Q&A: Mariah Carey enters ‘the era of me’ with her first album in 7 years

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Seven years after her last album and 35 years into a powerhouse career, Mariah Carey continues her reign as the queen of pop and R&B with “Here for It All.”

If good things come to those who wait, fans are about to audibly feast on Carey’s evolution with this musically layered project.

Carey’s 16th studio album, out Friday, brings fans into what she’s calling “the era of me” — leaning into her now-familiar, unapologetically confident energy. “I’m D-I-V-A, that’s MC … I ain’t checked a price since Emancipation Mi … I’m the movie and the muse/and you couldn’t walk a mile in my shoes,” she sings on the first track, “Mi.”

The 11-track album includes singles “Type Dangerous,” sampling Eric B. and Rakim, and “Sugar Sweet,” featuring vocals from Kehlani and Shenseea. Anderson .Paak and the Clark Sisters join in the fun.

Carey recently sat down with The Associated Press to discuss her collaborations, the spirituality woven into her music and her most liberating era. This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

CAREY: It’s really interesting. I have all different ways of going about it. Sometimes I’ll just have to say this happened in the past and sometimes it happens again, you never know what it’s going to be. But I’ll suddenly be like — I hear a melody and a lyric at the same time, and I’ll go, you know, put it in my notes and sing it into the notes and also just write down what I’m hearing, what I am feeling. I think songwriting has definitely been my outlet for what I need when I’m ever going through something, you know, whenever I’m feeling like the need to express myself. It’s definitely songwriting.

CAREY: It was amazing. I was so thrilled to be able to work with the Clark Sisters. ... I never could have imagined that it would have happened that I would be able to work with The Clark Sisters, but we did. So, it was major ... definitely butterflies coming into it. And also just like, you know, shaking a little bit like, “This is really happening.”

CAREY: Well, it was interesting. Also, the title track, “Here for It All,” kind of has a spiritual tonality to it, and interestingly enough, I put “Jesus I Do” right before that. ... Since the past few albums that I’ve done, I’ve kind of had to put something spiritual in there because it’s for me, it’s not like a “Let me impress this one or that one with this.” That was, you know, always just for me to really feel like that spiritual side of who I am ... it’s definitely almost like a dedication to faith.

CAREY: I love my fans, like we have this whole thing with the Lambily, it’s a long story, but we love the Lambs. And I think the fact that they really study the albums, you know, like it’s not just like, “Oh, I’ll just throw this out.” I know they’re going to really be focused on what I’ve written about, what type of musical selections I’ve made, so, yeah, I don’t know, we just have an incredible connection.

CAREY: Well, I knew it was going to be the one that ties it all together at the end. But then I also, when listening to the album that I had sequenced, I said I have to put “Here for It All” at the end because I want people to take the time to listen to it. I want my fans to take time to listen it and just to know that it’s, in a way, it’s kind of for them. It’s interesting. It’s got a vibe to it that just happened.

CAREY: Yeah, I was working on this album for so long, and I didn’t even know, like, was I going to put it out? What was it going to be? And it just became something that I then sort of focused on and said, I’m going to make this my 16th album, which I can’t even believe it is. But yeah, I am so thankful for where we are at with this album, and I can wait for people to hear it. We're calling it the era of me.

CAREY: Well, the “Butterfly” era was amazing and also a scary moment because I was going through like a breakup of a relationship that I really couldn’t get out— it was a whole thing. I don’t want to go into it because I hear people are saying that I won’t let it go so I’m like, “It’s just one person, we don’t care about them.” But yeah, “Butterfly” was definitely my first time feeling fully free and just, yeah, loving the moment. Even though I was a little bit stuck in a moment, I got through it.

Mariah Carey poses for a portrait on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Rebecca Cabage/Invision/AP)

Mariah Carey poses for a portrait on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Rebecca Cabage/Invision/AP)

Mariah Carey poses for a portrait on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Rebecca Cabage/Invision/AP)

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Skyrocketing oil and gas prices in Europe as a result of the ongoing Iran war won't return to normal levels any time soon, even if peace is declared tomorrow, the European Union's energy commissioner warned Tuesday.

Commissioner Dan Jørgensen said although there are no immediate oil and gas supply shortages in the 27-member bloc, there's pressure on diesel and jet fuel supply as well as “increasing constraints” in global gas markets that are resulting in higher electricity prices.

“What I find extremely important is to state as clearly as I can, that even if that peace is here tomorrow, still we will not go back to normal in a foreseeable future,” Jørgensen told a news conference after a meeting of EU energy ministers.

He said the EU's executive arm is preparing a string of measures designed to help families and businesses weather the huge spike in oil prices that have resulted in about a 70% price hike for gas and 60% for oil in Europe. Since the start of the war, the EU’s bill for imported fossil fuels has jumped by 14 billion euros, according to Jørgensen.

Closely coordinated action between all EU members is necessary to “avoid fragmented national responses and disruptive signals to the markets,” he said.

The “toolbox” of measures now in the works will be unveiled “quite soon” and will include ways to make it easier for states to decouple gas prices from electricity prices, the commissioner said. He added that a tax cut on electricity, as suggested by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is also being weighed.

Jørgensen said although he doesn’t foresee a repeat of the 2022 natural gas crisis where companies reaped huge profits from a massive gas price hike, a one-time “windfall tax” on such companies “is a possibility.”

There are now “good opportunities” for member states to financially support vulnerable groups or industries now under “extraordinary stress” and that the Commission would make “these possibilities even simpler and wider,” said Jørgensen.

Jørgensen also encouraged EU members to consider the International Energy Agency’s 10-point plan which includes work from home, reduced highway speeds, encouraging public transport and increasing car sharing.

He said the EU stands by its ban on Russian gas purchases, which is meant to reduce dependence on Russian gas and choke off funding for Russia's war in Ukraine. Reliance on Russian gas dropped from 45% before the war to 10% now and will be reduced to zero once imports from other suppliers ramp up, especially from the U.S. The EU is looking at new energy sources from Azerbaijan, Algeria and Canada as well as smaller producers around the world.

The commissioner warned the EU should never “repeat the mistakes of the past allowing Putin to weaponize energy against us and blackmail member states.” He added that “it would be totally unacceptable” for the EU to continue buying energy that would “indirectly help finance the terrible war that Putin is conducting in Ukraine.”

A woman works at the meat counter of a super market in Wehrheim near Frankfurt, Germany, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Fuel prices are listed at a gas station in Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Vegetables in a super market are pictured in Wehrheim near Frankfurt, Germany, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

The sun has set behind a gas station in Frankfurt, Germany, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)