The Queen of Christmas was seen outside of the holiday season, making a beautiful and funny acceptance speech at the iHeartRadio Music Awards on March 17.
Mariah Carey, the recipient of the 2025 Icon Award, used her acceptance speech to recognize her late mother, who passed away in August on the same day as her sister, Alison.
“On this Saint Patrick’s Day, I want to honor my mother, Patricia Carey, for giving me the gift of music,” Carey said of her mother, a Julliard-trained musician and voice coach of Irish descent.
Before her death, Carey wrote in her 2020 memoir, “The Meaning of Mariah Carey,” that music was a special connection between her and her mom.
“Music was something we genuinely connected on, and without pushing or becoming one of those overbearing stage mothers or ‘momagers,’ she instilled in me the power of believing in myself,” she wrote. “Whenever I mused about what I’d do ‘if I make it,’ she would cut me short and say, ‘Don’t say “if I make it,” say, “when I make it.” Believe you can do it, and you will do it.’”
Carey provided TODAY.com with a statement on Aug. 26, explaining that her mom died over the weekend and her sister passed “in a tragic turn of events.”
“I feel blessed that I was able to spend the last week with my mom before she passed,” Carey said in the statement. “I appreciate everyone’s love and support and respect for my privacy during this impossible time.”
In her acceptance speech on March 17, Carey also thanked her fans – whom she called her “Lambily.”
“To my fans, Lambily. You’ve been with me through every step of this journey,” she said. “Your love and loyalty are the greatest gift, and I’m endlessly thankful for each one of you.”
While the speech was emotional at times, Carey also sprinkled in some humor — beginning with a joke about the lighting.
“Is the lighting OK, because I don’t like bad lighting,” she said stepping up to the microphone — a joke which was met with a round of laughter, as well as internet reactions.
“I ain’t even a Mariah Carey fan but her checking if the lighting is good before she gives her speech that’s iconic,” one X user wrote.
Carey has made headlines in the past about her aversion to certain types of lighting.
“I can’t with the overhead lighting,” she said in an October 2024 appearance on the “Las Culturistas” podcast. “Why do they do it to us? I shouldn’t say us, it’s not us, it’s me.”
“I’m the one who’s the most tortured by the hideous lighting in elevators, doorway, gyms — not that I go to the gym, I’m just saying. It’s hideous lighting. The sun is OK if it’s sunset, I’ll gladly go outside and put a little hat on or whatever and that’ll be pretty because the sunlight caresses your skin. But it’s bad for you, so you have to be careful. But overhead lighting I don’t think so honey. Please stop it! Everywhere I go, shut the lights! I don’t want to see them no more. Overhead lighting, it makes me sick,” she continued.
This goes back years — she said in a 2015 US Weekly roundup that she has an “extreme aversion to overhead lighting.”
“In my opinion, elevator lighting is toxic!” she continued.
She then asked the audience if they liked her outfit, or “ensemb” in her words, as she turned around in a circle to raucous applause.
“As a kid, I used to listen to my favorite artist on the radio and dream of being on the airwaves myself. Now, for those of you who may not know what airwaves are, think of it as the non-Wi-Fi version of streaming, OK?” she joked.
“Even now I still get excited when I hear one of my songs playing on the radio,” Carey continued in her speech. “It never stops being magical.”
She continued on to thank a myriad of people, including John Sykes, the president of iHeartRadio, who was coincidentally her first manager, and the interns who would greet her with a smile at the radio stations at 7 a.m.
“Not exactly my ideal wake up time,” she joked.
Before her speech, Muni Long performed “We Belong Together” and Tori Kelly performed “Always Be My Baby” as a tribute to Carey’s legacy. Carey was spotted singing along to Kelly’s performance in the crowd.
After the performances, host LL Cool J took the stage, explaining why Carey was awarded with the honor of the Icon Award, joining the ranks of past winners like Cher, Elton John, Bon Jovi and Jennifer Lopez.
“Year after year, decade after decade, Mariah has continued to share her stunning voice, her songwriting and her deeply personal story with millions of fans everywhere,” Cool J said.
“Along the way, Mariah has broken virtually every chart record around the globe, including the record for a solo artist with 19 No. 1 hits. This is the extraordinary story, a successful story of a hero, a fantasy, a butterfly, a vision of love, who always has us feeling emotions. One of the greatest singers, songwriters and artists of all time, the 2025 iHeartRadio Icon: Mariah Carey.”
Carey thanked Cool J for his kind words in her speech, as well as Long and Kelly for their performances.
