‘I NEARLY FAINTED’
Coldplay ‘super fan’ takes center stage at Grammys
STAMFORD — When Grammy Awards host Trevor Noah opened the envelope revealing the winner for “Album of the Year” Sunday night, a Stamford native was standing behind him on the stage.
Joey Macari, a Trinity Catholic High School alumna, was featured in a segment during the show where fans of the nominees for “Album of the Year” made arguments for why the artist they love should win the award. Macari spoke in support of Coldplay and their 2021 album “Music of the Spheres.”
“It’s so uplifting and so positive that you want to cry,” the 28-yearold said during a roundtable discussion with the other fans filmed before Sunday’s ceremony. “Also, Chris Martin is a sweet baby angel and he has to be protected at all times.”
In an interview Tuesday with Hearst Connecticut Media, Macari said that Martin, the lead singer of Coldplay, blew her a kiss while she was on the stage Sunday.
The 10 fans had been sitting in the audience when Noah asked them to join him for the announcement of the winner. It was a surprise to all of them, Macari said.
“You can tell from my face,” she said. “I nearly fainted.”
Macari said she could hear her mother’s voice in her head telling her to pull her shoulders back, try not to trip and smile.
After opening the envelope, Noah showed it to the Harry Styles fan in the group — 78-year-old Reina Lafantaisie from Ontario — so she could announce that Styles had won for his album “Harry’s House.”
Macari, a current resident of Boston who previously lived in Los Angeles, is an actress, a freelance writer for publications including Stamford Magazine and RISMedia’s Real Estate magazine and a social media copywriter.
She said a producer for Fulwell 73, the production company for this year’s Grammys, contacted her after she responded to a notice seeking a Coldplay “super fan” to participate in an “exciting opportunity.”
“I feel like my entire life I’ve identified as Coldplay’s biggest fan,” said Macari, who has seen the band perform in concert eight times since 2012. “I submitted this form and didn’t expect anything out of it. And then the producer reached out to me. She said she loved my responses.”
She said the producer asked her to film herself talking about her love for Coldplay. Soon after, she was told that she “was hand selected from the band to represent fans across the world.”
The video clip that aired at the ceremony includes scenes professionally shot in Stamford of Macari with her family, including her six nieces and nephews.
“I’ve always connected to Coldplay because growing up in just such a big family, I didn’t really feel like a lot of things were mine,” Macari said during the clip. “Coldplay felt like the first thing that felt like my own.”
She described how after a breakup, her sister, Jordan, urged her to go to a Coldplay concert, telling her: “You need this for your soul.”
“When I listen to ‘Music of the Spheres,’ I kind of imagine it as like a cosmic hug from the universe saying, like, ‘It’s gonna be OK,’” Macari said in the clip.
Macari told Hearst that Fulwell 73, the production company, flew her out to Los Angeles for the award ceremony at the Crypto.com Arena. She said she had encounters with celebrities during the night.
At one point, Beyoncé walked by her.
“I said, ‘Congratulations. You look beautiful,’” Macari said. “She touched my shoulder and she goes, ‘Oh, you guys are from the panel.’ So all the artists knew who we were, and it was just insane.”
Beyoncé won four awards that night and became the most-awarded artist in Grammy history.
Macari said that when she was on stage with the other fans, she made eye contact with actor Ben Affleck.
“I used to teach theater to his kids when I lived in L.A.,” Macari said. “And I think ... he had that moment of ‘Do I know this person?’”
Overall, Macari said it was the “Adventure of a Lifetime” — referring, of course, to the name of a Coldplay song.