Mariah Carey was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame on Thursday.
After two years of Covid-19 cancellations, the induction gala returned for the first since 2019 at the Marriott Marquis in New York City on Thursday night.
Alongside Mariah, Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart of Eurythmics, The Isley Brothers, Steve Miller, Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo of The Neptunes, Rick Nowels and William 'Mickey' Stevenson were also inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Following an introduction from Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson, Mariah took to the stage last to give a speech in which she played into her diva persona.
"First of all, thank you so much. Second of all, I need to check out this lighting. My lighting guy, it's a long story, he couldn't get on the plane," she said, reports Billboard.
Flipping her hair and donning a pair of sunglasses, she joked that she became a "hermit" during the pandemic as she couldn't perform. "This is my first actual live moment (since the pandemic)."
She joked that she was "really p**sed" her frequent collaborator Jermaine Dupri was inducted before her in 2018, and noted, "I constantly have to remind people I'm a songwriter."
Mariah also highlighted the lack of women inductees in the organisation's history, saying, "Out of the 439 total inductees into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, only 32 have been women up until this moment. Now it's 33. As my father once told me: you did good, kid."
Other special guests at the event included Smokey Robinson, Leslie Odom Jr., Jon Batiste. St. Vincent, and Usher.
Songwriters are eligible for induction after writing hit songs for at least 20 years. Previous inductees include Burt Bacharach, Missy Elliott, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Billy Joel and Carly Simon.
