Mariah Carey Teases Release Of Her Secret ’90s Grunge Album

In her 2020 memoir The Meaning Of Mariah Carey, elusive chanteuse MC made a few big revelations, the most exciting of which was the existence of her secret grunge album. While working on her 1995 album Daydream, Carey wrote and recorded an entire alternative rock album “just for laughs.” Carey’s former roommate Clarissa Dane re-recorded the lead vocals, and the album Someone’s Ugly Daughter came out under the band name Chick, on a major label and everything. The record got barely any notice, and it is extremely difficult to find now. In 2022, Carey said that she was “on a quest” to find the version of the LP with her lead vocals intact and that she would reissue it when she did. It hasn’t happened yet, but it could.

Yesterday, Mariah Carey appeared on Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers’ Las Culturistas podcast, and the subject of the grunge album came out. Matt Rogers told her that she needed to release it, and Carey said, “I’m so mad I haven’t done that yet.” The two hosts told her that she could do that — just put it out on GarageBand herself if she wanted. (I’m pretty sure they meant Bandcamp, but you get it.) Carey committed to nothing, but she still seems to be happy about the experience of making the record: “I was getting life from that.” The word “tease” in the headline of this blog post is doing a lot of work, but Mariah Carey, at the very least, remains open to the idea of releasing her grunge album. Here’s that part of the conversation:

On the podcast, Carey also talks a bit about her songwriting process, but it turns into a game of dueling Long Island accents.

Carey also strikes a blow in her battle against overhead lighting.

The full podcast was published yesterday, and it’s a fun listen, since Matt Rogers in particular is clearly a huge fan. Here’s the complete conversation: