Mariah Carey is challenging Ravyn Lenae to chase her dreams. \u201cYou\u2019re going to have to get after these things. C\u2019mon, girl,\u201d she says with a giggle, after Lenae shares admiration for women who have created a legacy, like Carey and Kelly Rowland, in the music industry.<\/p>\n
Carey, Rowland, and Lenae met up at the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills for Three Generations of R&B, ELLE\u2019s new series that brings women together for cross-generational conversations. Carey, who is a true legend in the genre, is fresh off the release of her new album Here for It All. Former Destiny\u2019s Child member and music industry veteran Rowland is hitting the road on The Boy Is Mine Tour with Brandy and Monica. Lenae, a breakthrough in the industry with her hit song \u201cLove Me Not,\u201d is about to join Sabrina Carpenter on her Short n\u2019 Sweet Tour. The three powerhouses are at different stages in their lives, but they\u2019ve had shared experiences, similar challenges, and, of course, many hits between them.<\/p>\n
View the full video above and read highlights from their conversation below.<\/p>\n
Michael Schwartz<\/span><\/p>\n Kelly Rowland: <\/strong>I actually was you. Dancing in the fields to \u201cDream lover,\u201d holding flowers to my face and whipping my hair. I was like, \u201cI am Mariah.\u201d I had the shorts like Mariah. I had the tops like Mariah. I decided to get into butterflies like Mariah. Somebody was like, \u201cFor God\u2019s sake, like dragonflies!\u201d I was like, \u201cNo, it\u2019s about the butterfly.\u201d<\/p>\n Ravyn Lenae: <\/strong>Leading up to today, I was thinking about my first moments with your music. It\u2019s so vivid in my brain of the summers with my little sister and my little cousins in the basement, putting on your album and making up dances to the whole thing, top to bottom…but also, seeing women of color float so effortlessly, between R&B and pop, and whatever she wanted to be, was so divine and important for me.<\/p>\n KR:<\/strong> The first time I met you, it was with [Destiny\u2019s Child]. I remember we were so stoked. I was like, we\u2019re going to look crazy when she turns around and sees us…we were so happy any time there was an encounter with you, period. You were always very warm and very cool.<\/p>\n Mariah Carey: <\/strong>Ravyn, I\u2019m just getting to know your music. But I really do like \u201cLove Me Not.\u201d It\u2019s really good. It has something about it that takes you back to childhood.<\/p>\n RL: <\/strong>Thank you. I think the most interesting thing people say is that is that it feels like it could be from the \u201950s, \u201960s, \u201970s, \u201980s.<\/p>\n KR: <\/strong>I remember thinking, \u201cOh, she likes to break the rules,\u201d in the best way. Not putting you in a box, I think that\u2019s the best thing about listening to all your records, because coming up…people like to put you in a box.<\/p>\n Jacket, pant, Valentino. Boots, Schutz. Earrings, ring, Nancy Newberg. Necklace, Lady Grey Jewelry.<\/span> Michael Schwartz<\/span><\/p>\n MC: <\/strong>I always loved writing songs, even as a little girl. Being a little kid and just drawing, writing, you know, little things like that. That\u2019s how I grew up to become a songwriter.<\/p>\n KR: <\/strong>Do you remember what [the] first song you wrote was?<\/p>\n MC: <\/strong>There\u2019s so many [that are] a little bit older. I\u2019m trying to think of when I\u2019m little, but I had this song \u201cI\u2019ll Get Back at You.\u201d That\u2019s a reveal for the first time. No one\u2019s ever heard that.<\/p>\n RL: <\/strong><\/strong>Somebody made you mad. I wrote my first song when I was 15. I remember I was working with a producer from Chicago at the time. There was a studio literally right around my high school, and I was a freshman. I was doing a summer program for kids where you would go, you would do music all day, and they would give you a stipend for it at the end of the summer. So I used my $300 to book that studio session and I recorded that song and the studio, he said, \u201cYou don\u2019t ever have to pay for studio time ever again.\u201d And I was like, \u201cGood. \u2018Cause I ain\u2019t got no more money.\u201d<\/p>\n KR:<\/strong> I enjoy songwriting when it\u2019s with a whole bunch of people. I don\u2019t actually think I\u2019ve ever sat down to write a song by myself, to be honest. I should actually really try that.<\/p>\n MC: <\/strong>It releases. Even if you have someone just playing on the keys and you\u2019re telling them which way to go.<\/p>\n KR: <\/strong>[Mariah], you have 19 number-one hits?<\/p>\n MC: <\/strong>But I\u2019ve only written 18 of them. KR: <\/strong>You\u2019ve written 18 number-one records? That, in itself, is crazy. I\u2019d probably have it on a shirt, and on the back of a jacket, and maybe on a hat.<\/p>\n MC: <\/strong>The thing is, people don\u2019t want to give you your propers. They don\u2019t. They\u2019re like, \u201cWe don\u2019t know if she\u2019s a songwriter.\u201d I\u2019m like, hello, I\u2019m in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. That was a huge deal for me. I can\u2019t even explain it.<\/p>\n KR: <\/strong>When I first heard about women writing and producing, and then watching certain MTV and VH1 specials, you would be working everything out. Even what you did with \u201cOne Sweet Day\u201d with Boyz II Men, you could tell you were in it. Everything was so consistent. The sound, and the way you put things together, even how you found just these moments to slide down notes. It was just honey, no pun intended. It was just so empowering to know that you could write and produce, and people everywhere would love it.<\/p>\n MC:<\/strong> I didn\u2019t realize that people were allowing me to do that. I was just doing it.<\/p>\n RL:<\/strong> Taking control of your vision, period, is producing, and I think that\u2019s left out of the conversation a lot with women. I think we get in the studio with men, and they tell us what to do, and we do it. But then, even if that\u2019s not the story, some people don\u2019t believe it.<\/p>\n Michael Schwartz<\/span><\/p>\n MC: <\/strong>I started producing my vocals when I was working on my demo. Before I had a record deal, before anything. I was in this woodshed that this guy had in New York. From there, I just kept doing it. Once I got a deal, I still did that. I was doing all my own backgrounds. My main thing is the background vocal production. That\u2019s what I love to do the most, but not necessarily in the woodshed.<\/p>\n RL: <\/strong>Backgrounds are the first thing that I hear in music. It\u2019s my everything. People like you or Janet Jackson or Patrice Rushen…I heard those and I was like, \u201cHow do you make a world with your voice in different tones and different feelings and colors?\u201d That is the most memorable thing to me about music.<\/p>\n KR: <\/strong>Sometimes I like to do vocal production by myself, and sometimes I like someone in there with me. What I love the most is bringing out the sass and personality, when you say words a certain way or are our noticing what things need to be caressed or finessed more than others.<\/p>\n KR: <\/strong>I don\u2019t know whose brilliant idea it was to text on Microsoft Excel, but it chases me everywhere that I go. Everybody\u2019s always asking me. I say, \u201cI don\u2019t know! I was given the device, it had this on it, and here we are in the video.\u201d They were like, \u201cOh, we need a shot of it.\u201d I was like, \u201cOkay, I guess this is right.\u201d Here we are 25 years later. I am literally asked every week.<\/p>\n Blazer, pants, Leo Season.<\/span> Michael Schwartz<\/span><\/p>\n RL:<\/strong> With me right now, and \u201cLove Me Not\u201d gaining traction on TikTok first, that was interesting for me to see. It also changed my idea of how we throw around \u201cTikTok song.\u201d I think that with that platform, people just find the things that they love. I found that great songs have been able to find the rest of the world through something like TikTok. I think there\u2019s something really cool about people not needing the money or the backing or the label or the whole production to get their music out into the world. It\u2019s a conscious thing for me to have to think about, even with the new music, not feeling like I have to outdo what just happened or follow it or try to chase it.<\/p>\n MC: <\/strong>But, you do!<\/p>\n KR: <\/strong>You are so honest. I love you. Truth be told, it is a new part of the cachet for labels. I think it was Adele [who] said [something like], \u201cEverybody\u2019s making a song for the TikTok, and I\u2019m thinking, Who\u2019s making the songs for me?\u201d I was so happy I heard that, because I was actually warp-minded. You\u2019ve still got to make music for yourself.<\/p>\n MC: <\/strong>It\u2019s a combination of everything that goes into making a song successful. Some of that is obviously streaming. A lot of people still look to radio as a place for a song to live. You said you didn\u2019t want to have to chase things, and that\u2019s why I said, \u201cBut you do.\u201d<\/p>\n KR:<\/strong> Because now, you\u2019re competitive. You\u2019re going to try to literally out beat yourself every single time.<\/p>\n RL: <\/strong>My mama said, \u201cDon\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n KR: <\/strong>Just have the fun when you do it. Talk your shit. You tell your great stories, and where you are, they will come.<\/p>\n MC: <\/strong>I was looking back at some of my stuff from back in the days, and this show that I did, [MTV\u2019s Unplugged]. It\u2019s like, I don\u2019t like the way I did my hair.<\/p>\n KR:<\/strong> Are you serious? I wore this hair because of that today. You always knew what was going to be fly years later. It didn\u2019t matter what you wore. It was timeless.<\/p>\n KR: <\/strong>I think when you evolve and you write from an honest place, these things matter in the music, because you\u2019re not the same person you were five years ago, ten years ago, 20 years ago.<\/p>\n RL: <\/strong>Showing up as your most honest self in that moment, that\u2019s what creates the waves of longevity and timeless music. Looking at the trajectories of amazing women in music and looking at the things they did to, you know, create a legacy, a body of work, and a spirit in the world that people love and remember.<\/p>\n MC: <\/strong>Having longevity is almost impossible for most people, because if you look at it, it\u2019s really tough, because you got to try so hard just to figure out where you\u2019re going and figure out what type of style you want to reinvent yourself with. It\u2019s a lot of reinvention in my little world that happens. I just try to do my best, write my best version of what a song is. It\u2019s just feeling emotions.<\/p>\n This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.<\/p>\n You Might Also Like<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mariah Carey is challenging Ravyn Lenae to chase her dreams. \u201cYou\u2019re going to have to get after these things. C\u2019mon, girl,\u201d she says with a giggle, after Lenae shares admiration for women who have created a legacy, like Carey and Kelly Rowland, in the music industry. Carey, Rowland, and Lenae met up at the Four […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2072502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[349238,369018,368815,312296,388570,341039,27664],"class_list":["post-2072501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-destinys-child","tag-kelly-rowland","tag-lenae","tag-mariah-carey","tag-michael-schwartz","tag-ravyn-lenae","tag-sabrina-carpenter"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Mariah-Carey-Kelly-Rowland-and-Ravyn-Lenae-on-Reinvention-and.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2072501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2072501"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2072501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2072503,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2072501\/revisions\/2072503"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2072502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2072501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2072501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2072501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On the impact of Mariah Carey<\/h2>\n
On Ravyn Lenae\u2019s \u201cLove Me Not\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
On songwriting<\/h2>\n
On making hits<\/h2>\n
<\/strong><\/p>\nOn being a woman in the industry<\/h2>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
On producing music<\/h2>\n
On texting on Microsoft Excel in the \u201cDilemma\u201d music video<\/h2>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
On social media<\/h2>\n
On looking back<\/h2>\n
On evolution and longevity<\/h2>\n