8 Celebs Who Hate Mariah Carey (And 7 Who Love Her)
Isabella Campbell Quick Links
Mariah Carey is one of those few people who are so famous, you barely even need to use her last name. Anyone who has been around in the last 20 years and more automatically knows who you mean, as the star has built a long career as a superstar singer, an actress, and a television host. She is instantly recognizable – by voice as well as by face.
Having started her career in 1990, Mariah rose to fame with her debut album and was a chart-topper right from the very beginning. She was the best-selling recording artist of the 1990s and also the best-selling female artist of the millennium, an honour she was officially awarded in 2000. Although her career took a downward turn after 2001, when she suffered a physical and mental breakdown and ended up hospitalized due to her exhaustion, she soon returned to the top again. With more than 200 million records sold, she is one of the best-selling artists of all time, the third best-selling female artist of all time in the US, and the solo artist with the most number one hit singles in the US.
It’s no wonder that so many other celebrities sing her praises, sometimes literally. But her signature warbling style, which has had her compared to a songbird, is not everyone’s cup of tea. There are also a number of celebrities who have been outspoken in their dislike of the singer. Not only her voice, but also her personality has come under fire from many – as you are about to find out.
Hates Her - Christina Aguilera (Says Mariah Is Old And Trying To Relive The Past)
Christina’s problems with Mariah seem to have stemmed from a single party. Her version of events was that Mariah “had just really derogatory things to say” to her at the party, while Mariah claims that Christina wasn’t invited to the party and had to be warned over her behaviour. While things settled down publicly after their war of words in 2006, Christina hasn’t warmed to the singer. In 2015 she said she would never join Mariah and her like in Las Vegas, claiming that she was still relevant thanks to her Grammys win and wouldn’t need to resort to that. "Why would I go to Vegas and join Britney and Mariah in an oldies act? I don't have to spend three nights a week reliving the past,” she was quoted as saying. Considering that Britney was one of her biggest musical rivals throughout their early careers, it says a lot for Christina to put Mariah in the same category.
Loves Her - Britney Spears (Strongly Influenced By Her Work)
Britney and Mariah seem to have a lot in common. They both have residencies in Las Vegas, and they have both had feuds with names like Christina Aguilera. They have also both suffered mental breakdowns and problems due to their strict work ethic. It’s no wonder, then, that Britney cites Mariah as a huge influence on her work and career. She said, “I’ve always been really influenced by Mariah Carey. I love her melodies. She’s a great songwriter." Anyone who listened to Britney’s work from the beginning could easily guess that she was influenced by Mariah, who was becoming supersonic just as Britney was starting to become known. The two singers are easy to compare, so it’s the ultimate compliment to say that Britney has been inspired and influenced by Mariah. When even your contemporaries pay you compliments rather than treating you as a rival, it’s a sign of a talent that just cannot be ignored.
Hates Her - Miley Cyrus (Has Never Been A Fan)
Miley has made it clear that she doesn’t like Mariah all that much. "I've never really been a fan, because it's so much about Mariah Carey," she said. "That's part of her shtick; I can see through that. That's part of what makes her a gay icon; like, it's about Mimi! It's about what she's wearing, and it's about her. What I make isn't about me. It's about sharing my story; it's about someone being connected to what I'm saying. That's why you don't see me, like, on the sides of buses, selling s**t. I mean, what am I going to do—sell makeup?" She made the comments after Mariah made a deal with MAC cosmetics to launch a holiday line, which ended up being quite a big success. She has made it clear in no uncertain terms that she won’t be rushing to buy Mariah’s next album when it comes out. But then again, Mariah probably doesn’t need the extra sale.
Loves Her - Missy Elliott (Worked With Her And Admires Her)
Missy Elliott is in the enviable position of being someone who got the chance to work with one of their idols. She spoke out about working with Mariah and how much she enjoyed the experience. "I remember, when my manager asked me to work with Mariah. I thought I would faint immediately. I mean, the legendary Mariah Carey wanted me to rap on her CD? I was shocked, excited, honored and happy,” she said. It’s clear from her words that she really admires the star, and genuinely felt blessed to be able to work with her. She has also cited her as one of her leading influences in her work. There are a lot of stars who quote Mariah as a leading influence, especially where the model of sung melodies with rapped verses is used – given that she pretty much single-handedly invented the genre by her collaborations with hip-hop artists.
Hates Her - Madonna (Rather "End Herself" Than Be Mariah)
What’s the biggest insult that you could possibly pay to someone? We think Madonna might just have hit the nail on the head with her comments about Mariah. Back in the 1990s, she was quoted as saying that she would “rather kill herself” than be Mariah, who, she added, was “not particularly bright”. If that isn’t a legendary kind of shade, then we don’t know what is. But, considering that this was Mariah in the 1990s, Madonna wasn’t going to get off easy with making a statement like that. Mariah hit right back when asked about the incident by reporters, saying, "I haven't really paid that much attention to Madonna since I was in seventh or eighth grade when she used to be popular, so I didn't hear that." Ouch. One thing is for sure after hearing this story: if there are two people in the world you don’t want to get into a shade battle with, it has to be Madonna and Mariah.
Loves Her - Big Sean (Says Her Voice Is Unmatched And Is A "True G")
When your whole act is about combining your vocals with hip-hop or RnB flavours, Big Sean is definitely one of the people that you want to have on your side. Luckily for Mariah, he has proven that he is. When he talks about her, he is full of nothing but praise. He calls her a “true G, a player for real”. Why does he hold this opinion on her? He elaborates that she “broke a lot of records, she did a lot of big things” – and the most important thing of all: “her voice is unmatched”. So far the pair have not worked together, but when he is willing to give her praise like that, surely he’d be happy to team up on a project in the future. After all, he seems to have collaborated with just about everyone else out there who is popular in the current music scene, so it looks like his options are going to get limited if he wants to keep it fresh!
Hates Her - Jenny McCarthy (Thinks The NYE Fiasco Was An Excuse For Her Bad Voice)
Apparently, Jenny McCarthy is not such a fan of Mariah Carey. This came out after Mariah gave what can only be described as a disastrous New Year’s Rockin’ Eve performance at the end of 2016. She was quick to give a number of excuses for her show, but McCarthy was equally quick to dismiss them. She used her SiriusXM radio show to speak out about the star. She said she had a “visceral reaction” when Mariah tried to blame the production company, calling her excuses “incredibly insulting”. She followed up by adding, “I mean her voice is not there anymore. I don't believe there was a problem with her inner ears. I just don't. I think she used it as an excuse." Strong words from one of the hosts of the NYE show – and not something that a fan would ever come out with. Jenny’s rant continued for what seemed like forever, and she was more than happy to carry on dissing Mariah until the cows came home.
Loves Her - Beyoncé (Mariah Made Her Want To Sing)
Beyoncé is one of the biggest stars in the world, so it’s obviously going to be a huge compliment coming from her if she sings anyone’s praises. According to an interview that she gave in 2010, not only is she a fan of Mariah, but she credits her with kicking off her own career. She told The New Yorker, “Mariah Carey was the person that made me want to sing. She was beautiful, she had great videos and great songs, and she could really sing.” So that’s three areas in which Beyoncé admires Mariah, and if you look at her career, you can probably see the huge influence that she had. Beautiful? Check. Great videos? Check – the greatest of all time, if you ask Kanye West. Great songs? Check. And finally, she could really sing – check. From her time as a member of Destiny’s Child through to her solo career, Bey was obviously always trying to emulate her idol.
Hates Her - Demi Lovato (Says Mariah Is Rude)
Demi's feelings about Mariah came out online, after she stepped up to defend a friend. It was in June 2016 when someone posted a meme which showed Mariah next to Ariana Grande, saying “When you order it online VS when it arrives” (suggesting that Ariana was sub-rate compared to Mariah). Demi commented, “you got it the wrong way around, honey”. She added an explanation for her dislike of Mariah: “Mariah is a legend and so talented but constantly disses people. It's nasty the way she treats Jennifer... I'm afraid to say s**t. The woman is mean for no reason. Extremely talented? Yes. Superhuman? Possibly. Unnecessarily rude? Absolutely." In turn, Mariah said that she didn’t even know who Demi was. She invited her to introduce herself and share her opinions face to face, though there’s no news on whether that happened. It seems pretty sure that we would have found out about it if it had.
Loves Her - Nas (Says She's On Another Level)
Nas waxed lyrical about how much he loved Mariah back in October 2013. He was fresh off working with her, something he has now done a number of times, when he described her as “one of the greatest voices of our generation” and as being “on another level”. Apparently, he disagrees with Madonna’s assessment of the star, saying that she is “very smart and extremely talented”. He added that, “Just working with an artist that big really shows me how much further I can go. I’ve been inspired just sitting there talking to her.” It’s clear that he really enjoyed their time working together on tracks, and would be more than happy to do it again in the future. It’s one thing to be admired from afar by a fan, but when those who have worked with you also sing your praises, it’s a real sign that greatness is present.
Hates Her - Nicki Minaj (Can't Put Up With Her)
If you missed Nicki's beef with Mariah, you may have missed one of the most televised beefs of all time. The two were judges together on American Idol season 12, and before the first episode even aired, clips of the two at each other’s throats began to surface. One of the viral audition clips saw Nicki snapping: "I told them I'm not putting up with her f**king highness no more…I'm not gonna sit here every f**king minute to have you come down and harass me every minute every day." There were even rumours that Nicki had threatened Mariah with a gun, though this was denied by Nicki and the producers. She continued to hate on Mariah on Twitter, with Mariah retaliating through interviews. They have both since said that they believe the producers deliberately stirred up a rivalry between them in order to boost ratings, spreading rumours about their hatred for each other before they even started filming.
Loves Her - Jason DeRulo (Says She's Going Down In History As One Of The Best)
Jason DeRulo has made it clear that he’s a fan of Mariah. When speaking to Access Hollywood in 2012, he was quoted as calling Mariah an “incredible singer”. He spoke about the “totally different dynamic” that she was able to bring to her work, something he was obviously impressed with. He concluded that “She’s obviously going to go down in history as one of the best”. This is a big compliment from someone who has himself been riding high in the charts, a big star with great selling power. He also said that she was the best singer judge to ever have been on American Idol, and that her great strength as a judge was that she had the knowhow to back-up her critiques. When he spoke about her it was obvious that he had a great amount of respect for her powerful voice and for her technical ability.
Hates Her - Eminem (Flat Out Doesn't Like Her)
Does anyone hate Mariah Carey more than Eminem? It’s a tough question to answer. His feud with the star has been long-running, and very much in the public eye thanks to his own lyrics. He claims that they dated for around 6 months, after which she denied it ever happened to the media. Her version is that she simply turned him down. He started out in 2002 by saying “I just don’t like her as a person” in an interview. Then she did a tour in 2003 which used a marionette that looked like Eminem as a stage prop. He responded, playing voicemails live that he alleged were from her. He started dissing her in a lot of his lyrics, including on songs like “Jimmy Crack Corn” and “Bagpipes From Baghdad”. She released a video for “Obsessed” which referenced him in 2009, so he released yet another diss track in 2010 called “The Warning”. It’s clear there is serious bad blood between these two.
Loves Her - Mary J. Blige (Says Her Songs Give Hope)
Another huge superstar who has made her feelings for Mariah clear is Mary J. Blige. She was interviewed for The Lost Tapes in 2011 when she was asked about Mariah. She said, "I'm a fan of Mariah Carey's. I love her. Her songs gave us a lot of hope." Not only does Mary have a lot of love for Mariah, but it goes the other way too. Mariah has spoken out about the fact that she loves Mary too, saying that one of her albums is her favourite of all time. They ended up working together in 2014, showing that the love-in was more than just empty words. It’s great to see that even though both of them are hugely famous and in a whole other league than most people, they can still be fans of one another and openly share that admiration instead of being rivals. It doesn’t happen too often these days!
Hates Her - Tommy Mottola (Ex-Husband, Wanted To Destroy Her Career)
If you don’t know the name Tommy Mottola, you probably should. He’s a huge name in the music business, having headed up Sony Music Entertainment for nearly 15 years, and is now in charge of Casablanca Records with Universal. Crucially, he’s also Mariah’s ex-husband. After their split, he engaged in a game of cat and mouse carefully aimed to destroy her career – something that could only be done from a place of deep hatred and anger. He pitted Mariah against Jennifer Lopez by having Lopez release a song containing a sample that she had already been planning to use. Mariah’s song ended up not being successful as a result. Then when Mariah planned to do a slow duet with Ja Rule, Jennifer somehow pipped her to the post again. This was all due to Mottola pulling strings behind the scenes. It worked out in the end, as Mariah used the manipulation as a way out of her contract with Sony.
