Artist says she doesn’t feel comfortable seeing her songs in other versions — but she herself has a dozen covers in her repertoire
Mariah Carey was recently honored by Muni Long during the awards iHeartRadio Music Awards 2025. On that occasion, a version of “We Belong Together” .
Despite acknowledging Muni’s good intentions, Mariah said she doesn’t like other artists re-recording or doing live versions of her songs.
In an interview with GQ (via Music News), Carey initially revealed that she couldn’t even pay attention to the tribute. She explained:
“I didn’t even hear the cover. I didn’t know it happened. Nobody told me. I just didn’t know she sang it.” ‘We Belong Together’ because her music was very similar. I had no idea she had played’We Belong Together’.”
When she learned about Long’s reinterpretation, the 56-year-old artist said she was grateful, but reiterated that it is not something she appreciates. She stated:
“I’m very honored and flattered that she did this. I love Muni Long, she’s a great person, um, but I just don’t like people singing my songs.”
Another not-so-well-received tribute
Mariah Carey recalled that she experienced something similar when she made a version for “The Beautiful Ones”from Prince. According to her, the artist, who passed away in 2016, also made it clear that he was not fond of covers of his songs.
He recalls:
“And I remember Prince, he didn’t like people re-recording his songs. He told me, ‘I love ‘Honey’. It’s like, ‘Wow, Prince likes’Honey’!’. But about ‘The Beautiful Ones’he said he didn’t like it when people covered his songs.”
Covers done by Mariah Carey
Interestingly, Mariah Carey has several covers in her repertoire. In addition to Prince, she has already re-recorded songs by Phil Collins, Stevie Wonder, jackson 5, Badfinger and others. Check out some highlights:
- “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)”: (Phil Collins)
- “Without You”: (Badfinger)
- “Open Arms”: (Journey)
- “I Want to Know What Love Is”: (Foreigner)
- “One More Try”: (George Michael)
- “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak”: (Def Leppard)
- “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours”: (Stevie Wonder)
- “You and I”: (Stevie Wonder)
- “The Beautiful Ones”: (Prince)
- “I’ll Be There”: (The Jackson 5)
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Mariah Carey
Source: Rollingstone
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