R & B singer turns down award for racial reasons

IN A mic-drop worthy moment, New Zealand singer Aaradhna straight-up refused to accept a music award because she felt ‘racially boxed in.’

EVERYONE who attended the New Zealand Music Awards on Thursday night were shocked when singer Aaradhna refused to accept her award.

Her reason for declining the Tui, New Zealand’s equivalent to an ARIA, was because she felt “racially boxed in.”

The 32-year old won the award for Best Urban/Hip-Hop Arist for her fourth album Brown Girl.

“OK, so this song, Brown Girl, it speaks on many things. It speaks on racism, it speaks on being placed in a box,” she said.

Staring down at the award she continued, “For me, I feel like if I were to accept this award, I’m not being truthful to my song.”

The singer refused the award on her belief the category was the “brown people” category and encouraged the Music Awards to create a separate award for R & B and soul singers.

Things admittedly got a little awkward however the crowd went wild when she announced she’d be handing the award over to rapping group SWIDT who she described as “the future of hip-hop.”

No complaints from SWIDT though who later tweeted their praise for the singer.

Last night was historical. Thank you @NZMusicAwards. Shout out to the Queen @AaradhnaPatel, caught chills from that speech. So powerful!

— SWIDT (@swidtmusic) November 17, 2016

SWIDT weren’t the only ones praising the 32-year old on social media which clearly overwhelmed the singer.

Thank You to all my supporters. Thank you for opening your mind and making an effort to understand my heart. ❤🙏

— Aaradhna (@AaradhnaPatel) November 18, 2016

In the mic-drop worthy speech, Patel described herself as being of mixed-race with Indian and Samoan heritage who is also a New Zealander.

Lyrics from her (sort of) award-winning song Brown Girl include lines like “I’m more than the colour of my skin ... I’m more than what they think of me ... More than the colour tones that they see ... More than urban and R & B, more than a slang that I speak.”

Originally published as R & B singer turns down award for racial reasons