One of my favorite people to work with is Daniel Moore, and he put a call in to the Clarks and we were just like, “Wow, this is amazing.” They’re just the top of the heap with everything, I love them.<\/p>\n
INTERLUDE #1: \u201cThe great thing<\/strong> about M is she\u2019s a \u2018Honey,\u2019 as much as she is a \u2018Hero,\u2019\u201d says Daniel Moore, Carey\u2019s musical director.<\/p>\n Moore initially joined her team as a keyboardist in the mid 2010s. In recent years, he\u2019s become one of her chief songwriting partners, especially on more introspective album cuts like \u201cPortrait.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUsually, she just starts singing the melody,\u201d he says about their songwriting process, \u201cthen I try to find chords that match this melody. And then we kind of go back and forth on what feels like a verse, what feels like a chorus.\u201d<\/p>\n Through the years, Carey has used her album tracks to write songs that are more directly personal, discussing her traumatic family history (\u201cClose My Eyes,\u201d \u201cPetals\u201d), the difficulties of growing up biracial (\u201cOutside\u201d), the breakdown of a relationship (\u201cCamouflage,\u201d \u201cBreakdown\u201d).<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I first worked with her on Caution, she told me upfront that [on] those deep cuts, the lyrics are hers,\u201d Moore says. \u201cShe has a diary where she writes all of the lyrics down. It’s really her personal thoughts and just whatever she’s feeling at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n On 2018\u2019s \u201cPortrait,\u201d for example, their first songwriting collaboration, she sang: \u201cWhere do I go from here? How do I disappear?\u201d \u201cOnly she knows that part of her life,\u201d Moore says. \u201cOnly she knows that God-given moment. I don’t think it would feel as authentic if it didn\u2019t come solely from her.\u201d<\/p>\n Moore was Carey\u2019s co-writer on the song \u201cHere For It All,\u201d perhaps the new album\u2019s emotional and musical climax, a soulful ballad reminiscent of early Carey songs like \u201cVanishing\u201d that then transforms into a radiant, triumphant gospel song just when you think it\u2019s about to end.<\/p>\n \u201c[We started writing that] during the COVID era and we were doing The Butterfly Lounge,\u201d he says, referencing an intimate studio set-up that Carey used during the pandemic to stage performances and record material. \u201cThe first thing we released from that was a Valentine\u2019s Day mix of \u2018We Belong Together.\u2019<\/a> We kind of re-imagined it and we went into these vamps. Those kind of felt like jam sessions\u2026 \u201cHere For It All\u201d was kind of birthed in that same space. It kind of feels like a love song, but then it does take that turn because that’s what we were doing when we [were] in The Butterfly Lounge. It was like, no more rules, no more \u2018It has to be three minutes and 30 seconds to make the radio.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Until now, Moore is floored by his boss\u2019 prodigious songwriting skills. \u201cMy predecessor, Big Jim Wright said they had just finished [recording the Emancipation of Mimi album cut] \u2018Circles\u2019 and she was getting ready to leave. She goes to the restroom, he’s packing up and she comes back. \u2018Hold on, I got one more thing.\u2019 She sang, da-ra-da-ra-ra-ra. And that’s where \u2018Fly Like A Bird\u2019 came from. It was just in the moment. That\u2019s who she is.\u201d<\/p>\n GQ:<\/strong> Speaking of collaborators, you do have this great roster of regular collaborators, people like Bryan-Michael Cox and Jermaine Dupri, but then also every so often you bring in new people into the fold. What do you look for in a new producer or songwriter when you’re bringing them into the fold? When you met Dev Hynes or Anderson.Paak, what made you feel like there’s someone you want to collaborate with?<\/p>\n Carey:<\/strong> Somebody had mentioned Dev Hynes to me, and I reached out to him because I really love Blood Orange. And we were just vibing and whatever, me and Dev Hynes, and it became … That’s a tangent! That’s a tangent on that song \u201cGiving Me Life\u201d<\/a> and that outro.<\/p>\n That is one of my favorite songs of yours. When he just starts shredding at the end?<\/strong><\/p>\n Yes, I love it.<\/p>\n