Taylor Swift Calls Folklore Her 'Emotional Life Raft' at the 2021 iHeartRadio Music Awards
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Taylor Swift is (virtually) in the house!
The "Style" singer, 31, made a special appearance via video at the 2021 iHeartRadio Music Awards on Thursday to accept the award for pop album of the year for Folklore.
"Thank you so much for this award and for honoring an album that I am so proud of," Swift said. "I have to say thank you to everyone at iHeart and everyone at radio who supported Folklore. Folklore was an album that I made in the very beginning of the pandemic. I started writing it, and I feel like it became a sort of emotional life raft for me to pour my feelings into."
Swift then went on to thank her Folklore collaborators Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff, saying their "creativity has completely changed" her life. "I feel like we're going to be friends forever," she added.
The one and only @taylorswift13 with Pop Album Of The Year! 🌟 So proud of you, Tay! #iHeartAwards2021 pic.twitter.com/IrD2gUqyDU
— iHeartRadio (@iHeartRadio) May 28, 2021
She also thanked photographer Beth Garrabrant, who did the album artwork for Folklore.
"[Beth] helped me create this world that I saw in my head," she said. "Just the two of us in a field taking pictures was a really great experience, and I couldn't be happier with the album artwork."
Swift ended her speech by thanking one last group: her fans.
"Thank you to the fans for making this album what it was," she said. "We all needed to escape into stories, whether movies or TV or film or music, and the fact that you chose this album, I am so honored by that. You really wrapped your arms around it. Some day we'll get to wrap our arms each other when we see each other again."
Be sure to check out PEOPLE's iHeartRadio Music Awards coverage to get the latest news on music's big night.
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Swift is the artist with the most wins in iHeartRadio Music Award history with 13, followed by Drake with 12 and Bruno Mars with nine.
In addition to Swift, Dua Lipa, Roddy Ricch, Twenty One Pilots, Megan Thee Stallion, LL Cool J, Nelly, Machine Gun Kelly, French Montana, Lil Jon, Robin Thicke, Joel McHale, Oliver Stark, Ryan Guzman, Gabby Barrett, Ava Max, Raphael Saadiq and AJR are all expected to make special appearances during the star-studded show.
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The Weeknd, Ariana Grande, Silk Sonic's Anderson .Paak and Bruno Mars, Dan + Shay and Doja Cat are all among the performance lineup.
Elton John will be honored with the Icon Award during a special tribute with performances from Brandi Carlile, Demi Lovato and H.E.R. Lil Nas X and Coldplay's Chris Martin will present the award.
Last year, the awards show was held virtually in September with "Truth Hurts" by Lizzo earning the highly coveted song of the year award.
The iHeartRadio Music Awards are airing live from Los Angeles from 8-10 p.m. ET on FOX.
