Currently, Mariah Carey is one of the female pop singers with the longest-running careers at the moment. Since her self-titled debut album came out in 1990, Carey has released countless songs, including 19 #1 hits and 48 top-ten hits. In fact, she is the solo artist with the most number-one singles in the Billboard charts history.
If there’s one thing Mariah Carey is well-known for, in addition to being the reigning queen of Christmas, it’s the countless feuds she’s been involved in. After more than 30 years in the industry, it makes sense for this singer to have been involved in some drama. But it seems that the All I Want For Christmas Is You singer is ready to leave all that drama in the past, refusing to talk about her dramatic experience as a judge in American Idol.
Mariah Carey Has Had A Successful Music Career Since The Early 90s
Mariah Carey started singing when she was only three years old. She learned how to sing under the tutelage of her mother, who was a classically trained opera singer.
She began her professional career as a demo singer in the Long Island music scene. She worked with musicians such as Gavin Christopher and Ben Margulies and, after moving to New York City, she landed a gig as a backup singer for Brenda K. Starr.
In 1988, Carey accompanied Starr to a CBS record executives’ gala, where she handed her demo tape to the then head of Columbia Records, Tommy Mottola. Shortly after, Carey signed with Columbia, becoming the main female artist on their roster. In 1990, her first album, Mariah Carey, came out.
Her debut album became the best-selling album in the U.S. in 1991, and it would go on to be on the top of the Billboard 200 charts for eleven consecutive weeks. That same year, Carey won several awards, including Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for her single "Vision of Love" at the Grammy Awards.
Between the early 90s and 2018, Mariah Carey released 15 albums, including Emotions (1991), Merry Christmas (1994), Glitter (2001), Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel (2009), and Caution (2018). She’s also tried her luck in acting, appearing in movies like Precious (2009) and doing voice acting for kids' movies like The Lego Batman Movie (2017).
Mariah Carey Feuded With Nicki Minaj When They Were On American Idol
Mariah Carey appeared as a guest on the twelfth season of American Idol alongside Nicki Minaj, Randy Jackson, and Keith Urban. Although she only joined the panel of judges for one season, her run in this popular singing competition television series wasn’t completely uneventful.
Not many people might remember the winner of American Idol’s season 12, mainly because viewers were mostly focused on the drama arousing between Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj. It all started when Carey sided with Keith Urban who claimed that a contestant was a country singer. Nicki not only disagreed with them but also stormed out of the set following the exchange.
This would lead to more disagreement in front of the cameras, as well as behind the scenes. Ultimately, the feud grew so much that both singers ended up quitting American Idol for good once filming for season 12 ended.
Mariah Carey’s Experience On American Idol Was So Bad That She Refuses To Talk About It
It’s clear that neither Mariah Carey nor Nicki Minaj had a good time as judges for American Idol. Not only that, but Carey has even described this moment of her career as the worst experience of her life.
In 2014, the pop singer and songwriter talked about her experience on American Idol on Australia’s Kyle and Jackie O show. When asked if she would ever return to the show, Carey responded: “Hell no! Absolutely not. That was the worst experience of my life.”
And, most recently, Carey outright refused to talk about her time as a judge in this popular singing competition series when asked about it on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
In the interview, Mariah admitted that she "didn't have the world's best experience" in the show. But instead of talking about the bad aspects of that experience, such as her feud with Nicki Minaj, Carey decided to focus on the positive aspects. When asked what was the worst part of being a judge on American Idol, she responded: “I’ll tell you, the best part was some of the memes that we got. We got some good memes.”
