Rihanna performed her single "Diamonds (in the Sky)" at the 2013 AMA Video Music Awards on Nov. 24, 2013.
The 25-year-old was also honored with the first ever AMA Icon Award after her performance.
Bill Maher introduced Rihanna to the stage, where she was recognized as the best selling digital artist of all time and biggest artist on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Rihanna performed wearing an all-black ensemble and a choker made of pearls.
She received a standing ovation from the audience after her performance.
Jay Z congratulated the singer in a video message before Rihanna's mother Monica Fenty came onstage to present the award to her daughter.
"First of all I'd liked to say all praises and honor be to God Almghty through Jesus. Rihanna I'm so proud of you tonight. I know the journey in your career has not always been an easy one but tonight I applaud and admire you for being so strong and so positive and so humble and so focused. Its amazing how you always manage to take good from all your experiences. Im so blessed to be a part of this historic moment. I just want to say how proud I am to present to you the first ever AMA iconic award."
Both mother and daughter teared up during the award presentation.
Rihanna said: "I'll just start by saying, twenty years ago is when I really started to make your life a living hell with my annoying little husky man voice you called it. I mean just disrupting the entire neighborhood. I annoyed every one of my neighbors and ten years later I was blessed enough to meet Evan and Carl and I was working with them. I auditioned for them at fifteen – my mom came and she was looking at us. You're in school uniform and you still have some stuff to finish before you can think about doing this and I literally begged and pleaded and she finally said yes and I thank you for that yes because that was the beginning of it all. Shortly after that, my demo was done and I met Jay Z and Jay Brown and those are the guys who really believed in me. So many people I have to thank for the success of keeping me sane, my friends, my brothers, my glam team, my fans I love you so much, you keep me driven. You keep this thing special. I can't believe I'm 25 years old and I'm holding an icon award. I thank you and I'm grateful. Im only as good as my team so I love you guys so much. Thank you!"
Rihanna was nominated for three AMAs this year:
Favorite Female Artist, Pop or Rock
Artist of the Year
Favorite Female Artist, Soul/R&B
She beat Ciara and Alicia Keys to take home the Favorite Female Artist, Soul/R&B award.
See a video of Rihanna's performance at the AMAs and Icon Award acceptance speech below:
