Showbiz News
-
-
-
Loading
Loading
It may sound like the setup to a late-night comedy sketch, but it’s very real: Mariah Carey is preparing to release her scrapped 1990s grunge album, nearly three decades after it was recorded.
The project, which has taken on near-mythical status among fans, was first revealed in 2020 when Carey published her memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey. In it, she shared that during the peak of her pop fame she secretly worked on an alternative rock record, recorded under the name Chick, titled Someone’s Ugly Daughter.
A hidden side of Mariah
The album was originally completed in 1995, at the height of Carey’s chart dominance with pop and R&B hits like Fantasy and Always Be My Baby. At the time, however, the project was shelved.
Carey later explained that her friend Clarissa Dane provided the lead vocals on the released version, while Carey herself performed “hidden background vocals” that blended into the tracks.
For years, fans only knew of the album through rumours and rare snippets that surfaced on YouTube, but Carey confirmed its existence and her involvement in her memoir, sparking excitement about the possibility of an official release.
Last week, Carey spoke to SZA about the album and described the cover artwork and a song on the tracklist seemingly called ‘Hermit’ – Credit: instagram.com/applemusic
Mariah’s hints over the years
The singer has dropped several hints in recent years that she intended to revisit the project.
In 2022, she admitted she was actively searching for the original tapes with her own lead vocals.
In 2024, during an interview on the Las Culturistas podcast with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, she revealed:
“I’m so mad I haven’t released it yet.”
Now, it appears those plans are finally moving forward, with Carey actively working to bring the long-lost album to light.
Why it matters
For many, the release will represent a fascinating new layer to Carey’s career. While she is best known as the “Queen of Christmas” and for her powerhouse five-octave vocals, a grunge project shows just how experimental and versatile she was during the mid-’90s.
The mid-1990s were a time when grunge and alternative rock dominated the airwaves, with acts like Nirvana, Hole, and Alanis Morissette reshaping popular music. Carey’s involvement in such a project, while simultaneously ruling the charts with pop anthems, highlights her creative restlessness at the time.
For Carey herself, it also represents an opportunity to share a part of her artistry that was hidden away for too long.
What fans can expect
Though no official release date has been confirmed, industry insiders believe Carey may restore and remaster the album, including versions where her own lead vocals replace Clarissa’s. This would give fans a never-before-heard side of Mariah’s voice, raw, edgy, and far from the polished pop ballads she is associated with.
With Carey’s global fanbase, and the growing appetite for nostalgic releases, the grunge album could become one of the most talked-about archival projects in recent years.
As Carey herself once said: “It’s been on my radar. And it’s going to happen.”
