Mariah Carey says she was a “lost, interracial child” during ICON Award acceptance speech

The 2019 Billboard Music Awards took over Sin City on Wednesday night and the belle of the ball was Mariah Carey who was honored with the coveted ICON Award.

The singer who maintains the record for most weeks spent atop the Hot 100 chart delivered a five-song set of some of her most famous hits and had the crowd dancing in the aisles.

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She served up a nice mix of old and new jams including “A No No”; “Always Be My Baby”;“Emotions”;“We Belong Together” and “Hero” backed by dancers, an orchestra, and gospel singers to help her hit all those high notes.

After Jennifer Hudson presented her with the night’s biggest honor, she delivered a heartfelt acceptance speech and revealed that she doesn’t feel like an icon.

“Without getting into all the drama, all the ups and downs of my career … I guess I always felt like an outsider, someone who doesn’t quite belong anywhere, and I still feel like that lost interracial child who had a lot of nerve to believe I could succeed at anything at all in this world. But, and this is the truth, I did believe because I had to,” she said. “The truth is I dedicated my life to my music — my saving grace — and to my fans.”

Since hitting the music scene in 1990, “Carey led the Billboard Hot 100 in each year of the 1990s, making her the only artist to top the chart in every year of any decade, and has had 18 total No. 1s on the chart, the most among any soloist,” Billboard said in a statement.

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“Additionally, her 79 total weeks ruling the Hot 100 are the most of any artist. Six of her albums claimed the No. 1 spot of the Billboard 200 albums chart.”

Carey joins a long list of superstars who have been received the award including Janet Jackson, Neil Diamond, Stevie Wonder, Prince, Jennifer Lopez, Celine Dion, and Cher among others.

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