,type=downsize)
The GRAMMYS may have broken some traffic laws on Sunday to get Mariah Carey to the awards. With Los Angeles getting record-breaking rain, traffic was a disaster, and the songstress was stuck on the freeway in an SUV ahead of the show.
Carey made it in time to present the award of Best Pop Solo Performance to Miley Cyrus, but if it wasn’t for a golf cart and some bravery, she might not have made it. Executive producer Ben Winston explained on the Feb. 6 episode of Rolling Stone Music Now podcast that the GRAMMYS used a golf cart to pick her up.
Fifteen minutes from the show, Patrick Menton, co-EP, delivered bad news, “We’re not sure SZA is going to make it back in time for her performance - she went to a hotel to get glammed, and she can’t get back in. Burna Boy was stuck in traffic and might not make it. And you definitely won’t have Mariah, Kacey [Musgraves], Christina Aguilera, and Lizzo. All stuck in traffic.‘”
Carey’s arrival was non-negotiable. “We literally drove a golf cart the wrong way up the freeway,” Winston explained. “And brought her back so she made it on time.”
With rain pouring, he said four people were running around the side with umbrellas “to make sure she didn’t get so wet that she couldn’t go on stage.”
The “Always Be My Baby” looked picture-perfect once she hit the stage to deliver the award to Cyrus, who also almost missed it. “I just got stuck in the rain and traffic,” The “7 Things” singer said. “And thought I was gonna miss this moment.”
Cyrus, who had Carey stay on stage with her during her speech gushed, “I could have missed the award, that’s fine ... But not Mariah Carey.”