Mariah Carey inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame

Mariah Carey may be best known for her multi-octave voice, but she’s just as good at writing the songs as she is performing them.

Throughout her career – which spans more than three decades – Mariah has written or co-written over 190 songs, including 18 of her 19 number one singles.

Mariah made history when they became the first solo group to top 19 songs on the Billboard Hot 100, second only overall to The Beatles who had 20 songs to hit the top spot.

These number ones include iconic hits such as Hero, We Belong Together and All I Want For Christmas is You – although Mariah is being sued for the festive track.

Still, she’s not letting this lawsuit keep her from enjoying herself as the global superstar has been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

The Songwriters Hall of Fame is a notoriously difficult honor to claim. Inductees are chosen by a relatively small group of songwriter and music publisher peers and celebrated at an invitation-only event.

As well as being an exclusive club, the Hall of Fame has for far too long been something of a boys’ club — something Mariah wasn’t afraid to touch on in her speech that fit the diva’s brand perfectly. .

In her speech, Mariah said: “I read that of the 439 total inductees into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, only 32 were women – up to this point. And now I’m going to be 33 So, like my dad once told me, ‘You did well, kid.’ Thank you very much. I did well!

That wasn’t the only standout moment from his acceptance speech.

Mariah opened her speech by demanding a change in her lighting.

She came on stage and said, “Well, first of all, thank you very much! Second, let me check this lighting, because I’m not sure…it’s a long story, my lighting guy couldn’t get on the plane.

Following this hilarious moment, Mariah gave another iconic diva moment.

Playing with an oversized pair of sunglasses, she said, “Let me see, am I doing this? Is not it ? She then put on the sunglasses to the cheers of the crowd and responded by saying “It’s a moment, take a picture!”

Despite the comedic moments, Mariah also shared how songwriting came to her as a way to deal with the dark times of her childhood.

“I just mean, my whole journey…started with poetry, in my childhood. And then – well, actually, I think the melodies came first. And then I started writing these poems, and people were like, ‘This girl has kind of a gloomy view of the world at six years old.’ »

“And I did, because I come from this incredibly dysfunctional background. And it was all that, music, and walking alone and finding melodies and writing words in a book.