out here. Her name is Puma … My sister Joy is out there. This is for both of y’all … I was bathing my youngest daughter Mars, and Mars was about four. I was washing her up. You know, you teach them while you’re washing them up. And I said, ‘This is the vagina.’ And she said, ‘Oh, vagina.’ I said, ‘Yes, it’s the vagina. It’s the most important thing on the planet.’ And Mars said, ‘Really?’ Then she looked at me with those big brown eyes and she said, ‘Where is the planet’s vagina?’”

After noting that she may have paused too long between the setup and the punchline, Badu repeated the final part of her anecdote. And on the second go-round, the Billboard Women in Music icon had the whole theater laughing.