Mariah Carey on Her New Album ‘Here for It All,’ New Pop Stars, and Her Kids

I’m dying to know, with a vocal register that goes so high it can probably reach heaven itself, 15 studio albums under her belt and another on the way, and an iconic Christmas song that fills Santa’s bag up with cash every holiday season…What is the best thing about being Mariah Carey?

The music legend is reposing on the chair in her hotel room at the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills. Dressed in all black—a long-sleeve blouse, belt, skirt, high heels—she puts on dark sunglasses as our interview starts. She doesn’t hesitate before providing her crystalline one-word answer to my question:

“Diamonds.”

The 56-year-old singer is about to release Here For It All, her first studio album in seven years, and despite her voice, discography, and, of course, the diamonds, she isn’t sure about the I-word. Iconic. “I don’t think I am,” says Carey, the only artist ever to rank number one on Billboard’s Hot 100 in four distinct decades, while wearing sunglasses indoors. “Everybody tells me that I am, but I don’t know.”

One can understand why Carey might feel strange about the descriptor. The singer is balancing putting out brand-new music and being in the studio—“That’s my heart,” she says of the experience—while being recognized as one of the greatest musicians of this era. BET awarded her with the Ultimate Icon Award this summer. Earlier this month, Carey received MTV’s Video Vanguard Award in recognition for her decades-long career. Ariana Grande introduced her, describing her as “the reason why so many of us here sing.”

Carey, though, is still singing. She has spent the summer rolling out a pair of singles that prove she can do more than just career retrospectives. “Sugar Sweet” pairs her with Kehlani and Shenseea on a dreamy pop hit that’s as light as cotton candy, while “Type Dangerous” shows us her sassier side: “They don’t know the meaning of water nor soap” she sings after spotting “three hatin’-ass hoes.”

Here For It All only came together because Carey kept landing on these single-worthy tracks. “I started making some records and then I had three, and then I had four,” she explains. “I kept writing and kept just recording different songs. I decided now that we have five new singles, let’s do ‘em all.”

Carey says “Type Dangerous” is already one of her favorite songs to perform. Lately, her live shows represent the push and pull between being the legendary Mariah Carey and the Mariah Carey with new music to sing. While she’s having fun with her single, I asked if she’s feeling burnt out on any of the classics she’s made since her debut in 1991. “I am very thankful for ‘Hero,’ but I don’t always want to perform it because we performed it quite a bit,” she says. Sometimes, in the middle of singing it live, “I’ll get choked up,” Carey adds. “It’s one of those songs.”

One type of performance Carey is desperate to do more of is anything involving her teenaged twins, Monroe and Moroccan (a.k.a. Rocky). Being no-ifs-and-or-buts-about-it iconic can only get you so far with your own 14-year-olds. At Carey’s annual Christmas show last year, both Monroe and Rocky came on stage to dance and sing with her. The “All I Want for Christmas” songstress is struggling to get a repeat performance out of them when the show stops in Las Vegas this November. “They’re not doing it this year, I’m so sad,” she says. “I should call my daughter and be like, ‘I’m here talking about you and you’re not doing the show.’”

Which is how the singer and I end up FaceTiming Monroe from the Four Seasons. The teenager answers from their home gym. Carey enlists me as part of the chorus, pleading with her to perform in Vegas. “I might do it,” Monroe says. Then, she asks me: “Do you know Olivia Rodrigo?” Carey’s daughter is even wearing the 22-year-old singer’s merch as we chat. Of course, I point out that there would be no Rodrigo without Carey.

Rebecca Spencer

The current pop landscape, maybe more than ever in history, feels dominated by female singer-songwriters. Rodrigo, along with contemporaries like Sabrina Carpenter, Tate McRae, as well as Grande and Taylor Swift far outclass any of their male counterparts. “Some of the newer girls,” Carey says, choosing her words more carefully than at any other point in the interview, “I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s interesting.’ And some I’m like, ‘Oh’”—suddenly you can hear the side-eye in her voice—“‘that’s interesting.’” Still, regardless of her feelings about this new class of pop stars, this women-led era has the pitch-perfect conditions to receive Carey’s new album. It’s a world she herself helped create.

This is where being an icon, a Vanguard, a entertainer who goes to Vegas to perform Christmas megahits, and an avid songwriter comes into perfect harmony. For all the records she’s broken—1995’s “Fantasy” made her the first female artist to debut at number one on the Billboard Hot 100—she insists she still loves making new music. “The vibe of the album is different,” she says of Here For It All. “There are up-tempos, mid-tempos, and duets.” Her favorite song on the album is the last one, the title track, which blends her signature ballads with gospel music.

Carey’s made plenty of classics, but she’s not done yet.