The way Mariah Carey shades Jennifer Lopez in her new memoir deserves a Booker, a Pulitzer and a Nobel prize
Mariah Carey doesn’t know Jennifer Lopez after all this time. (Getty)
Mariah Carey still doesn’t know who Jennifer Lopez is, according to her new book.
The Meaning of Mariah Carey, the elusive chanteuse’s highly-anticipated autobiography, doesn’t shy away from the pettiness we’ve come to expect and love from her.
Mariah’s memoir promises to give a candid, unfiltered look at the star’s incredible life: “The ups and downs, the triumphs and traumas, the debacles and the dreams”.
One such debacle – or triumph, depending on how you look at is – is her infamous feud with Jennifer Lopez, which Mariah nods to without even mentioning her directly.
In fact, an early review reveals that Mariah hilariously “refuses to print Jennifer Lopez’s name”, instead referring to her as “another female entertainer on [Sony] (whom I don’t know)”.
If you’ve been living under a rock, or in a particularly heterosexual part of town, Mariah’s quip is a throwback to her iconic “I don’t know her” line.
It all dates back to an early-2000s interview in which Mariah was asked for her opinions on rival singers.
Beyoncé was “nice” and “a good writer”, she said. But when asked about Jennifer Lopez, she replied with the immortal words: “I don’t know her,” and a meme for the ages was born.
There’s no love lost between Mariah Carey and Jennifer Lopez.
Over the years Mariah and Jennifer have simultaneously played down any feud – which is rumoured to have been sparked by a sample they both used – while artfully throwing subtle shade at one another.
In 2002, when asked if there was a rivalry, Mariah said Jennifer had “nothing to do” with her.
“Singing is first and foremost, it’s a god given talent that i’m grateful for. Her thing is something different,” she told Larry King.
Jennifer told Andy Cohen in 2014 that the pair had never actually met – despite her having performed on American Idol a year prior, when Mariah was a judge. After her performance the panel all gave Jennifer a standing ovation, apart from – you guessed it – Mariah.
In 2015 later Jennifer returned the favour, when she was spotted scrolling through her phone as Mariah performed in front of her at the Billboard Awards.
She later said that it wasn’t intentional, telling Andy Cohen: “That was not fair with the whole texting thing. It was a long performance!”
The pair had certainly met by the time Jennifer sat down with Wendy Williams in 2016, when the chat show host joked about the “I don’t know her” line.
“She does say that,” Jennifer said. “She’s forgetful I guess! We’ve met many times. I don’t know… I don’t know her that well.”
Mariah drew a line under the entire drama in 2018, in her own way, finally explaining why she said what she said.
“I really was trying to say something nice or say nothing at all. I really was,” she told Pitchfork.
