In 2020, Mariah Carey gave her all to one of the most vulnerable works of her career-but for the first time, it wasn't an album. Her memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey laid bare her feelings about her complicated family life, the myriad successes of her record-breaking career, the joys of motherhood and more. Though Carey's an award-winning songwriter and has been known for her prowess with the pen since her 1990 debut, she tells Apple Music that the the process of writing The Meaning of Mariah Carey unlocked something new for her when it came to plumbing particularly difficult emotional depths for her lyrics. "It definitely did something to me where I was just a little bit more vulnerable, a little bit more exposed, a little bit more able to be myself, regardless," she says.
“Here For It All,” her 16th studio album, is her first project to fully capitalise on this soul-searching, and look no further than the ballads for proof. "Nothing Is Impossible" is an ode to her own resilience ("I dream a greater dream/I fight a greater fight/l overcome it all"), and the grand and sentimental title track is the sort of unabashedly romantic that hits the ear like a love note read aloud ("When you leave/You take a little bit of every fibre that's embedded in me"). These show-stoppers are classically Carey, but so is the album's robust mix of R&B, hip-hop, disco, gospel and pop. "I was a little bit worried in the beginning that there were too many different types of records," she says. "And I was just like, 'I don't care.'"
Whether she's vaulting her whistle tones to the heavens (alongside gospel legends The Clark Sisters on "Jesus I Do"), invoking '90s street swagger with "Type Dangerous" (which samples Eric B. & Rakim's "Eric B. Is President"), time-travelling with '70s slow jams (courtesy of the Anderson.Paak collaboration "Play This Song") or covering a childhood favourite (her take on Paul McCartney's Wings classic "My Love"), Carey is unapologetically herself and relishing in every note. Read on for her thoughts on each track of Here For It All.
"Mi"
"It's an ode to self-love and self-care. It was just one of those things where it's tongue-in-cheek, but it's still one of those ones that a lot of people were like, 'Oh, I love this.' I just visualise me in a hot tub every time."
"Play This Song" (feat. Anderson.Paak)
"I definitely wanted to work with Anderson because he's so brilliant and amazing at what he does, which is just being a kick-ass musician. But when we got into the studio, we decided we wanted to do something that was kind of '70s, and we did give you that kind of vibe. So we started working on 'Play This Song, and it was just one of those ones that I really loved. Working with him in the studio, he's a great companion in terms of making music."
"Type Dangerous"
"I was in a restaurant in Aspen, and I was with Andy [Anderson .Paak] and a couple of friends. All of a sudden they started playing music and playing different songs. Suddenly 'Eric B. Is President' comes on, and I was like, 'What? I love this song. I haven't heard this song in forever.' We went to the studio the next day and started playing around with sampling it, and it's just on and on from there... I made them play it over and over."
"Sugar Sweet" (feat. Shenseea and Kehlani)
"I just think [Shenseea and Kehlani]'s freedom really shows, and they're just present; they're who they are. This makes the record so much younger and more fun, and I just thought it was everything. I've never had a trio before with three strong women, and having the ability to do this now, it's amazing. I love what it speaks on. I love what it speaks to."
"In Your Feelings"
"It's one of those ones where you tell a story about something you've been through and put it together and you release it. And that's what we did. People really like the 'I think you might be getting a little bit too...'-that part. I like it a lot. I wasn't really trying to say anything. I was just feeling the moment. I didn't even appreciate it much until we did it and I lived with it for a while."
"Nothing Is Impossible"
"I was just writing a couple of things, playing around with little ideas and working with my very close friend and musical director Daniel Moore. He was playing on the piano. I was singing along. We were following each other in terms of melody, and then I just took it home and wrote the lyrics. I think it's one of those ones where I had to be by myself and really just off in my own world writing about these sort of feelings. I think it's something, if anything, it would help somebody get through something."
"Confetti & Champagne"
"I guess it's about somebody that you're not with anymore, but you're speaking to them, and that's it. You don't really care. That's the basic 'Clink, clink, clink, pow/Look at me now. That's basically it."
"I Won't Allow It"
"We took a long time writing it-not a long time with the actual words or the music, but it was just over time we produced more and did more. It's another one with [.Paak], and he's just so great at that type of vibe. There are some kiss-off moments in that. 'I won't entertain all your narcissistic ways' is one of my favourite moments. 'Should have been more proactive'-these parts just make me laugh."
"My Love"
"It's more an homage to my childhood, because I remember being a little girl and riding on the back of a motorcycle with my mother's friend's daughter and her boyfriend. This was their song, and they were in love. I'm still hoping that Paul McCartney might play something on it, which would be amazing. He is one of the greatest of all time, ever, and I just asked before I recorded the song, would he mind if I recorded it? I had a conversation with him, and he was like, 'No, give it a shot, send it to me.' And I'm like, 'How do I do this? Because I really want him to be on this song doing background vocals, something.' I don't think that's where he's at right now, but he might lay something for the deluxe version. I would be thrilled out of my mind. But yeah, if you talk about the emotion when I'm singing it, it's definitely about finding someone that you really revere and care for."
"Jesus I Do" (feat. The Clark Sisters)
"I am a humongous Clark Sisters fan. I love their work. Karen Clark's solo album is just scrumptious and unparalleled. I really was like, 'I can't believe I'm in here doing this.' We wrote it together and sang it together. All the backgrounds that we did, I mean, I'm so inspired by their background vocals that when I get to mix that with mine, it's something to be healed."
"Here For It All"
"It's just special to me; that's why I put it at the end and named the album after it, because it's personal to me. It's not even something I want to even go into every beat of. I love the way it ends and then it doesn't end. I thought this was going to be my gospel song on this album, because that's the vibe it's giving, but we have 'Jesus I Do', so it's different. I just feel like this is such a 'Mariah Carey record' in a way that other songs I've done however long ago weren't, because it's got a soulfulness to it, just the way that it's arranged. I just feel like it's something very personal, but also very like it's giving this to other people that need to hear something like that."
Make sure to check out the album on Apple Music HERE!
For a limited time only, pre-order Mariah Carey's "Here For It All" Deluxe Digital Album which includes special bonus track of "Sugar Sweet" (solo) for just $7.99 + TAX.
Exclusive to MC's Official Store!
