She’s currently Number One on the Billboard chart with her festive perennial All I Want Is Christmas Is You. But Mariah Carey is set to present her fans with a long-anticipated gift next year, in the shape of her legendary unreleased grunge album.
The record – entitled Someone’s Ugly Daughter – was first set to be released in the mid-90s. Since then it’s lingered in the vaults and as is the way with such things, a legend has grown up around it.
Now, an unnamed source has spoken to The Sun’s Bizarre column and intimated that the album will finally see light of day in the second half of 2026: “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.”
“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.”
A version of the album was released back in the mid-90s, but under the band name ‘Chick’ and with Carey relegated to backing vocals. The record flopped and was brushed under the carpet somewhat. It’s only in recent years that Carey has admitted that another version of Someone’s Ugly Daughter with her singing lead exists.
The singer talked about it in her 2020 memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey, saying: "I was playing with the style of the breezy-grunge, punk-light white female singers who were popular at the time.
"You know the ones who seemed to be so carefree with their feelings and their image. They could be angry, angsty, and messy, with old shoes, wrinkled slips, and unruly eyebrows, while every move I made was so calculated and manicured. I wanted to break free, let loose, and express my misery - but I also wanted to laugh."
A couple of months ago, Carey appeared on the Jimmy Fallon show and talked about the album. Fallon played a track – Prom Queen, which drew enthusiastic responses from the host and his audience and Fallon’s band leader Questlove, who has heard the whole album, nodded in approval, saying: “It’s her best record.”
Anyway, if The Sun’s source is on the money it sounds like the rest of us will soon get to hear this relic from a lost 1990s.
