Mariah Carey Reflects On Her Career In The Latest Episode Of ‘Genius Level’

On November 14, legendary musician and songwriter Mariah Carey stopped by Genius for the latest installment of Genius Level, our live conversation series with icons of the music business, including influential artists, songwriters, producers, and executives. During the conversation with Genius' Head of Artist Relations Rob Markman, the 2019 Songwriters Hall of Fame nominee delivered a retrospective on her career just a few days before the release of her 15th studio album, Caution.

To open the interview, Mariah spoke about the early days of her career before the topic turned to demo versions of her early songs. After revealing that she doesn’t know where to find the “teenage demo version” of “Hypnotized” that she teased in 2015, Mariah addressed the purported demo track of “Vanishing,” which made its way onto the internet a few years ago.

“Yes. That’s the demo of ‘Vanishing,’” she said after hearing a snippet of the leak. “It sounds like the demo. I haven’t heard the demo in forever. But I liked the demo.”

When the discussion shifted to Mariah’s ear for samples, she explained that the Mobb Deep sample on “The Roof” was inspired by hearing “Shook Ones Part II" on the radio during an upstate New York drive.

In turn, Mariah shared her reaction to Drake’s sample of an obscure version of her 1991 song, “Emotions,” for his Scorpion track, “Emotionless.”

“I heard it over the phone at first, and I was like, ‘Oh, I’m sure they’re gonna speed it up,’” she said. “They ended up using pretty much all of it. I was like, ‘Okay, well, I’m so glad they liked it.’ I was very flattered by it.”

If she were to return the favor, Mariah said that she would want to build a song around Drake’s Meek Mill diss, “Back to Back.”

Elsewhere in the conversation, Mariah explained why her holiday hit, “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” still resonates with fans to this day.

“When I made the record, I was trying to make a classic sounding record,” she said. “I wanted it to be timeless and so, that was the goal. I feel like that’s the only reason, that’s one of the reasons why it transcends different things ‘cause a lot people feel like, they think it’s a remake.”

Mariah also reminisced about working with late Wu-Tang Clan member Ol' Dirty Bastard on “Fantasy (Bad Boy Remix),” a collaboration which helped make it cool for rappers to jump on R&B and pop tracks.

“They were like what is she doing? They really didn’t understand and it just became a thing,” Mariah remembered. “I was fortunate enough to have Ol' Dirty Bastard on the record ‘cause I was a huge fan… but certain people were like, 'I could do that. What is that? What is he doing?’ And I’m like, ‘No, no, no, no, no, just trust me, it’s, we’re good.’”

Watch the full video above and catch up on all of the lyrics to Mariah Carey’s biggest hits on Genius now.