Mariah Carey Might Actually Release Her Secret Grunge Album
In 2020, Mariah Carey revealed that she recorded a grunge/alternative album in the ’90s. It remains shelved, but it could actually be released in the near future.
In an appearance on Las Culturistas, Carey was asked if she’ll ever release this album. She said, “I’m so mad that I haven’t done that yet … but who do I drop it with?”
Co-host Matt Rogers replied, “You know what would be kind of chic? If you just put it out on, like, GarageBand or something. Like a grungy thing.”
“I could do that,” said Carey. “It’s a good album … That was just, like, I was getting life from [recording] that [album].”
Billboard notes that the album Someone’s Ugly Daughter, and Carey recorded it in 1995 while recording her album Daydream. The album is credited to an artist named Chick — not Carey — and features her friend Clarissa Dane on lead vocals, with Carey providing backup vocals.
Two tracks from this album have been released on YouTube: “Demented” and “Malibu.”
Carey wrote about the album in her 2020 memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, “I was exploring my musical range, but I was also filled with rage. It’s always been a challenge for me to acknowledge and express anger. My personal life was suffocating during ‘Daydream,’ and I was in desperate need of release.”
Carey talked about her not-so-secret grunge/alt. album during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in September 2020. At that time, she said, “I did it for laughs! And because it was such a popular genre at the time, I was like, ‘Well, I have a full band here [in the studio]. Let’s just do something, and I’ll just make up some nonsense and sing it.'”
Carey added about the album, “The label was like, ‘You can’t do this!’ It was a big deal … I wanted it to be released so bad. My plan was I was going to dress up in a costume and make a video and be unrecognizable and just release it and see what happened. But that got stifled by certain people at the label.”
She continued, “So, I kind of had to abandoned the project, but I’m kind of happy that at this moment, the fans are actually hearing it. It’s me doing an accent, doing an imitation of someone I created that doesn’t actually exist. Only someone who really knows my voice will be able to hear that and know that it’s me.”
