At 17 years old, artist Billie Eilish was named Billboard's 2019 "Woman of the Year." Cyndi Lauper introduced her to the stage by saying:
βWhen I first heard Billie sing, I kinda stopped breathing for a sec. It was so emotional and so deep β it stopped me. Even when you had that black s--- coming down your face.β
When she hit the stage, the "Ocean Eyes" singer shouted out Nicki Minaj, Ariana Grande (who won the award last year), Alicia Keys, and Taylor Swift (who received the honor in 2014.) She noted:
"Your future Woman of the Year is in somewhere in a piano lesson, in a choir and we need to take care of her. And I was 11 at the time and I was in the choir and I was learning to play piano, and you took care of me."