Mariah Carey to make major music genre shift with new album

Mariah Careys’ secret grunge album will be released next year.

The Fantasy hitmaker previously revealed in 2020 that she had made a huge departure from her sound in 1995 to put together an alternative record but it was never released.

However, her record label has finally decided to finally bring out Someone's Ugly Daughter in the second half of 2026.

A source told The Sun newspaper's Bizarre column: “Ever since she let slip about the existence of the album, fans have been desperate for it to be officially released and put on streaming.”

They continued, “After years of casual talks about what to do, everyone has now agreed the album will be released in the second half of 2026.

“It’s been a long time coming, but hopefully fans think it’s worth the wait. It’s certainly Mariah as you’ve never heard her before,” the source concluded.

In October 2024, the 56-year-old singer admitted she still hopes to release her grunge record one day.

During an appearance on Las Culturistas podcast, host Matt Rogers asked the singer: "Can you drop that grunge album?" and Mariah replied: "I know, right? I'm so mad that I haven't done that yet... but who do I drop it with?"

Rogers then suggested she should release it independently using "Garage Band or something, like, a grungy thing" and the singer added: "I could do that."

She went on to mention, "It’s a good album. OK, you will hear it. I was getting life from that, seriously. It was jokes, as well. They’re everlasting."

Mariah also previously opened up about the buried album in an interview with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1 in 2020 revealing music executives banned her from releasing it.

The Emotions crooner said: "I got kind of in trouble for making this album - the alternative album - because back then, everything was super-controlled by the powers that be.”

"I never really was like, ‘Oh, we’re going to release it.’ But then I was like, I should release it. I should do it under an alias. Let people discover it and whatever, but that got squashed,” Mariah Carey concluded.