Miley Cyrus with Mariah Carey.Photo:JC Olivera/WireImage

JC Olivera/WireImage
Miley Cyruskicked off the2024 Grammyswith her first-ever win.
Cyrus, 31, won best pop solo performance for “Flowers,” beating outDoja Cat,Billie Eilish,Olivia RodrigoandTaylor Swift, and as she took the stage to accept the award fromMariah Carey, she couldn’t help but fangirl over the fellow pop queen who presented her the award.
She kicked off her speech with a shoutout toMariah Carey, who presented the award to her.
She said she was “stuck in the rain and traffic” and worried she was going to “miss” the first award of the night, “and I could’ve missed the award, that’s fine, but not Mariah Carey. I just saw you at the Hollywood Bowl, it was everything.”
“I got my lucky No. 3 seat and so there’s a story I want to tell that sums up this moment and I wasn’t going to tell it, but now Mariah’s here,” she said, as she went onto to share:
“So there was a little boy that all he wanted for his birthday was a butterfly. And so his parents gave him a butterfly net and he was so excited. He just went outside, out in the sun, and started swinging and swinging. But with no luck. He sat down on the ground he finally let go and he surrendered and he was okay that he wasn’t gonna capture this beautiful butterfly. And right when he did is when the butterfly came and landed right on the tip of his nose.”
Carey, 54, said “Aw” in the background as Cyrus recounted the story before adding, “This song ‘Flowers’ is my butterfly. Thank you.”
Cyrus’s self-love anthem was the first single from her albumEndless Summer Vacation.After its release, itspent eight weeks at the topof the U.S.Billboardcharts andbecame the most-streamed song in a single weekon Spotify.
On its one-year anniversary, Cyrus thanked fans for making it a success, writing onInstagram, “One year ago today ‘Flowers’ started making people happy & that makes me happy. Love you. Thank you.”
Doja Cat, 28, received a nomination for the track “Paint the Town Red.” The song samplesDionne Warwick’s “Walk on By.” Warwick, 83, shared on Instagram that she was"thrilled" to have played a role in the creation of the song.
“I wanted to say, I think it’s wonderful that these youngsters who are recording today had decided to listen to some really good stuff of the old folks. Those that been recording for well over 20, 30, 40, 50 years and making decisions that good music plays a very important part. So I’m thrilled that you’re discovering us, that you’re keeping us alive,” she shared shortly after it was released.
Eilish’s nomination was for her track “What Was I Made For?” off theBarbiesoundtrack. The song was something she shared in aninterview with Apple Music 1 host Zane Lowe, which came out of a “frustration in writing.”
“AndFinneashas always been the one that’s like, ‘No, no, no, let’s write. Let’s write.’ And honestly, we were in a period of time where we were both … like through this last winter, we’ve both been incredibly uninspired. And we’ve still been working and trying to make stuff,” Eilish, 22, said. “And honestly, that song was the first thing we’d written in a minute.”
Rodrigo’s nomination was for the track “Vampire.” “I made it with my very talented wonderful friend @dan_nigro last winter and created the video with the incredible @petrafcollins. writing this song helped me sort through lots of feelings of regret, anger, and heartache,” Rodrigo, 20, shared onInstagramafter it was released.
Swift received a nomination for her track “Anti-Hero” —one of her most vulnerable songs to date. “I really don’t think I’ve delved this far into my insecurities in this detail before,” she said in a clip onInstagram. “You know, I struggle a lot with the idea that my life has become unmanageably sized, and that I, you know… not to sound too dark, but, like, I struggle with the idea of not feeling like a person.”
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
See PEOPLE’s full coverage of the 66th annualGrammy Awardsas they’re broadcasting live on CBS from theCrypto.comArena in Los Angeles.
source: people.com