Book Title: The Meaning of Mariah Carey
ISBN: 9781529038902
Authors: Mariah Carey & Michaela Angela Davis
Publisher: MacMillan UK
Publication Year: 2020
Price: RM 64.90
Time has shown me there is no benefit in trying to protect people who never tried to protect me.
– Mariah Carey
As a big fan of, in my opinion, one of the last few greatest pop divas of all time, Mariah Carey, I knew a lot about her life, including her feud with several celebrities, the “I don’t know her” memes, her discographies, and her relationships and marriages with Tony Mottola, Nick Cannon, and Bryan Tanaka.
Having said that, what are some of the things I don’t know about her? To be honest, quite a bit.
I was able to get to know the woman behind the image of these magnificent pop cultural icons in her 2020 memoir “The Meaning of Mariah Carey”, co-written with Michaela Angela Davis.
The memoir was divided into four parts, part one titled “Wayward Child”, part two “Sing Sing”, part three “All That Glitters” and part four “Emancipation”.
In Part One, “Wayward Child”, she discussed her childhood struggles, including her dysfunctional family, which included her, father Alfred Roy, mother Patricia, sister Alison, and brother Morgan, as well as an interaction with racism.
One of the most shocking revelations was when Mariah’s sister drugged her and was about to sell her to the latter’s boyfriend for prostitution, but she survived because the police drove right past the boyfriend’s car. The boyfriend, in my opinion, made the correct decision because what if she did not survive the incident?
In part two, “Sing Sing”, she described how, after graduating from high school, she made the bold decision to come to New York City to follow her dream of being a musician.
She recalled a time when she worked as a waitress, attended 500 hours of beauty school, and shared a cramped apartment with five roommates.
Then, during a party she attended with fellow singer Brenda K Starr, she was discovered by Mottola, one of the most prominent music executives of all time.
She finally made it when her first record was released, and a star was born at that time. However, it was not as lovely as she had imagined.
Her marriage to Mottola was anything but lovely. She was being monitored everywhere she went, even in the house they built in the 1990s.
Mottola realised how big of a star she is, and he tried to bring her down as much as he could, which hurts me because how could a person ever do anything like that?
Moving on to Part 3 titled “All That Glitters”, her debut film titled “Glitters” was her first film as a lead actress.
It was also the moment when her now-ex-husband Mottola destroyed her film, which did not receive a favourable critical or commercial reception.
She recounted the moment in which Mottola was looking for another “unknown female artist,” who happened to be Jennifer Lopez.
Mariah then revealed the moment she had her first public breakdown and how her mother called the authorities and took her to a rehabilitation centre.
In the final part, “Emancipation”, Mariah wrote about being bought out of Virgin Records because she had previously signed with the record label for a $100 million contract, which was the largest recording contract ever at the time, but due to the commercial failure of “Glitter”, the label released her, and she signed with Island Records for a $20 million contract.
Her biggest record at the time, “The Emancipation of Mimi”, was released, and I believe even she had no idea she would make what could be the biggest musical return ever.
She also revealed how she fell in love with her then-husband, Cannon, and how she never expected to remarry and have two beautiful children.
The best part of the memoir, in my opinion, is how her personal stories created inspiration for her discographies, and she even released some of the lyrics that mirror her journey.
She even included several Bible verses, particularly at the beginning and end of the book.
Although I was familiar with much of what I read, this represented just 10 to 20 per cent of what I knew.
The part that struck me the most was when she often wrote about how she did not belong in any race, black or white.
Instead, she embraces it, and as a result, many biracial public figures, celebrities, and artistes have followed in her footsteps.
The memoir, owing to the assistance of Michaela Angela Davis, is not awkward and has a proper narrative structure from start to finish.
This memoir is amusing, tragic, entertaining, and inspiring all at the same time, and it is a celebration of a woman who struggled a lot when she was young and has now become one of the most influential pop divas of all time.
It’s also a book in which I finally understand why she’s the way she is as a singer, diva, and, most importantly, a human being. I’d like to think that the book is more serious than just a gossip book. That is what happens when the memoir is written by the individual themselves rather than by others.
The one thing that I wish she would tell the readers more was her friendship with a legendary pop diva, the late Whitney Houston due to the comparison between both of them in the 1990s, which I believe she knew what is going on with Houston behind the scene but I can understand when she said “It’s not my business to talk about it.”
The other person that I also wish she tells the readers about her was the comparison that she was once again have to go through with a current pop diva Ariana Grande in 2013 to 2014 which the media describe Grande as the “mini-Mariah”, considering that later in 2020, Grande and Mariah alongside singer Jennifer Hudson collaborated for a Christmas song titled “Oh Santa!”.
But, as she stated on her 2020 press tour for her memoir, “If the person did not contribute to the meaning of Mariah Carey, then they would not appear in the book,” referring to some of the notable figures she has met in the past.
I suggest listening to the audiobook while also reading the physical book.
I’d like to close with this quotation: “In the end, and in the beginning, it’s all about faith in me. I can’t define it, but it has defined me.”
