Mariah Carey wishes the Grammys were a little more obsessed with her.
Carey, 54, received the Global Impact Award from the Recording Academy’s Black Music Collective in Los Angeles on Thursday, February 1, celebrating her achievement and influence as a Black artist. While accepting her honor, Carey couldn’t help but throw a little shade toward the Academy.
“Is this a real Grammy? I haven’t seen one in soooooo long,” she teased, per The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s weird, I don’t know.”
The audience laughed as she held her award. “We’ll figure out what this is later,” she added.
Carey is a five-time Grammy winner and has earned a total of 34 nominations throughout her career, but it’s been nearly two decades since she swept the awards show. She took home Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1991, later winning Best R&B Song, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best Contemporary R&B Album in 2006. Carey was last nominated for Best Gospel Performance in 2009 for the song “I Understand.”
Despite her prowess within the industry, Carey has never earned the coveted Record of the Year, Song of the Year or Album of the Year trophies. In a 2018 interview with V magazine, she brushed off the apparent snubs.
“In the music business, if you care about the Grammys and submitting your stuff before a certain time frame, you want a single out in the summer and then you want to have your record [out] before the Grammys [consideration] deadline, which has changed,” she said at the time. “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”
She continued, “I mean, I have five Grammys. That’s cute. There’s people that have been doing this half the time that have twice as many.”
Carey claimed she was told during her “first year” as an eligible artist that the Academy doesn’t always reward “people that are selling a lot of records and are popular,” arguing that she “got screwed” out of winning in certain years.
“I wasn’t bitter about it,” she insisted. “I was just like, ‘OK, well, I guess I’m not standing here barefoot on stage singing and trying to go a certain way. I’m just me.'”
Carey has been nothing if not authentic throughout her rise to stardom, something she confessed wasn’t always easy while accepting her honor on Thursday.
“When I first started in the music business, I was often told to conform to certain expectations,” she shared. “I was not encouraged to focus on my love for Black music. It took me countless arguments, endless tantrums — I’ll call them tantrums — and mostly unwavering determination, but eventually, I was able to reveal my authentic self, as they say, and create music that came from my heart. In doing so, I discovered a newfound sense of freedom and fulfillment.”
She added, “I accept this award on behalf of every person who has ever felt silenced or marginalized, who has ever been told their voice doesn’t matter. Your truth matters. … We will continue to pave the way together for a future where authenticity is celebrated, diversity is embraced and music has the power to change the world.”
The 2024 Grammy Awards air on CBS Sunday, February 4, at 8 p.m. ET.
