Mariah Carey on Rock Hall Snub: ‘I Was Excited About It. But Then It Didn’t Happen’

Mariah Carey may have officially heralded in the Christmas season Thursday night, but there was one gift she was expecting this year that she didn’t receive: Induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

With the holidays approaching, the “All I Want for Christmas Is You” singer spoke to the Los Angeles Times about a variety of topics, including her thoughts on being passed over for the Rock Hall. “My thoughts are: I didn’t get in,” Carey said before quipping, “My lawyer got into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame before me.

(Carey’s entertainment lawyer Allen Grubman — who also repped clients like Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez — was inducted into the Rock Hall in 2022 as the recipient of the Ahmet Ertegun Award, which honors music industry figures.)

Carey was Rock Hall-eligible for nearly a decade before she earned her first nomination for the honor back in February as part of the prospective Class of 2024. However, the singer didn’t make the final cut when the inductees were announced, which came as a surprise to the singer.

“Everybody was calling me going, ‘I think you’re getting in!’ and so I was excited about it,” Carey admitted to the Los Angeles Times. “But then it didn’t happen.”

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It’s not just the Rock Hall that has Carey feeling snubbed: While the singer has won five Grammy Awards, two of them (including Best New Artist) came in 1991, three more arrived in 2006, but there’s been none since then, and she hasn’t received a Grammy nomination since 2009. (Additionally, Carey has never won in the “major” categories like Album, Song, and Record of the Year, despite multiple nominations.)

“What can I do? Be a sore loser and say, ‘F the Grammys?’ Whatever,” Carey said. “If they give me more Grammys, I’ll like them more.”