Photo: WANG ZHAO/AFP via Getty Images
It would be absurd to think that Italy wouldn’t fly in one of the world’s great living divas to perform during the Opening Ceremony of the Milan Cortina Olympics. They basically invented diva-dom over there. As such, it makes perfect sense that Mariah Carey took the stage on Friday afternoon to usher in the Olympics’ return to Italy.
After a very Italian dance performance (gladiators and human-size moka pots danced under floating tubes of oil paint), Carey appeared to perform Domenico Modugno’s “Volare.” Did she cop out and sing the Dean Martin version, which is mostly in English? No. Carey performed the song in the original Italian, even throwing in a few whistle notes for good measure.
From there, Carey went into “Nothing Is Impossible,” a recent single from her 2025 album, Here for It All. While technically on theme for the occasion, it’s hard not to wish for a more recognizable Carey cut. If you squint, you can sort of contort “My All” into being about devoting your life to the pursuit of skiing down a hill really fast. Alas.
Once Carey’s performance was done, the telecast cut to giant, bobbled-headed versions of Italian composers Giuseppe Verdi, Gioachino Rossini, and Giacomo Puccini doing a choreographed TikTok-style dance. This is what Kate Hudson meant by “Cinema Italiano.”
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