Mariah Carey Notes Her Lawyer is in the Rock Hall, But Not Her
Mariah Carey received her first nomination for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year. She didn’t make the cut for the 2024 class, and there’s an interesting reason why she might be annoyed by that.
In a new interview with the Los Angeles Times, Carey said, “Everybody was calling me going, ‘I think you’re getting in!’ and so I was excited about it. But it didn’t happen. My lawyer [Allen Grubman] got into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame before me.”
Indeed, Grubman was inducted into the Rock Hall in 2022. (It should be noted that Grubman was one of the co-founders of the Rock Hall back in the ’80s.) He received the Ahmet Ertegun Award, which is given to non-performing music industry professionals who have made a unique impact. Grubman’s profile on the Rock Hall’s website states, “He has represented rock & roll’s biggest stars, including Bruce Springsteen, U2, Sting, John Mellencamp, Madonna, Lionel Richie, Elton John, Lady Gaga, and many more. Grubman is recognized for negotiating ground-breaking long-term agreements for his clients that allow them to maintain creative control of their work.”
In fact, Grubman was inducted into the Rock Hall by Mellencamp, who was one of his first clients. If you care to watch that speech, it can be seen here, but be forewarned that there’s plenty of NSFW language ahead.
Mariah Carey Might Actually Release Her Secret Grunge Album
In 2020, Mariah Carey revealed that she recorded a grunge/alternative album in the ’90s. It remains shelved, but it could actually be released in the near future.
In an appearance on Las Culturistas, Carey was asked if she’ll ever release this album. She said, “I’m so mad that I haven’t done that yet … but who do I drop it with?”
Co-host Matt Rogers replied, “You know what would be kind of chic? If you just put it out on, like, GarageBand or something. Like a grungy thing.”
“I could do that,” said Carey. “It’s a good album … That was just, like, I was getting life from [recording] that [album].”
Billboard notes that the album Someone’s Ugly Daughter, and Carey recorded it in 1995 while recording her album Daydream. The album is credited to an artist named Chick — not Carey — and features her friend Clarissa Dane on lead vocals, with Carey providing backup vocals.
Two tracks from this album have been released on YouTube: “Demented” and “Malibu.”
Carey wrote about the album in her 2020 memoir, The Meaning of Mariah Carey, “I was exploring my musical range, but I was also filled with rage. It’s always been a challenge for me to acknowledge and express anger. My personal life was suffocating during ‘Daydream,’ and I was in desperate need of release.”
Carey talked about her not-so-secret grunge/alt. album during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in September 2020. At that time, she said, “I did it for laughs! And because it was such a popular genre at the time, I was like, ‘Well, I have a full band here [in the studio]. Let’s just do something, and I’ll just make up some nonsense and sing it.'”
Carey added about the album, “The label was like, ‘You can’t do this!’ It was a big deal … I wanted it to be released so bad. My plan was I was going to dress up in a costume and make a video and be unrecognizable and just release it and see what happened. But that got stifled by certain people at the label.”
She continued, “So, I kind of had to abandoned the project, but I’m kind of happy that at this moment, the fans are actually hearing it. It’s me doing an accent, doing an imitation of someone I created that doesn’t actually exist. Only someone who really knows my voice will be able to hear that and know that it’s me.”