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The Meaning of Mariah Carey: A Deep and Personal Memoir of Life and Music

Opening : I refuse to acknowledge time, famously so.

Closing : In the end, and in the beginning, It’s all about faith for me. I can’t define it, but it has defined me.

Review : Super stoked about reading this because I was once a fan of Mariah Carey.

The Meaning of Mariah Carey is a deep dive into her life events from traumatic childhood to the highs and lows of her career to relationships. Outlandish, juicy stories are almost guaranteed in a celebrity memoir. But many of them are just so raw and devastating like revealing the household she grew up in, pernicious racism she had to endure, her toxic relationship with music mogul Tommy Mottola.

Those moments or emotions are not just expressed in her writing but also in her music. The musical interludes are deffo my favourite. I really liked how she weaves them throughout the book, explaining the true meaning behind the lyrics.

Every struggle, every scar, every storm Mariah Carey’s been through shaped her into the person she is today. I feel blessed to have known her.

P.S. Go with the audiobook. Mariah’s narration lifts the memoir to another level.

I never knew who was listening, so I whispered to Brat, “Want to go get some french fries?” In any other reality, this would have been a mundane suggestion, but in mine, it was about to be a full-scale caper.

As we emerged from the closet, I put my finger to my mouth and pointed at the wall, giving her the signal to be quiet and follow my lead. I chirped on about showing her around the rest of the property, then announced that I wanted to quickly show her the cars. We skipped along to the garage. Inside there was a fleet of cars. Several of them were mine, most of which I never drove, in part because I was always being driven. I pointed at the black Mercedes convertible and told Brat to get in quickly. I always kept the keys inside the car, so in a matter of seconds I had the engine going. I threw it into gear, and we whipped around the cul-de-sac, then sped down the driveway and out onto the open road. Suddenly, there I was: flying down the street in my sports car, with my new, cool homegirl, laughing deep and loud in the bright wintery afternoon sun. It was exhilarating. Brat and I had broken out da Big House! While we were out.

While we were out playing Black Thelma and Louise, Escape from Alcatraz was not playing so well back at Storybook Manor. I understood that security was necessary, but why was it necessary for them all to be white, with blue eyes and black guns? They were going berserk. Before we got the mile or so down the road to the Burger King, Brat’s phone began to ring. I could hear JD yelling on the other end: “Yo, Brat, get the fuck back here; they going crazy!”

Brat laughed into the phone and replied, “I ain’t driving; Mariah is!” But JD was clearly upset.

“This ain’t fucking funny,” he said. “Tommy is bugging out; he got everybody running around looking for y’all; they got guns out and shit!”

Brat shot back, “Damn, we just going to get french fries, JD! If Mariah wants french fries, we getting fucking french fries!” She abruptly slammed her phone shut, and we proceeded to Burger King.


One Summer Night, We Ran Away For A While (Loc 2702) 
The Meaning of Mariah Carey, Mariah Carey


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