Jordan Karlesson
Nirvana. Soundgarden. Mudhoney. Mariah Carey?
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Mariah Carey is rarely perceived — scratch that: never perceived — as a grunge or alternative rock musician. That’s partly because her work on an alt-rock album by Chick went under the notice of even the most ardent pop fans, according to her September 2020 memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey.
Thanks to the new memoir, Carey’s secret love for grunge and alt-rock is now public knowledge. In fact, she’s throwing her weight headlong into efforts to remix and re-release Someone’s Ugly Daughter from 1995.
If you’re keeping score at home, 1995 was the same year Mariah Carey released her Daydream record — which sold a mind-belonging 11 million copies.
Carey contributed background vocals and helped write and produce it too. On the original version of the record, released in — you guessed it, 1995. She also helped write and produce the record. In other words, even though singers are told to take care of their vocal cords, Carey crushed it with those releases.
As the story goes, Someone’s Ugly Daughter went mission for decades. It features a version of the album in which Mariah Carey’s vocals are much more prominent.
In 2020, she published a tweet saying, “on a quest to unearth the version of this album with my lead vocals and will not stop until we find it!”
There Someone’s Ugly Daughter reissue still doesn’t have a release date, but Mariah Carey said it’s getting close to completion, Newsweek reported Friday.
Paging Mariah Carey: Christmas Is Only Three Months Away
Mariah Carey has been the best-selling female artist since 1991 (sorry, Shania), making her royalty in both pop and R&B. At last count, she had amassed more than 200 million albums sold, according to Hallmark Channel.
Speaking of which, let’s not overlook Mariah Carey’s obsession with Christmas music.
Last month, Carey filed a request with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to trademark her nickname “The Queen of Christmas.” It sounds like a silly move, but let’s not forget that Prince changed his stage name to an unpronounceable symbol.
Her move incensed other holiday-music singers, like Darlene Love and Elizabeth Chan, Variety reported last month. They’re trying to prevent Carey from having complete ownership of the phrase.
