Miley Cyrus Gushed Over Mariah Carey At The Grammys, But Evidence Suggests She Might’ve Been Faking It

Although Miley Cyrus seemed starstruck by Mariah Carey’s presence at the Grammys, she sang a very different tune during an interview years earlier.

Highlights

Mariah Carey presented Miley Cyrus with a Grammy for her hit song “Flowers” at the 2024 Grammy Awards.
Cyrus shared a heartfelt story in her acceptance speech about a boy and his butterfly, dedicating her win to Mariah.
Despite previous comments in 2016, Cyrus was seen at one of Mariah Carey’s Christmas shows in 2023, showing a change in heart.

Mariah Carey has made quite an impact on the music world since her debut in 1990. Over the years, Carey has earned a record nineteen number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. She has also been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Miley Cyrus has built a reputation for herself as an artist who can’t be tied to any one standard. From her Disney beginnings to her current artistic success, Cyrus is an artist who has constantly reinvented her sound and image.

Therefore, it should come as no surprise that these two artists showed mutual respect when they encountered each other at the Grammy Awards in 2024. However, it was Cyrus’ comments about Carey years earlier that made this moment a bit unexpected.

Miley Gushed Over Mariah Presenting Her With A Grammy Award For Her Hit ‘Flowers’

In 2023, it was impossible to walk into any store or eat in any restaurant without hearing Miley Cyrus’ hit “Flowers.” The song was everywhere and became an anthem of empowerment for many.

The song’s impact was recognized at the 2024 Grammy Awards when Cyrus received the award for Best Pop Solo Performance. What made the moment even more memorable is the fact that none other than Mariah Carey presented Cyrus with the award.

When Cyrus took the stage, she asked Carey to stand next to her and not fade into the background.

“This MC Is gonna stand by this MC,” Cyrus said. “This is just too iconic.”

As she began her speech, Cyrus said she was “stuck in the rain and traffic” and worried she would “miss” the night’s first award, “and I could’ve missed the award, that’s fine, but not Mariah Carey. I just saw you at the Hollywood Bowl, it was everything.”

“I got my lucky No. 3 seat and so there’s a story I want to tell that sums up this moment and I wasn’t going to tell it, but now Mariah’s here,” Cyrus said before sharing the following:

“So there was a little boy that all he wanted for his birthday was a butterfly. And so his parents gave him a butterfly net and he was so excited. He just went outside, out in the sun, and started swinging and swinging. But with no luck. He sat down on the ground, he finally let go and he surrendered and he was okay that he wasn’t gonna capture this beautiful butterfly. And right when he did is when the butterfly came and landed right on the tip of his nose.”

“Aw,” Carey (who has a hit album titled “Butterfly”) could be heard saying in the background. Cyrus then concluded by saying, “This song ‘Flowers’ is my butterfly. Thank you.”

Miley Once Told A Magazine That She Wasn’t A Fan Of Mariah In 2016

While Carey and Cyrus’ show of mutual support was nice to see in 2024, it reminded many of a particular interview from 2016. That interview was in Cyrus’ cover story for Elle, when she was talking about her role as judge on The Voice.

When Cyrus was asked about her comment during the show’s filming that “not everyone can be Mariah Carey,” Cyrus wasn’t too kind when talking about the singer.

“I’ve never really been a fan because it’s so much about Mariah Carey,” Cyrus said. “That’s part of her shtick; I can see through that. That’s part of what makes her a gay icon; like, it’s about Mimi! It’s about what she’s wearing, and it’s about her. What I make isn’t about me. It’s about sharing my story; it’s about someone being connected to what I’m saying.”

Cyrus went on to talk about why she tries to avoid advertising products.

“That’s why you don’t see me, like, on the sides of buses, selling s***,” she said. “I mean, what am I going to do, sell makeup? Mostly, I tell people, ‘Don’t wear makeup.’ … I don’t really (wear makeup) for the contestants because some of these girls come from f****** Arkansas with cake face on. Like, I don’t want these kids to come out here and wear a bunch of makeup.”

Miley Was Later Spotted At One Of Mariah’s Christmas Shows In 2023

In December 2023, Carey went on her “Merry Christmas One and All!” tour to celebrate her love of the holiday. The tour featured appearances by several major artists, including Jennifer Hudson and Ariana Grande, who performed a live version of Carey’s hit “Oh Santa!” with the singer for the first time.

Cyrus was also spotted at one of the concerts, which she later referenced to Carey during her Grammy acceptance speech. Perhaps Cyrus had a change of heart regarding Carey over the years and grew into a fan.

During an interview on This Morning, Carey revealed she never expected her song “All I Want For Christmas Is You” to become a modern-day Christmas classic.

“No, I didn’t [expect that] and normally when people ask me the ‘did you know’ type thing, I pretty much say, ‘Yeah I had an idea’ or ‘I knew,’ but with this, I didn’t know,” Carey said.

She continued, “It was the first Christmas song I’d ever written and I just wanted it to be real to me. To my little girl’s self… like, what are the things I think about Christmas, what did I want, what did I wish for?”

“When I first wrote it, I wanted it to be timeless,” Carey explained. “I didn’t want it to be something that felt like a specific year — I wanted it to be something that I could have heard as a little kid growing up. I don’t know what version of ‘Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer’ I heard as a kid, or ‘Walking in a Winter Wonderland,’ but I just know that I loved those songs.”

“So I wasn’t thinking, ‘Oh my song is going to be as big as those songs,’ but I was like, ‘Let me do something that makes me feel like I’m getting the experience of listening to a classic.'”