Mariah Carey Claims She Was “Scammed” By The Grammy Awards

With 19 chart-topping songs in the United States alone, Mariah Carey holds her title as one of the bestselling recording artists of all time proudly. However, the singer feels the Grammy Awards could’ve done more to celebrate her success.

On the Oct. 16 episode of the Las Culturistas podcast, hosts Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang discussed Carey’s Grammys record with the songstress. “You don’t have enough of those, by the way,” Rogers declared, to which Carey quipped back, “They scammed me. They toy with me.”

The “All I Want for Christmas” hitmaker has earned 34 Grammy nominations throughout her decades-long career, winning just five. Her first two Grammy trophies came in 1991 — one for best new artist and one for best female pop vocal performance for “Vision of Love” off her self-titled debut album.

In 1996, she was given six Grammy nods for her album Fantasy but walked away empty-handed. The singer was also nominated the following year for 1997’s Butterfly, which Carey called her “best album” on the Las Culturistas podcast. “It has zero accolades,” she added, referring to its lack of Grammys success.

It wasn’t until almost a decade later that Carey won another gold-plated phonograph. During the 48th annual ceremony, she won three Grammys for her 2006 record The Emancipation of Mimi, marking a major career comeback.

Since her 2006 success, the “We Belong Together” singer has only managed to pick up three more Grammy nominations and no trophies. She was, however, honored with a Grammy Global Impact Award in 2024.

“Is this a real Grammy? I haven’t seen one in soooooo long,” she joked at the time, per The Hollywood Reporter.

On the Las Culturistas podcast, hosts Rogers and Yang also brought up Carey’s 2020 memoir, The Meaning of Mariah, sharing their view that the book’s audio version should’ve been nominated in the Grammys spoken word category. “Stop playing in this woman’s face!” Yang added.

Mariah’s Other Major Gripe

The Grammy Awards aren’t the only thing grinding Carey’s gears. During her recent podcast interview, the singer reignited her feud with overhead lighting during the show’s “I Don’t Think So, Honey!” segment, which requires guests to reveal the one thing they cannot stand.

“I’m the one who gets the most tortured by the hideous lighting in every elevator, doorway, gyms — not that I go to the gym, but I’m just saying,” she told hosts Yang and Rogers. “Why do they do it to us? And I shouldn’t even say ‘us.’ Because it’s not us, it’s me.”