Mariah Carey Reveals Secret Work on 1995 Alternative Rock Album

This week, Mariah Carey has a new memoir coming out called The Making of Mariah Carey. The memoir features the revelation that she “did an alternative album” while she was working on her 1995 album Daydream (which features “Fantasy” and “Always Be My Baby”). She tweeted an excerpt of the memoir, which discusses her work on Chick’s 1995 album Someone’s Ugly Daughter. It includes a preview of the song “Hermit,” which features Carey’s background vocals as a “hidden layer.”  

According to Carey’s representative, she wrote, produced, and sang background vocals on every song from Chick’s album. (She did not, of course, write “Surrender,” which is a Cheap Trick cover.) She’s also responsible for the album packaging’s art direction and directed one of the band’s music videos. The album isn’t currently available on streaming services, but find music videos and previews from the album in the below playlist. Her excerpt reads:

I’d bring my little alt-rock song to the band and hum a silly guitar riff. They would pick it up and we would record it immediately. It was irreverent, raw, and urgent, and the band got into it. I actually started to love some of the songs. I would fully commit to my character. I was playing with the style of the breezy-grunge, punk-light white female singers who were popular at the time. You know the ones who seemed to be so carefree with their feelings and their image. They could be angry, angsty, and messy, with old shoes, wrinkled slips, and unruly eyebrows, while every move I made was so calculated and manicured. I wanted to break free, let loose, and express my misery—but I also wanted to laugh. I totally looked forward to doing my alter-ego band sessions after Daydream each night.

Read Pitchfork’s feature “Forever Mariah: An Interview With an Icon.”