Mariah Carey Jams to Unreleased Grunge Song, Wears Gaga Mask on ‘Fallon’

Mariah Carey doesn’t do a ton of TV interviews, so when you get her in the studio you better make the most of it. Jimmy Fallon definitely did that on Monday night’s (Sept. 29) Tonight Show when the divine MC dropped by to promote her new studio album, Here For It All, and stuck around to play a game of “Famous Face-Off,” chat about her now 14-year-old twins, perform one of the new LP’s songs with Anderson .Paak and play a snippet of a rager from her legendary, unreleased grunge album.

The pair first did some family catch-up, with Carey saying daughter Monroe is even more into music now, naturally, lamenting, “she used to sing with me on my Christmas tour, but I don’t know if she’s doing it this year.” She also shared a hilarious video of son, Moroccan, revealing that he’s really into streaming and gaming, but gets super annoyed when she busts into his livestreams.

“How dare I pay all the bills and then interrupt!” she joked of the video in which Rocky’s online pals are shouting out the pop superstar to his embarrassed chagrin. And while he insisted she butt out, Carey noted that despite her crippling arachnaphobia, she recently decided to be the “cool mom” and let him get a pet tarantula.

Fallon then described Roots drummer Questlove coming into his office one day with an album that he asked the host to listen to. “It is Courtney Love? Is it Hole? Is it… Belly?” Fallon wondered of the gritty, grungy album. Quest then revealed that it was the legendarily unreleased MC rock album, Someone’s Ugly Daughter, credited to “Chick.”

The never-released LP, featuring a cover drawn by Carey featuring a smashed cockroach next to a tube of smeared lipstick, was recorded while MC was tracking her 1995 Daydream album and “rebelling” a bit as she laid down such R&B/pop classics as “Always Be My Baby” and “Fantasy.”

“I loved doing that, but at the end of the night when the band was still there, I’d say, ‘Can you play like [mimes heavy guitar sound],” she told Fallon. Quest confirmed that the hidden LP is good, in fact he called it her “best record.” Fallon then cued up one of the five tracks he’s heard, as Carey noted that even she isn’t sure which of her record labels owns the rights to Someone’s Ugly Daughter at this point.

The song he played, “Prom Queen,” is like nothing you’ve ever heard from Carey, with the singer taking on a snotty, British-y snarl as she sneers, “On the day he turned 16/ He washed his face and brushed his teeth/ Looked in the mirror, all lit/ Said ‘I could be the next prom queen’/ I can be anything that I want to be/ Someday I will show them all.” Carey smiled as the noisy rocker blasted out and Fallon begged to hear more of the lost tracks.

“I always regretted not putting it out, but they kind of stopped me at that point,” Carey said.

Carey also stuck around to play a game of “Famous Face-Off,” in which she and Roots rapper Tariq Trotter teamed up against Fallon and his On Brand co-host Bozoma Saint John to guess which celebrity mask they are holding up. Carey went first, holding up a mask that Trotter described as one of a famous musician with “lots of albums out,” whose every song is “about a relationship” and who is beloved by kids and is dating a football player.

It was Taylor Swift, of course.

So when it was Carey’s turn to describe the mask Trotter was holding up, she went with a “reality star” who became “one of the most famous people ever” and who has black hair, brown eyes and sisters. Trotter was quick with the answer: Kim Kardashian.

Trotter struggled at first to describe the second mask Carey held up. “Geez Louise… another singer,” he said, adding “super popular” and “royalty,” to the clue pile, leading MC to guess Barbra Streisand. Ruminating on the royal aspect, Mariah then correctly landed on Lady Gaga. The team crushed it in the final round, with Mariah easily describing Oprah Winfrey and instantly guess Beyoncé thanks to the “Jay-Z’s wife” clue before crashing out on Timothée Chalamet.

Fallon stumbled a bit too when Saint John held up a Travis Kelce mask, stuttering, “Taylor Swift’s wife… um, husband!” he stammered, wrong both times — they’re engaged — but still eventually getting the points.

The singer was game enough to play a second quiz with Fallon, cued to her album title, weighing in on things she is “here for,” or not. Labubu dolls? Here for it. Pickleball? “I haven’t heard this one yet… I like pickles,” she said about another popular thing in the world she is simply unaware of. Mariah was on the fence about whether she is “Team Conrad” — in reference to Conrad Fisher from The Summer I Turned Pretty — but ultimately decided that she is here for it.

She is definitely not into DM’ing someone to ask them out, karaoke, or people who love Halloween more that Christmas, but, as it turns out, the always dressed to impress superstar love Crocs.

Carey topped the visit off with a stroll through the quiet storm jam “Play This Song” with Anderson .Paak on piano. Dressed in a gold gown with a long train, Carey stood next to .Paak’s baby grand and drew shouts of approval from the studio audience when she pushed her vocals into her power range and again when she sweetly waved to the crowd as the song wound down.

Watch Carey on The Tonight Show below.