Here for It All is the sixteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey. The album was released on September 26, 2025, through her imprint Mariah and the media company Gamma. Musically, the album is an eclectic record, and sees Carey experimenting with R&B sounds influenced by disco, soul and gospel. It features collaborations with Anderson .Paak, Kehlani, Shenseea, and the Clark Sisters. The album was preceded by the singles "Type Dangerous" and "Sugar Sweet", the former of which became Carey's fiftieth entry on the US Billboard Hot 100.
The album has charted within the top 20 in Australia, Belgium, Scotland, Switzerland, and the United States as well as the top 40 in the Germany, Japan, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Upon release, Here for It All received generally positive reviews, with critics praising Carey's vocal maturity, her vulnerability on the record and the album's lyrical content, while some offered criticism to the album's production. She promoted the album through various talk show appearances, and the 2025 international dates of her The Celebration of Mimi tour.
Background and release
Following the release of Carey's fifteenth studio album Caution (2018), she went on to release various special anniversary editions of past albums from her discography.[5] In November 2023, Carey revealed to Entertainment Tonight that she was working on a new album, and had about 10 songs ready to release.[6] She noted that the album would reflect her personal journey particularly over the past decade, describing it as "summer-y".[5] In June 2025, it was announced Carey had signed a multi album deal with the independent music company Gamma.[7] She released the lead single, "Type Dangerous", that same month,[8] and its second single "Sugar Sweet" a month later.[9]
On July 20, 2025, she released a 37-second montage on her social media platforms celebrating her discography.[10] A day later, Carey revealed the album artwork through a short teaser video in which she appears strutting in spike heels before singing a snippet of the album's title track.[11] Carey discussed the creative process behind the album during an Apple Music conversation with American singer SZA, explaining that she selected "Here for It All" as the title track and final song early in the project. She emphasized that the placement and choice were intentional, aiming for a satisfying conclusion to the album.[12]
Musically, Here for It All is an eclectic album which sees Carey stepping back from the contemporary R&B sound of Caution to embrace various sounds from the past.[19]Rolling Stone writer Tim Chan described the album as having a "retro vibe", featuring soulful ballads and uptempo tracks that have elements of disco and funk.[19]Slant Magazine also noted influences of soul, disco and gospel,[20] while The Independent described the album's pop-driven tracks as being "glitzy, nicely overwrought" and highlighted its R&B influences.[21]
Lyrics and content
The album begins with "Mi" which was described as "silky vocal-layered" and sees Carey embodying her diva persona.[22] This is followed by "Play This Song" with American singer Anderson .Paak which described as a throwback to 1970's soul and disco music.[20] "Type Dangerous", the album's lead single, was described as a "sassier side" to Carey,[23] and sampled Eric B. & Rakim's 1986 song "Eric B. Is President".[24] "Sugar Sweet" followed and featured American singer Kehlani and Jamaican singer Shenseea.[23]Elle writer Chloe Hall described the song as a "dreamy pop hit that’s as light as cotton candy".[23] "In Your Feelings" continues the album's soulful vibes which sees Carey lamenting on a relationship despite having the potential to be more.[22] "Nothing Is Impossible" is a "soul-searching piano ballad",[20] which was compared to Carey's 2002 album Charmbracelet.[22] Lyrically the song talks about "finding your inner strength and battling through the hard times".[22]The Fader writer Steffanee Wang described "Confetti & Champagne" as "bubbly" and another diva moment from Carey.[25] The song saw Carey delivering her signature whistle vocals against an R&B track.[22] "I Won't Allow It" is another disco-inspired track,[20] and lyrically sees Carey taking aim at a "previous lover who tried to use her name to further themselves".[22]
Carey covered Paul McCartney and Wings's 1973 single "My Love" which Billboard writer Heran Mamo noted that "while McCartney's original version is tender, Carey's is robust, her vocals overpowering the track's orchestration before giving way to the sentimental, reworked instrumental solo".[26] This is followed by the gospel track, "Jesus I Do" with the gospel-vocal group the Clark Sisters.[26] The song was described as an uptempo "celebratory moment" rather than Carey's usual big gospel ballads such as "Fly Like a Bird" or "Heavenly (No Ways Tired/Can’t Give Up Now)".[22] The song was recorded in the summer of 2021, with the Sisters travelling to Atlanta to record their vocals individually.[27] The album ends with the title track, "Here For It All", a six-minute ballad which turns into a gospel-infused climax.[20][28]
Promotion
As part of the album's promotion, Amazon launched an official artist merchandise shop featuring a collection of Carey-branded items. The line included T-shirts printed with the Here for It All cover artwork, a butterfly-themed hoodie, a baseball cap displaying the album title on the front and Carey's butterfly icon on the back, as well as accessories and limited-edition vinyl.[29] During an Apple Music conversation in New York City with American singer-songwriter SZA, Carey previewed a snippet of the song "In Your Feelings".[12]
Live performances
On June 9, 2025, Carey attended the 2025 BET Awards, where she was honored with the Ultimate Icon Award. During the ceremony, she performed "Type Dangerous" for the first time, as part of a medley with "It's Like That".[30] An appearance at the CapitalSummertime Ball followed on June 15, where she performed a setlist of songs that included "Type Dangerous".[31] On August 2, Carey headlined Brighton Pride, where she performed "Sugar Sweet" for the first time.[32] This was followed by a performance at the Sandringham Estate on August 15, as part of the Heritage Live Festivals concert series, where Carey performed a setlist that included "Sugar Sweet" and "Type Dangerous".[33] On September 7, Carey attended the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards, where she was honoured with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, and performed a medley of her hits, opening with "Sugar Sweet".[34] On September 29, Carey appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where she sang a live version of "Play This Song" with Anderson .Paak, which was also the first performance of the song.[35]
Carey also performed two concerts in Brazil in September 2025 featuring "Type Dangerous" and "Sugar Sweet" in the setlist, headlining The Town festival in São Paulo on September 13, and the Amazônia Live concert in Belém on September 17.[36] According to Gil Kaufman of Billboard magazine, the latter concert took place on the Guama River, and featured Carey "performing on a floating stage as part of the show intended to raise awareness about the importance of preserving the rainforest".[37]
On July 21, 2025, Carey teased a second single titled "Sugar Sweet",[46][47][5][48] which also appears as the fourth track on the album.[17] "Sugar Sweet" was released on July 25, 2025, featuring Kehlani and Shenseea.[49] The track peaked at number 17 on the BillboardHot R&B Songs chart.[50]
On September 23, 2025, Carey announced that the music video for the track "Play This Song", featuring Anderson .Paak, would be released on the same day as Here for It All.[51] Writing for Billboard, Hannah Dailey noted that the video is a "black-and-white visual [which] shows Carey and the Silk Sonic musician looking glamorous in chic blazers while singing to one another inside a luxurious mansion".[52] The track was later revealed to be the third single from Here for It All,[2] and debuted at number 11 on the BillboardHot R&B Songs chart.[50]
Here for It All received generally positive reviews from music critics upon release. According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Here for It All received "generally favorable reviews" based on a weighted average score of 73 out of 100 from 8 critic scores.[54] The review aggregator site AnyDecentMusic? compiled seven reviews and gave the album an average of 6.9 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.[53]
Puah Ziwei of NME and Adam White from The Independent rated Here for It All four out of five stars. Ziwei complimented Carey for "[going] for it all with gusto and confidence", despite her voice "not being what it was". He singled out "My Love" and "Jesus I Do" for praise, describing the former as "[showcasing] how inimitable her gorgeous tone is", and the latter as "a modern-day version of 1991's 'Make It Happen'" where Carey's "lightness and joy shine through".[56] White wrote the singer had "a lovely grit to her vocals across Here for It All". He highlighted the title track as being "full of heavenly vocal runs", while noting that the lyrical content of the album is "immaculately well-written".[21] Rich Juzwiak of Pitchfork gave Here for It All a rating of 7 out of 10, writing that the album "[is a] pleasant collection of well-constructed melodies", and highlighted Carey's vulnerability on the project, particularly on the album's title track. Juzwiak also praised Carey's candidness on the album pertaining to her vocals, describing them as a "realistic portraiture of where she is now as a singer", and that "[Carey's vocal] grit is alluring, bringing a tear-stained realness to her vulnerable lyrics".[57]
Rolling Stone writer Tim Chan, Slant Magazine contributor Alexa Camp, and The Arts Desk editor Joe Muggs gave Here for It All three out of five stars. Chan wrote that the album "[leans] into a decidedly retro vibe" with "soulful ballads reminiscent of Motown greats" and "uptempo tracks that draw from disco and funk". He highlighted the tracks "My Love", "Nothing Is Impossible" and "I Won't Allow It" as album standouts, praising their lyrical content and production, although described the overall project as "relaxed, yet restrained".[19] Camp felt that its title song and "Nothing Is Impossible" were the album's best tracks, though added they were reminders of Carey's past material, and said that the singer "seems stuck in her own past" with the lyrics. She also felt the vocals overall "are at turns reedy and husky, and, perhaps as a result, over-processed".[20] While Muggs wrote that Carey did not express "particularly new things" musically, he declared her voice to be "still an incredible instrument", especially for "the more subtle tracks, where you really get to see how totally she and her collaborators understand the place of that voice in amongst virtuosic playing and production, than when belting it out."[59] Rating the album two stars out of five, Will Hodgkinson of The Times praised Carey's voice on Here for It All, describing her range as "impressive as ever", particularly on the track "Nothing Is Impossible", and noted that the track "My Love" was "given the full treacle treatment". However, he criticized the album's production, describing it as "an excess of synthetic beats, syrupy R&B and the odd Seventies disco moment".[60]
Commercial performance
In the United States, Here for It All debuted at number seven on the US Billboard 200, selling 47,000 album-equivalent units, which consisted of 39,000 pure sales, 7,000 streaming-equivalent units (translated from 9.53 million on-demand streams) and 1,000 track-equivalent units.[61] The album became Carey's nineteenth top ten album on the Billboard 200, surpassing Taylor Swift as the artist with the third-most top 10s among women.[61] On the BillboardTop Album Sales chart, it debuted at number one, being the top selling album of that week in pure sales.[61]
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