Laura Karpman had prepared an acceptance speech for the She Rocks Awards, where she and 10 other women who have succeeded in various aspects of the music world were honored on Thursday (Jan. 25), but she put it aside and spoke from the heart instead. It was important to convey her reaction to the news, announced just two days earlier, that she is a first-time Oscar nominee for best original score for American Fiction.
“I achieved a dream this week that I thought I would never get,” she told the audience at the Anaheim Convention Center Ballroom in Anaheim, California (and those watching the livestream). “It was so out-of-reach that I stopped myself from dreaming it. I literally suppressed that desire in myself. But I kept working to create inclusion for all kinds of people — and it worked, people, and it’s going to keep working, and I want to be here as an example to you guys that you have to keep working toward your dreams.”
Karpman’s She Rocks award was fittingly dubbed the Dreaming Out Loud Award. She then performed a jazzy selection from the American Fiction score, and even engaged in some scat-singing, riffing: “This moment calls for a celebration/ She got an Oscar nomination.”
The well-produced, fast-paced event was co-hosted by Susanna Hoffs, solo artist and founding member of The Bangles (she performed that group’s hit version of Paul Simon’s “A Hazy Shade of Winter”) and AIJIA, an artist, songwriter and vocal producer, who has worked with Selena Gomez, Anderson .Paak, Mimi Webb and Rachel Platten. AIJIA performed “Tough Love.”
The She Rocks Awards, now in their 12th year, are presented by the Women’s International Music Network, which was founded by music industry veteran Laura Whitmore. In her opening remarks, Whitmore said, “A 2023 global gender gap study by the World Economic Forum uncovered some sobering facts. The pace of progress toward gender equality has slowed. We are back to 2019…
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