LISTEN: Mariah Carey's Releasing Her Long Lost Grunge Album...

"Wait, there was a Mariah Carey grunge album?"

I think that's what most of us said, after Mariah announced that there was , in fact, a grunge album featuring her that never saw the light of day. Thanks to Rockaholic Eric Wilhite for tipping me off to this yesterday. More, from Consequence: 

The album in question, titled Someone’s Ugly Daughter, was recorded during the sessions for Carey’s 1995 smash Daydream. Sony/BMG released it, though it disappeared without a trace shortly thereafter. And because Carey was initially uncredited, there wasn’t a huge demand for it — that is, until the singer dropped the bomb in her memoir: “It’s always been a challenge for me to acknowledge and express anger,” Carey wrote. “My personal life was suffocating during Daydream, and I was in desperate need of release.”

The official release of Someone’s Ugly Daughter featured Carey’s friend Clarissa Dane on lead vocals, though the band did record a version with Carey on lead vocals instead: “I’m on a quest to unearth the version of this album with my lead vocals and will not stop until we find it!” she tweeted in 2020. That same year, her longtime producer Dana Jon Chappelle recalled to Rolling Stone that the “impromptu” project was largely inspired by ’90s alt-rock staples like Sleater-Kinney, L7, and Green Day — the latter’s Dookie was, believe it or not, a favorite of Carey’s at the time.

Last week, Carey shared some good news on the Music Now podcast: She’d found the lost recordings with herself on lead vocals, and she’s planning on releasing them with her vocals restored (she also teased a new mysterious project involving Chick and “another artist”). That reissue doesn’t yet have a release date, but we’ll absolutely be keeping our ears peeled.

What might that sound like? While we wait (with unbated breath) to find out, here's a bit of a taste:

Fun fact: I did an alternative album while I was making Daydream 👀 Just for laughs, but it got me through some dark days. Here's a little of what I wrote about it in #TheMeaningOfMariahCarey 🤟 S/O to my friend Clarissa who performs the lead w/ me as a hidden layer #Chick #TMOMC pic.twitter.com/Re23t5whcd

— Mariah Carey (@MariahCarey) September 27, 2020

 Here's one of the songs with Mariah on (uncredited) backup vocals.