Mariah Carey talks new album, family loss and resilience: “I don’t know how I processed it”

Music icon Mariah Carey is ending her seven-year break from releasing a new album with her 16th studio release, “Here for It All,” a deeply personal project born out of grief, healing and creative renewal.

The Grammy winner, one of the best-selling artists of all time, worked on the album while mourning the simultaneous deaths of her mother, Patricia Carey, and estranged sister, Alison, who both passed away on the same day last year.

“I don’t know how I processed it. I just know that it was extremely difficult for me to navigate,” Carey said. “It was tough because I have always had an interesting relationship with my mother.”

In her 2020 memoir, Carey wrote about her complicated history with her mother. Even so, Carey found comfort in their final days together.

“Towards the end, I was with her the whole time,” she said. “She said a couple of things to me that were very healing for what I needed. And I felt that that was the right thing to do.”

The loss of her sister also lingers heavily for Carey.

“My sister, I hadn’t seen in years, and I feel really badly about that as well,” Carey said. “But that’s ’cause I tend to have a guilt complex about everything. But it’s tough. My sister had an extremely hard life.”

Carey has long acknowledged her mother’s influence as an opera singer, while also noting their relationship was often fraught. A recent moment with a fan in London highlighted that connection when a young girl asked her to sign Patricia Carey’s 1970s album.

“She gave it to me,” Carey said of her mother’s album.

Mariah Carey on the sound of her new album

Musically, Carey describes her new album, “Here for It All,” as both classic and fresh.

“I would say it’s new Mariah, but still sounds like Mariah, but there’s a little twist to it that makes it a little bit different,” she said.

She also knew from the start what the final track would be.

“The last song on the album I decided first,” Carey said. “I was like, okay, first of all, we’re gonna do the last song’s going to be ‘Here for It All.’ And I’m gonna make it the title track. It’s just something that feels good to me and I didn’t wanna people to miss it.”

Carey collaborated with Grammy-winning artist Anderson .Paak, who appears on several tracks including her next single, “Play This Song.”

“I reached out to him. He’s brilliant,” she said. “He’s really a great artist.”

Their partnership has stirred dating rumors, which the pair have brushed off.

Carey joked, “He just likes to hold my hand. He just grabs my hand. I don’t know what he’s doing.” She called their bond “the handholding club.”

When asked about photos showing .Paak joining her during her famously festive Christmas season, Carey left it playful: “Well, they better know that it’s something special. It’s Christmas. He enjoyed it. I did. There’s a hot tub there. It was nice.”

“I would say it’s new Mariah, but still sounds like Mariah, but there’s a little twist to it that makes it a little bit different,” she said.

The album also showcases Carey’s resilience, especially in “Nothing Is Impossible,” a song she says reflects surviving “a gruesome fall.” 

For her, the message is simple but powerful. “I mean, nothing is impossible. That one hits me at the heart,” she said.