Mariah Carey's 'Rarities' Illuminate Pop Music's Evolution
Mariah Carey's 'Rarities' Illuminate Pop Music's EvolutionFacebookTwitterFlipboardEmail
Long-term pop fandom can manifest as an unappeasable hunger. Not only do we rely on our favorite musicians to help us relive the memories their songs alone can summon, we also ask that they give us more and more, as if ever-renewing presence on our personal soundtracks could lend coherence to our lives.
Thankfully for devotees of Mariah Carey, the legendary singer-songwriter has never lacked more. In fact, she's spent much of 2020, her thirtieth year in the limelight (dubbed "MC30"), letting the world know that's still the case. Just as her stardom has been defined by images of excess — remember the Tribeca penthouse she showed off in that notorious episode of MTV Cribs? — her discography has always been notable for its sheer abundance. Over the past few months, she's expanded her oeuvre by taking hardcore fans ("lambs," in Mariah parlance) on a joyride through her archives, making her remixes available on all streaming platforms and releasing The Rarities, a two-disc compilation featuring B-sides and previously unheard material. As if this weren't enough, she also published a memoir, the sassy-yet-sullen The Meaning of Mariah Carey, which reveals how the turbulence of her private life often fueled her relentless productivity.
