It was a powerful moment on the Global Citizen stage. 

Alessia Cara paused her performance at the 2017 Global Citizen Festival to dedicate her hit song, "Scars To Your Beautiful," to all of the women in the audience with a stirring speech about body image and self-worth.

"How many girls do we have here today?" Cara shouted from the stage. "This next song is particularly for all of the women here today and all of the women who go through struggles today."

Cara said that the inspiration for her song was the frustration she was feeling over societal expectations about how women should look and behave, expectations that can lead women to struggle with self-acceptance. 

"As women and as girls we have so many expectations placed on us all the time and there’s so many things we have to be, and are expected to be, and so many ways we’re expected to look, and I was getting really tired of it and I know a lot of us are," she said.

The 21-year-old singer is a determined force for positive change in the world, and has been using her voice to deliver a message of empowerment. "Scars to Your Beautiful" won the “Best Fight Against the System” award at the MTV 2017 Video Music Awards.

"I wanted to make a song to remind anybody here who doesn’t feel like they’re good enough or feel like they’re worthy of being loved or loving themselves, that you are worth it, and you should celebrate your differences," she said. "Especially now with everything going on, it’s important to love each other, to celebrate our differences, and never be afraid to challenge poeple and show people why you are worth it, and why you are worth all the love in the world." 

Cara was one of many artists to take to the Global Citizen stage today in New York City to celebrate the fight for justice, liberty, and equality around the world.