With 19 No. 1 hits and a record-breaking career, Mariah Carey’s iconic presence in music is undeniable. However, when it comes to the Grammys, the legendary songbird is noticeably light on hardware, with just five trophies in her collection. Now, Mariah is finally speaking out about why she believes the Recording Academy has been, in her words, “playing in her face” for decades.
In a candid chat on the latest episode of Las Culturistas with hosts Bowen Yang and fellow certified Lamb, Matt Rogers, Carey did not hold back when the topic of Grammys arose.
“They scaaaaammed me,” Mariah quipped, with her signature blend of humor and sass. “They toy with me.”
Mariah’s fans, affectionately called Lambs, know the story all too well. Bursting onto the scene in 1990, Carey quickly bagged two Grammys for her debut single Vision of Love and Best New Artist. But despite dominating the charts throughout the ’90s, she was inexplicably left trophy-less for the majority of that decade, even with back-to-back chart-topping hits like Fantasy and Always Be My Baby.
In one of the episode’s standout moments, Matt Rogers expressed what every fan has wondered: How does Butterfly, Mariah’s 1997 magnum opus, have zero Grammy wins? Carey agrees, calling it “probably my best album,” while pointing out it received no significant recognition from the Academy.
Even her 2005 blockbuster The Emancipation of Mimi, which marked a triumphant return, didn’t score the major accolades it deserved. Despite landing eight Grammy nominations and winning three, Mariah missed out on the coveted Record of the Year and Album of the Year awards, losing to Green Day and U2, respectively.
The star’s most recent Grammy nomination was in 2009 for Best Gospel Performance, and even her acclaimed 2020 audiobook for The Meaning of Mariah Carey was snubbed for a Spoken Word Grammy nomination—a category that former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has won three times.
“Stop playing in this woman’s face!” Bowen Yang exclaimed, echoing the sentiments of millions of Mariah fans worldwide.
As far as Carey is concerned, she’s made peace with it. “They can keep their trophies,” she teased, letting the world know her accolades are in her incredible body of work and her devoted fans.
One thing’s for sure: the Grammys might have missed out on giving Mariah her flowers, but the world will forever recognize her as the music legend she truly is.
