Through It All, Mariah Carey is Still “Here For It All”

First Listen: “Here For It All”

I was stunned. Before me was an 80-foot-wide, 50-foot-tall glass window overlooking Central Park, a stage overflowing with the sight and scent of floral arrangements, and, seated on two velvet armchairs, music royalty. SZA, the reigning queen of contemporary R&B, was in conversation with the legendary queen who blazed the trail for her: Mariah Carey, the architect of a sound that has shaped modern music. Following a seven-year wait, Carey was just two days away from releasing “Here For It All,” her 16th studio album — and she had just played its prolific title track for us, a crowd of a few hundred adoring fans.

I repeat: I was stunned.

I thought the song was over, so, with tears in my eyes, I rose to my feet to give the song the standing ovation it deserved. “Here For It All” is the quintessential Mariah Carey album closer. With its introspective lyricism, masterful melodies, and gut-wrenching vocals, the song shook me. She had been talking about the song for weeks, and there were a couple of short snippets out there, but hearing it in full, in that setting with her right there, mere feet away from me, wiping a tear from her own eye? It amplified the emotion of the song even more. Let me explain.

7 Years: A “Portrait”

Seven years is a long time. Yes, a lot was going on in the world for us all (and in Carey’s world, too), and to her credit, she wasn’t sitting idly watching the time pass. Because she doesn’t acknowledge time. No, but seriously: there were Vegas residencies, tours, TV specials, the memoir and its audiobook, a collection of vault songs (“The Rarities”), remixes, collaborations, anniversary editions of several albums… oh, and Christmas. Still, for a fan (such as myself), there is nothing like a new studio album. Especially from an artist like Mariah Carey.

Though she did release several unheard songs from her vault and hopped on a few remixes, there really was not much newly written music during those seven years. Sure, she wrote new verses for Muni Long’s “Made For Me” and Ariana Grande’s “yes, and?” but, aside from the book, we really hadn’t heard from Carey’s pen—from her heart— in a while. That, above anything, is what us fans connect with so strongly.

But, there was “Portrait,” the closer from 2018’s “Caution.” In 2024, Carey released a house remix of the song, accompanied by an hour-long audio doc that goes in-depth about the song and its remix. While in its original ballad form, the song is stirring… the 14-minute opus that is the “Hopeful Child” remix is truly something else. Through her musing use of repetition, its lyrics elicit a chilling, almost meditative reaction. When she sings lines like, “Please, don’t let me go/ If it wasn’t for you, I’d go,” and “Gotta wait a little bit longer/ Please stay with me.” Well, I was concerned, yet, considering the context and its “Hopeful Child” title, also hopeful.

As I listened to “Here For It All,” my eyes were fixed on Carey, her eyes scanning the crowd, watching us experience this deeply personal song for the first time. I thought of another lyric from “Portrait”: “Yet I know that tomorrow comes, so I’ll be here when you rise/ Stay here close, and the moment will subside.”

On “Here For It All,” she sings, “But if you need, I’ll keep my shit together and internalize the depth of ‘the feels’/And baby, I’m here for it all,” and, “But if you please, just stay with me a while and help me laugh through the tears ’til I’m gone.”

It’s like “Here For It All” is the answer to “Portrait.” I won’t pretend to know who she’s singing to on either song, but I almost wonder if she’s singing to herself and her own inner strength. Hearing those lyrics for the first time, with the context of the “Portrait” remix in my mind, watching her shy yet proud reception of her fans’ reactions, I couldn’t help but tear up. So, I stood up, and I applauded her for everything she is. The crowd joined me. So did SZA.

Track-By-Track: “Here For It All”

Carey’s sixteenth set opens where most probably expected her to land, on a slinky, contemporary R&B midtempo banger, “Mi,” that is a perfect sonic progression from “Caution.” Fresh and cool, like most of the cuts on that album, “Mi” still manages to tread new sonic territory for Mimi, and flaunts her most confident, braggadocious lyrics since 2008’s “I’m That Chick.” Most of Carey’s album openers have been her lead singles, but on the few times she’s strayed from that formula, it’s been for good reason:

• • “Merry Christmas” (1994) starts with “Silent Night” because if you’re going to do a Christmas album, you start with the reason for the season.
  • “E=MC²” (2008) starts with “Migrate” because those high notes are fucking iconic and I can’t think of a better way to kick off an album than by doing something only you can do.
  • “Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel” (2009) starts with “Betcha Gon Know” because the album is called Memoirs and the song is a literal novella.
  • “Me. I Am Mariah… The Elusive Chanteuse” (2014) starts with “Cry.” because that’s exactly what her second divorce album made us do, several times.

“Here For It All” starts with “Mi” because if it’s one thing people seem to need reminding of, is that Mariah Carey is, and I quote, “In another class from those ladies.” Who exactly? I don’t know. All of them. She continues to prove that she can still pull off progressive R&B on the album’s two other contemporary-sounding cuts: the saccharine second single “Sugar Sweet” with Kehlani and Shenseea, and the bitingly cool “Confetti & Champagne.” On the latter, she delivers one of her slickest tracks to date, utilizing her gorgeously rich and inimitable tone to deliver the superior sibling to 2009’s “Standing O.”

With the album’s lead single “Type Dangerous,” she offers an update of her go-to lead single formula: a hip-hop/pop amalgamation built upon a sampled loop. In this case, it’s fresher than ever. The production of “Type Dangerous” is next-level, hitting harder, from a hip-hop perspective, than any of her lead singles (except for maybe “Obsessed,” because she ate that man up), though it lacks the strong pop melody on the chorus it needed to truly soar.

As far as melody is concerned, the album’s three other collaborations with Anderson .Paak and his crew certainly don’t disappoint. For this trio of standout tracks, Mimi leans into the same ’70s soul and disco vibes that made “The Emancipation of Mimi” and “The Elusive Chanteuse” great.

“Play This Song,” a duet with Paak, didn’t click for me on the first spin, but after the third, I was hooked. The track has several earworms that keep me playing it back. It has a cool, classic vibe, somehow sounding simultaneously familiar yet fresh. Carey delivers lush vocals, utilizing her sexy lower register to match the equally lush live instrumentation and harmonize with Paak.

Doing what she does best, Carey will put you right “In Your Feelings” with the album’s soulful, throwback ballad. Prodding on those heartstrings, Carey has crafted yet another relatable breakup ballad that recalls “We Belong Together” lyrically and “Circles” (a Mimi album cut) musically. “I-think-you-might-be-getting-a-little-bit-toooooo… in your feelings,” she sings, serving up all of the drama we yearn for.

However, the album’s most undeniable bop is “I Won’t Allow It.” Mimi glides through this skate-inducing disco groove, delivering scathing lyrics atop equally punching production. You might’ve seen the quotable zinger, “Can’t obtain any Accutane, Should’ve been more Proactiv,” making the rounds on social media. Instantly catchy, it’d be right at home on the dancefloor, the roller rink, or in an Instagram post shading an ex. This one has true hit potential.

There is truly something for every Mariah Carey fan on this album. With the gut-wrenching “Nothing is Impossible,” she recalls the best elements of her inspirational ’90s ballads to offer an anthem of self-encouragement without all the excess schmaltz. On her ethereal take of the Paul McCartney & Wings song “My Love,” she sounds just divine; it’s perhaps the most tonally gorgeous song on the album, and the best cover she’s done since 2002’s “Bringin’ on the Heartbreak.” For the album’s gospel moment, she enlists the Clark Sisters on “Jesus I Do,” a jubilant uptempo praise song that is surprisingly catchy and fun. Often, Carey closes her albums with its gospel number, but not this time…

The Closer: “Here For It All”

After the applause of the standing ovation died down, I realized the song wasn’t over. “Here For It All” continued.

“This is just a rehearsal, a test flight, you just gotta praise the Most High,” Carey goes on to sing for another two minutes. With “Portrait,” she left us on an ambiguous note, but here there is a joyous resolution: a peace —for her, for us, for my concern.

By the time we arrive at “Here For It All,” the album closer, Carey has taken us through every emotion of her life, and every sound of her career. Musically, the song is stripped down; the production is sparse to let us focus on the lyrics, melodies, and arrangements. In fact, vocally, it’s almost like two songs. Take a listen to the background vocal track, and you’ll hear a secondary song living beneath the lead vocals. Carey’s genius vocal arrangements have only gotten sharper and more intricate over the years. In nearly every promo interview, she’s stressed how important it is to her that listeners really take the time to listen to this song in its entirety; in all of its nearly 7-minute glory. She’s right, you can’t miss a second of it.

It’s truly a journey, but the takeaway is this: Mariah Carey is still here for it all, for us all, and she’s still got it all.

When the song actually ended, we applauded again. The event was called “Flowers,” after all, and for this song and album Mariah Carey deserves them all, and then some.

Listen to Mariah Carey’s “Here For It All”