Mariah Carey teases plans to release secret 90s album-Lillie Rohan-Entertainment – Metro

Mariah Carey may be set to release a secret grunge album (Picture: Michael Buckner/Penske Media via Getty Images)

It’s almost Mariah Carey season, and this year, it seems the pop star may have a present for us, and it’s not her iconic Christmas album. 

While appearing on the Las Culturistas podcast with host Matt Rogers, the Always Be My Baby singer teased that she could be preparing to release a secret album she recorded in the 1990s. 

Mariah rose to fame in 1990 with the release of her self-titled album and has since remained mostly associated with R&B, pop, hip hop, and soul. 

But, in 1995, she explored a new type of sound and recorded an entire grunge album which was never released and has since become buried. 

She first revealed the existence of the secret album in 2020 when she sat down with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1 and claimed music executives banned the star from releasing the album. 

‘I got kind of in trouble for making this album – the alternative album – because back then, everything was super-controlled by the powers that be.

The singer is somewhat of a pop princess (Picture: Bob King/Redferns)

But in 1995, she dabbled in grunge (Picture: Ke.Mazur/WireImage)

‘I never really was like, “Oh, we’re going to release it.” But then I was like, I should release it. I should do it under an alias. Let people discover it and whatever, but that got squashed,’ she admitted. 

She also discussed her decision to work on the album in her memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, which was released that same year. She admitted she wanted to ‘break free, let loose, and express my misery—but I also wanted to laugh’. 

The star said she was inspired by the white female singers of the time ‘who seemed to be so carefree with their feelings and their image.’ 

Mariah didn’t name the artists, however around the time the album was created, PJ Harvey, Alanis Morissette and Aimee Mann dominated the grunge scene. 

The album was mostly forgotten about for many years, Mariah’s recent chat with Matt has revived the topic and the podcaster jokingly asked the singer: ‘Can you drop that grunge album?’ 

She wanted to ‘express my misery’ in the record (Picture: Art Zelin/Getty Images)

Mariah appeared to be onboard with the idea and replied: ‘I know, right? I’m so mad that I haven’t done that yet … but who do I drop it with?’ 

The pair began brainstorming some ideas and decided she should release the album without a label but rather using ‘Garage Band or something, like a grungy thing’. 

They ultimately settled on the Grammy winner releasing it as an independent artist, with Mariah stating, ‘I could do that’. 

She added: ‘It’s a good album. OK, you will hear it. I was getting life from that, seriously. It was jokes, as well. They’re everlasting.’ 

But could she finally be ready to release her grunge track? (Picture: Mauricio Santana/Getty Images)

While the album with Mariah’s vocals has never been released, the songs themselves are actually available for fans to listen to. 

Working with a band called Chick, helmed by Clarissa Dane, Mariah used the alias of D. Sue and performed the background vocals on the tracks of the album called Somebody’s Ugly Daughter. 

It was released on September 5, 1995, in only physical copies, and music lovers received it poorly. 

The album is not available on streaming services. 

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