Miley Cyrus is officially a Grammy winner. The singer kicked off the ceremony with a win for best pop solo performance for her hit “Flowers,” taking the stage to accept the award from Mariah Carey.
“This M.C. is going to stand by this M.C. because this is just too iconic,” Cyrus began, gesturing toward Carey. “Oh my god, I just got stuck in the rain and traffic and thought I was going to miss this moment. And I could have missed the award — that’s fine — but not Mariah Carey! I just saw you at the Hollywood Bowl. It was everything.”
Cyrus’ speech continued by underlining how meaningful her first Grammys honors are for her, after nearly two decades working in the music industry.
“There was a little boy that all he wanted for his birthday was a butterfly. So his parents gave him a butterfly net and he was so excited. He 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. He was okay that he was not going to capture this beautiful butterfly,” Cyrus said. “Right when he did is when the butterfly came and landed right on the tip of his nose. And this song, ‘Flowers,’ is my butterfly. Thank you.”
After accepting her award, Cyrus performed “Flowers,” shimmying across the Grammys stage in a sparkling silver dress. In between lyrics, she urged the live audience to show some enthusiasm, saying, “Why are you acting like you don’t know this song?” Afterward, the camera cut to audience members including Oprah Winfrey, who proudly stood and sang the words while pointing to Cyrus.
Cyrus is up for six Grammys this year, with many of these nods in major categories like record, song and album of the year for her latest full-length effort “Endless Summer Vacation.” Counting this year’s nods, Cyrus has been nominated a total of eight times. “Endless Summer Vacation” is Cyrus’ second project to appear in the best pop vocal album category.
“Flowers” topped the Billboard Hot 100 for eight weeks after its debut and broke Spotify’s record for most streams in a single week with more than 100 million listens. Months after its release, it became the fastest song to reach a billion spins.
“The record perfectly captures Miley’s journey and resilience,” Ron Perry, CEO of Cyrus’ label Columbia Records, told Variety. “But it’s not just about her; it beautifully reflects the theme of self-love, a sentiment that resonates with everyone.”