Robyn has been honoured as the Songwriter Of The Decade at the NME Awards 2020 in London this evening (February 12). Watch her acceptance video above.
Returning to the O2 Academy Brixton and hosted by Katherine Ryan and Julie Adenuga, the NME Awards celebrates the best of the last 12 months in music. See the full running list of winners so far here.
Charli XCX and Héloïse Letissier of Christine And The Queens presented the prestigious award to Robyn, before a montage of the pop icon’s work was projected on a giant TV screen.
“The winner of tonight’s Songwriter of The Decade award is nothing less than a living legend. Her career as an artist, performer, songwriter, gay icon and ultimate party person has spanned multiple decades,” Charlie XCX said.
Letissier added: “She achieved something almost impossible with every song she wrote.”
Robyn, who received the award for ‘Dancing On My Own’, saw the crowd sing the words of the track out loud as she went up to receive her gong.
“I’ve prepared a long speech. I feel like I’m at the awards show at the Fifth Element, the [Luc Besson] film and I’m very flattered for the appreciation that NME has shown me over the years. But this is kind of a lifelong prize to be the Songwriter Of The Decade and I appreciate it so much,” she said.
“There are so many good songs written by so many good songwriters over this decade. Some of them I have had the privilege to work with. Two of them are here tonight and I love them both so much. There are lots of other really talented songwriters here tonight – Christine and Charli, Taylor Swift. Thank you and I hope you have a really great night.”
The night opened with a performance of ‘Deal Wiv it’ from Mura Masa and Slowthai, followed by subsequent performances from Beabadoobee, Yungblud and AJ Tracey. Show closers The 1975 are still to come.
Keep checking back to NME.com/awards for all the news and action from the big event.