Regular, degular, shmegular girls of the world, rejoice! Dressed in the maroon quinceañera dress of our dreams, Cardi B took the stage at the iHeartRadio Music Awards last night to accept the award for Best New Artist and used the moment to officially announce that her debut album will drop this April. In her words: “Stay tuned, motherfuckers.”
Pretty much the entire awards show belonged to Cardi from the beginning: She opened the ceremony with a bang by performing a medley that served to remind the world of all the record-breaking hits she’s scored in a short time, including “Bodak Yellow,” “Bartier Cardi,” and “No Limit.” Then, she stole the spotlight again when she bounded to the podium to claim her Best New Artist statue, launching into a speech that charmed the whole crowd — even Paris Hilton couldn’t control herself as she looked over at Cardi and mouthed, “I love her.”
“I wanna thank my fans, Bardi Gang, because even when I’m wrong they be like, ‘She’s still right,’” Cardi said after also thanking her team, family, and fiancé Offset. “And I wanna thank my haters too because they be downloading my stuff so they can hear it and talk crap about it, but it benefits me!”
Cardi also snagged the award for Best New Hip-Hop Artist to the delight of fans who have followed her career and waiting impatiently for her debut to get a release date. Cardi has put out two mixtapes already— Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 – and has amassed a collection of chart toppers that foreshadow how her album might do. Bardi Gang, get ready.