Mariah Carey Got Together with Anderson .Paak to Deliver Peak IDGAF Vibes, and I’m Here for It All

No one loves a heartfelt Mariah Carey ballad more than I do. But even more than encouraging me to “Fly Like a Bird” or stand tall “Through the Rain,” I have always found utter joy when she lets her detractors know they could never be her.

Fans (and non-fans) of Mimi know that the singer is no stranger to addressing her haters through a quippy lyric or very thinly veiled quote during an interview. For her new album Here for It All, she elicited the help of her rumored beau and “CEO of the hand-holding club,” Anderson .Paak, to deliver some of the most cutting songs off the record.

“I Won’t Allow It,” for example, is a classic Mariah Carey “diss track,” elevating Carey’s vocals with .Paak’s signature drum base and carefree vibes (which may remind you of An Evening with Silk Sonic, his joint album with Bruno Mars).

Their vocals blend seamlessly; it’s upbeat and whimsical and sounds like it was made on a night where people might have had too much Champagne, were talking smack and decided to hit the studio. The lyrical content has already had the internet speculating who the person with the “dirty mustache” could be — Carey cheekily told Gayle King, “There was a specific person” in mind — and while I have my theories, Mariah didn’t say it, so I won’t say it. 

The pair also collaborated on several other songs, including “Play This Song,” “Type Dangerous,” and “In Your Feelings,” all of which feature her standing in her full diva strength and paying dust to those who fumbled and no longer get to be in her company.

It’s a fun side of her that I have always enjoyed as a fan, but only ever got tiny glimpses of. For as long as she’s been a star, the singer has always tried to keep it cute, hardly ever calling anyone out by name, save for a few instances where she’s (playfully) confronted the likes of Wendy Williams and Sandra Bernhard.

Mariah has churned out chart-topper after chart-topper since Vision of Love dropped back in 1990 (don’t do the math — she doesn’t acknowledge time) and while I love the inspirational ballads and sweeping love songs, I truly feel she’s at her best when she’s reminding everyone her presence is a gift and that her lifestyle is far out of our tax brackets.

Whether or not they’re actually a couple, .Paak does empower her to embrace a side of her she seems to try to keep under wraps — the one where she’s an unabashed diva with a dry sense of humor. Die-hard Lambs (the name for her fans) have had to go to bat for her on social media, claiming some of her more outré statements are just her misunderstood jokes. And now we’ve got the proof.

The idea that an artist of her caliber needs to try to deny her divadom is absurd, especially since we all know where she started: her story of survival, the fact that she wrote and sang her way out of poverty, dysfunctional family dynamics and an abusive relationship.

But as Mariah Carey alludes to in the opening track, “Mi,” she hasn’t been conventionally relatable since 2005, when she released The Emancipation of Mimi. And to see her (sorry, Mariah!) at 56 years old, boldly saying “Eff you, I’m me,” is empowering. 

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Mariah album without those heartfelt, powerful and emotional moments we know and love. The last three tracks — “My Love,” “Jesus, I Do,” and “Here for It All” — as well as the sixth track, “Nothing Is Impossible,” go back to her soulful roots and alchemize her grief, heartbreak and melancholy to remind us that life spares no one.

She may be crying in a mansion, with flawless diamonds on — she can do that, she’s earned it — but her faith, her love and her music remain the pillars that allow her to conquer it all. And to do it with the IDGAF attitude that we hope epitomizes her next musical era.