Mariah Carey may not have made onto Apple Music’s 100 Best Albums Of All Time list — a fact that disappointed plenty of music fans — but she’s still widely considered one of the best recording artists around. In a new clip from Audible’s Words + Music podcast, the ultra-relatable chanteuse shared one of the secrets to her wide appeal and longevity: Avoiding the sort of specificity fans often look for in pop music.
According to Rolling Stone, Carey explained, “One thing that’s something I try to do is to not really get super specific because I don’t want somebody else not to be able to take the lyrics I’ve written and have them heal themselves and have those lyrics pertain to whatever situation they’re going through.”
“Oftentimes, it might be super personal to me,” she continued. “But I leave it basic, so it can also be somebody else’s way of releasing whatever emotional feelings or whatever they’re going through.” This approach relates back to Carey’s youth, and how she engaged with the music she grew up listening to. “I’d be like, ‘That’s my song,’” she said. “Just because one little part, to me, as a teenager, I’d be like, ‘That’s exactly what I’m going through.’ I have no idea what the person who wrote those lyrics meant by that, but for me, at the time, it was all about me.”
You can check out a clip below.
