With Keke Palmer on hosting duties, the 2023 BET Soul Train awards went down last night.
The award-winning actor presented many of the culture’s biggest stars with awards for their hard work in entertainment over the past year. Atop the leaderboard was songstress SZA, who ended the night with four wins for Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best R&B/Soul Female Artist, and the Ashford and Simpson Songwriter’s Award.
Trailing behind her is the King of R&B, Usher, who won three awards for Best R&B/Soul Male Artist, Certified Soul Award and Best Collaboration for “Good Good,” which features Summer Walker and 21 Savage. Victoria Monet’s “On My Mama” also nabbed her two trophies.
The biggest honors of the night went to Janelle Monae, who won the Spirit of Soul Award, and T-Pain, who not only hit the stage to perform a medley of his hits but also won the Legend Award.
He spoke to the new generation of artists chasing accolades during his acceptance speech.
“I don’t want you to chase this. I don’t want you to base your life on how many people in the crowd can tell you that you can have this. I want you to know that you already got this,” he instructed. “You already have this in your mind. I want y’all to be who y’all are unapologetically; I want y’all to be who you’ve always wanted to be. I want y’all to not care about what anybody thinks about that person. If you like it, I love it, and I want some mo’ of it.”
But awards aside, the night was also full of performances from BJ The Chicago Kid, Coco Jones, Danté Bowe, Fridayy, Jermaine Dupri, Muni Long and SWV.
Check out the complete list of winners below.
Best New Artist
Coco Jones
Certified Soul Award
Usher
Best R&B / Soul Female Artist
SZA
Best R&B / Soul Male Artist
Usher
Best Gospel / Inspirational Award
All Things Kirk Franklin
Song of the Year
“Snooze”
SZA
Album of the Year
SOS
SZA
The Ashford and Simpson Songwriter’s Award
“Snooze”
SZA
Best Dance Performance
“On My mama”
Victoria Monét
Best Collaboration
“Good Good”
Usher, Summer Walker, 21 Savage
Best Group
Maverick City Music
Video of the Year
“On My Mama”
Victoria Monét
SZA Leads Wins At Keke Palmer-Hosted 2023 Soul Train Awards was originally published on cassiuslife.com