Meryl Streep Praises Cher’s ‘Open, Battered, Giant Heart,’ Beyoncé Talks ‘Cowboy Carter’ at iHeartRadio Music Awards

Beyoncé, Cher, SZA, Taylor Swift and Ice Spice led the charge on what turned out to be a celebratory night for women in music at iHeartRadio’s 2024 Awards on April 1 in Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre.

Meryl Streep introduced the icon award recipient, Cher, with whom she starred in the 1984 film “Silkwood.” Streep’s speech recalled her relationship with Cher technically started when Streep was a “14-year-old freshman in high school in Bernardsville, New Jersey,” back when “the song that I carried in my head in 1962 was the No. 1 hit” from a then 19-year-old Cher. Trailing off, Streep began humming the beginning of Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe.”

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“It’s not 15 minutes of fame and you’re lucky to get seven seconds of somebody’s fractured attention… never mind seven decades,” Streep said. “It takes time. Or more than that, I think it takes heart. When I think of Cher, I think of her giant heart. How open it is, how battered it is, and how strong it is.”

Cher touched on her hardships in her acceptance speech: “I don’t usually talk about it, but I have been down and out so many times that you cannot believe,” she said. “I’ve been dropped by my record companies and couldn’t get a job and at that time, I went to Las Vegas — which they called the elephant’s graveyard — and I had a huge show, lots of people, bungees, all that and they just said, ‘Oh God, she’s so over.’ But I never gave up my dream.”

Cher was also honored by Jennifer Hudson singing her song “If I Could Turn Back Time” — and then Cher surprised the crowd by joining Hudson for her iconic 1999 global smash “Believe.”

Later that evening, Beyoncé appeared like an apparition alongside Stevie Wonder, who honored the her with the innovator award, a fitting trophy on the heels of the release of the Texas-bred star’s forward-looking country record, “Cowboy Carter.”

“Innovation starts with a dream,” Beyoncé said. “But then you have to execute that dream, and that road can be very bumpy. Being an innovator is seeing what everyone believes is impossible. Being an innovator often means being criticized, which often will test your mental strength.”

SZA took home three awards in the R&B categories and her song “Kill Bill” won the song of the year award. She made a friendly nod to Lizzo, noting that she had a collection of iHeartRadio trophies in her home — “It’s just so crazy to have my own,” she said. Ice Spice took home the award for best new hip-hop artist and received a standing ovation from the crowd of all-stars, including best new artist award nominees Peso Pluma (regional Mexican category) and Jelly Roll (pop and country categories).

Pluma was a presenter for the evening, alongside Glorilla, who spoke of her love for the R&B trio TLC before members Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas and Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins welcomed Latto onstage to sing “Waterfalls.”

Early in the evening, Justin Timberlake delivered high-energy renditions of “Selfish” and “No Angels,” two songs from his latest “Everything I Thought It Was” album. He actually performed ahead of the awards show’s official start time, likely due to scheduling. Jelly Roll and Lainey Wilson also shared the stage for their collaboration “Save Me” after Jelly Roll won both of his best new artist awards in the pop and country categories.

Even when the cameras weren’t rolling, and up until the last performance from host Ludacris and presenter T-Pain, the Dolby Theatre was completely lit up — either by a rhine-stoned Jojo Siwa, only occasionally stopping for a selfie with Katy Perry, and incendiary first-time introductions (Jared Leto was sure to introduce himself to Pluma, and Perry practically had a meet-and-greet line going).

Canadian pop singer and dancer Tate McRae also took the stage for a short two-song performance, as did Green Day. Meanwhile, Taylor Swift appeared virtually to accept her artist of the year award and plugged her “Tortured Poets Department” album, slated for April 19.

The evening was a reminder of how vastly diverse broadcast radio’s success stories have been in the last year. It also felt like a surreal April Fool’s Day joke since Stevie Wonder, Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Meryl Streep and Cher all just happened to be in the same room on a Monday night.

See exclusive photos of the iHeartRadio Awards below.

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