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Linda Perry to Receive Ivor Novello Awards’ Special International Songwriting Prize
Linda Perry will receive the Ivors’ special international songwriting prize on May 21 at London’s Grosvenor Hotel. The 4 Non Blondes frontwoman and hitmaker behind songs like “Beautiful” and “Get the Party Started” is being honored by her songwriting peers.
The headline is simple: Linda Perry is getting another trophy. On May 21 she will collect the special international songwriter prize at the Ivor Novello Awards ceremony at London’s Grosvenor Hotel, a moment that reads less like a capstone and more like a long-overdue recognition of a career that quietly rewired pop radio.
Perry’s fingerprints are everywhere — not just the rough-edged shout that made 4 Non Blondes’ “What’s Up?” a ’90s FM staple, but the earworms and ruptures she wrote for others. Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful,” P!nk’s “Get the Party Started,” Gwen Stefani’s “What You Waiting For?”: songs that defined moments and then kept living inside playlists and karaoke bars. She’s also worked with Adele, Ariana Grande and Celine Dion, moving between intimate confession and billboard-ready clarity with the same blunt object honesty.
The Ivors announcement reads partly like a who’s-who of democratic pop — artists who arrive at a chorus by telling you something you didn’t know you needed to hear. For fans this matters because Perry’s authorship is the connective tissue between a ragged bandleader and a hitmaker who can write a chorus that people will shout back at stadiums and in their cars years later.
“It’s an honor to be recognized for my songwriting contributions at the 71st Ivor Novello Awards. So many incredible artists have been celebrated, and I am humbled to be standing alongside them,” Perry said in a statement.
Roberto Neri, CEO of the Ivors Academy, framed the choice the way you’d expect from an institution built by songwriters: “Linda Perry’s songwriting continues to have a profound impact on global popular culture. We are proud to honor her with the special international award at The Ivors, celebrating her incredible music and authentic craft.” The language is formal, but the work they’re pointing to is not: it’s hooks and syllables and the precise hurt you can catch in a vocal.
The award has a lineage. The Killers’ Brandon Flowers was the most recent recipient; Bruce Springsteen presented that statue in a room full of people who keep passing notes to each other about songwriting as craft rather than career. That context matters — the Ivors are peer-driven, chosen by songwriters and composers — and with Perry getting this prize, it feels like an acknowledgement from other writers, not just the press cycle.
Beyond Perry’s own arc, the Ivors have been busy: the academy confirmed that Rosalía will collect the international songwriter of the year honor for her 2025 album LUX, an ambitious record that, yes, finds the Catalan artist singing in 13 languages and folding classical textures into pop forms. Nominations announced in March put Olivia Dean, Lily Allen, Kae Tempest and Wolf Alice near the top of the list, a snapshot of a year that stretches from confessional singer-songwriting to pulse-driven alternative pop.
It’s also worth remembering Perry’s awards history: three of her five Grammy nominations are for songwriting. She’s been up twice for song of the year — for writing Aguilera’s “Beautiful” and for co-writing Alicia Keys and Brandi Carlile’s “A Beautiful Noise” — and she earned a nomination for best song written for visual media for co-writing Dolly Parton’s “Girl in the Movies.” Those nods track her range, from stadium balladry to intimate soundtrack moments.
For people who came up on cassette compilations and later curated streaming playlists, this announcement will feel like a small, satisfying correction. Perry never stopped being a performer — she turned up on national television recently, arriving at Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest in 2026 — but the bulk of her career is in the back rooms, in sessions and in the quiet, stubborn work of turning a feeling into a line you can hum for years.
On May 21 in London, industry peers will hand her the statue. Fans will keep singing the choruses. Those two things can exist in the same space, and for Perry, that’s the point: songwriting that survives in the mouths of listeners is the real trophy.
