While most of Mariah’s World has been a surreal, The Comeback–esque delight, this week’s episode got emotional when Mariah Carey learned about Prince’s unexpected death this past April. Carey got word of his passing hours before she was due to perform in Paris, breaking down in tears in her hotel room. But, the saboteurs at Dick Clark Productions be damned, Mariah Carey is a professional, and so the show went on, with Carey delivering a rousing tribute to Prince. Calling the artist “one of the greatest, most incredible geniuses that we’ve ever had in music,†Carey said, “I didn’t know if I was going to be able to come out here and put on a show and be festive, but I said, ‘I’m in Paris and that’s what Prince would actually want me to do. I think he would actually want me to get through it and, rather than just make everything bleak, to turn it into a moment and take him and honor him.’ Because he was a friend to me too, and he talked me through some times I really, really needed somebody.†Carey then asked for a moment of silence before continuing with the show; watch the tribute above.
