It's not your average Thursday when you have plans with Mariah Carey.
Tiffany & Co. was hosting a starry dinner on April 16 at the Park Avenue Armory to celebrate the launch of Blue Book 2026: Hidden Garden, a nature-inspired collection. The guest list was impressive — Connor Storrie, Teyana Taylor, Gabrielle Union, and Dwyane Wade, among many others — but there was only one star in my eye. Carey, I'd learned, would do a surprise performance to close the night and would let VF join her before the show.
After cocktail hour, Carey arrived, staying out of the guests' eyeline to avoid spoiling the surprise. She took a moment to stop on the step-and-repeat, with her glam team in tow. They spruced her up for the cameras — reaching in to fix a stray hair, or apply powder. She was then whisked away to take a portrait for the brand. A few minutes later, when she was finished, I overheard the staff applaud.
We headed toward her green room, which in the Armory (or if you're Mariah Carey) means a large, high-ceilinged space made of the dark wood found throughout the property. Carey was seated in a wingback chair, but stood to greet me and introduce members of her team. She has a sort of regal presence — I mean, of course! — that inspires a respectful hush. Carey herself is soft-spoken. We had been asked to stick to a tight five-minute conversation, so we sat down quickly as the clock began ticking.
Carey was shoeless, wearing what appeared to be pantyhose over her feet — which she immediately pointed out, apologetically. Her blonde hair cascaded in soft waves, and a sparkling Tiffany platinum-and-gold necklace with a 7.02-carat oval diamond lit up her face. I asked her to describe her look tonight. What inspired it?
“It's kind of like a long sheath of black fabric,” she told me. (Indeed, it was.) “And I like these Louis Vuitton shoes,” she added, holding up the silver-and-black-monogram pointed pumps that sat next to her feet. “I don't usually like a pointed toe.”
I asked about her summer plans and what projects she has coming up. “I have a couple shows and things to do, but that's even more toward Christmas,” she said. “I think I'm going to Italy, which will be a fun time. I love Italy. Capri is my favorite place.”
Fans have been anticipating the 25th anniversary of Carey's film Glitter; she recently announced that the movie will get a deluxe reissue. I asked what she could tell me about it, and she said she'll work with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis for it once again. The movie has become something of a cult classic, but as any Carey fan knows, it wasn't always this way. “I used to be like, ‘Ugh, Glitter. I can't,’” she said. “I was very against doing anything with Glitter. But now it's so nostalgic, and people have different opinions and views than they did when it first came out.”
Are there still things Carey hasn't accomplished that she hopes to? “There's a long list of personal stuff that I want to do because I haven't really done that much. It's all been work, which is fun when there's fans there, and it's a performance atmosphere, all that,” she said. Then she asked herself a question. “What did I recently do that was fun? I got two puppies!” She lit up as she described her Jack Russell Terriers, Pip and Poppy.
“I brought them with me because we're going back and forth from LA to New York, where I just bought a new house, actually, in Connecticut.” Is she excited about the move? “I am, but it's not going to be done. I'm sort of rebuilding the new house, so it's not going to be 100% done until like June, July.”
I'm curious about what a woman with such a remarkable career still wants to accomplish professionally. Many people were surprised that she wasn't inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year after being nominated three years in a row. Does she care?
“I hate answering that question, because the truth is I don't care,” said Carey. “And that's my answer. But it's also — it would be nice to get into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, because it's a legendary thing. So, you know, that could be cool. But when I say I don't care, it's because I knew I wasn't going to get in there this year. I just knew it. And the minute I saw Sade, I was like, ‘She's in.’ I love Sade.”
One of the publicists then stood, signaling me to wrap it up. But I had one more thing to ask Carey — a personal matter. “In April 1994, you were on the cover of Ebony magazine,” I said, with no expectation that she would recall this some 32 years later. She did. “Not my favorite cover,” she replied quickly, and we laughed. I told her I was five years old at the time, and my family was featured in the same issue in a story about parenting. Back then, she was one of my favorite artists, and all I could think was, “Do you think Mariah Carey has seen my picture?” I told her she could just lie to me and say that she did. She smiled and said, “Maybe!” That was good enough for me.
About an hour later, she would take the stage for her performance. I thought she'd probably sing two, maybe three songs — likely some newer ones, not the stuff that's been the soundtrack of my life. But instead, Carey made more of my dreams come true. A-listers and Tiffany clients rushed from their tables to the stage, which had been hidden from view. She started the set with “Obsessed,” before launching into hits — reaching those very, very high notes on “Emotions,” slowing things down for “Hero,” and even asking the crowd midway through “Say Somethin'” if they would mind if she had a quick glam moment. Her make-up artist appeared for a powder touch-up, and the show went on.