Janet Jackson

Janet Jackson received a thunderous applause at the Billboard Music Awards, Sunday, after making a surprise appearance to present Mary J. Blige with the 2022 Icon award. “Mary J. Blige represents truth,” Jackson said. “Her work has always given us comfort because she sings me, she sings you.” Even though viewers were excited to see both icons, the special moment belonged to none other than Blige. “What an icon means to me is overcoming obstacles to accomplish the unthinkable and be wildly admired for having influence over a multitude of people, and that is what I've always represented.” Over the last three decades, Blige has won 9 Grammys and sold over 75 million records - and all while remaining ghetto fabulous. “So ghetto, so fabulous, and people were threatened by that, and now everybody wants to be ghetto fabulous,” Blige said. And while female R&B legends like Queen Latifah and Missy Elliot had wonderful things to say about Blige’s music, it was the woman herself who put it best. “The message of my music has always been that we are not alone in our struggles and I'm not alone now,” Blige explained. “For so long I was searching for real love, but I finally found my real love and that real love is me.”