Mariah Carey Plays Coy About Anderson .Paak Romance Rumors

Are Mariah Carey and Anderson .Paak in a relationship?

The Songbird Supreme spoke with Gayle King on the Wednesday, Sept. 24 episode of CBS Mornings about her upcoming 16th studio album, Here for It All, which features collaborations with .Paak following their recent hand-holding outings that sparked romance rumors. But in true Carey fashion, she played coy regarding their status.

The “Fantasy” singer, 56, explained she “reached out” to .Paak, 39, about working together on music because he’s “brilliant” and “a great artist.”

As for why they’ve been spotted holding hands, Carey said, “He just likes to hold my hand. He just grabs my hand, I don’t know what he’s doing.”

King, 70, asked for further clarification, but Carey simply said .Paak (whose real name is Brandon Paak Anderson) is in “the hand-holding club” and insisted, “That’s what it is.”

The pair also attended the iHeartRadio Music Awards together, and .Paak was spotted with her in Aspen, Colo. during the 2024 holiday season — which the CBS Mornings host noted is a special time for Carey, known as the Queen of Christmas.

“Well they better know that it’s something special, it’s Christmas,” the “Oh, Santa!” artist said of fans’ queries about the festive time spent with .Paak.

“He enjoyed it,” added Carey of the Silk Sonic musician, divulging that she also enjoyed the occasion. “There was a hot tub there… it was nice.”

The two musicians worked on at least two songs for Carey’s Here for It All album: “Type Dangerous” and “Play This Song.” The latter track features vocals from .Paak.

December 2024 marked the first time they were photographed together, as they held hands and smiled while grabbing dinner in Aspen twice in one week.

He then helped Carey on stage at the iHeartRadio Music Awards in March, where she received the Icon Award. One week later, they were seen holding hands once again following a dinner in Los Angeles.

In May, .Paak appeared on the TikTok series Track Star and confirmed they were working on “some music” together.

Carey is mother to 13-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe, whom she shares with ex Nick Cannon. .Paak shares sons Soul Rasheed and Shine Tariq with estranged wife Jaylyn Chang, from whom he filed for divorce in January 2024.

Here for It All comes out Friday, Sept. 26 and features the singles “Type Dangerous” and “Sugar Sweet.”

Elsewhere in the CBS Mornings interview, Carey spoke about how she made the album’s final track first in the creative process.

“The last song on the album I decided first. I was like, ‘The last song is going to be “Here for It All,” and I’m going to make it the title track,’” she said. “It’s just something that feels good to me, and I didn’t want people to miss it.”