USA doesnt have a high standard for whiteness like some TA users wants to claim

[Heather Duval]

They used to believe Mariah Carey was white

1991 Mariah parody w. Jennifer Aniston before nosejob

LYRIC:
"I sound black, but i look white. I'll blow Whitney out of sight!"




Plus
Mariah Carey in 1990: Critics Loved Her, Thought She Was White
When Mariah Carey entered the music world via her blockbuster self-titled debut in 1990, many critics hailed her practically peerless voice and parade of No. 1 hits. Some were less enthused, however, praising her technical talents but opining she needed to develop a more distinct musical approach.

Whether critics were right about Carey's style circa 1990 is a matter for discussion, but one prevalent viewpoint espoused by several writers 25 years ago is just plain wrong.

Namely, that Mariah Carey is white.

As (hopefully) everyone knows at this point, Mariah Carey is not white -- or perhaps more specifically, she's not just white. She's African-American and Venezuelan on her father's side and white Irish on her mother's. But publications from Los Angeles Daily News to Playboy to the Herald Sun described her as "white" throughout 1990, an error that at least two publications (New York Post and USA Today) wrote to correct.

Mariah Carey's Self-Titled Debut at 25: Classic Album Track-by-Track Review

In an article from Dec. 6, 1990, Australia's Herald Sun described Carey as "the new white U.S. soul singer with a reputed eight-octave range." That's wrong on two counts: Aside from not being white, Carey's range is five octaves.

An article from the Los Angeles Daily News (picked up in the Nov. 8 edition of the Chicago Tribune) made the same mistake. The article is primarily about Billboard changing the name of its Hot Black Singles chart to Hot R&B Singles (the chart is now called Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs), but it erroneously mentions Carey as white in a one-off example. "The term 'black music' also has caused confusion when it includes releases by white artists. This week, Mariah Carey's debut album is high on the chart and, in past years, George Michael has had the No. 1 album on the chart," the article reads. (Incidentally, Michael's father was a Greek Cypriot, which many would argue isn't white.)

After Playboy ran an article about Carey in 1990 that described her as a "white girl who can sing," reports surfaced via New York Post that she was furious with the writer of the piece. Shortly after, a spokesperson for Carey set the record straight to USA Today.


Mariah is indeed very white skinned without fake tan. This is her with her ex Italian husband

[Heather Duval]

Mariah doesnt look black and her surname is Anglo. It would make Americans believe shes exotic white woman or something.

Alison's struggles began before Mariah became a star. The sisters grew up on Long Island, but when their parents separated in 1973, when Alison was 11 and Mariah was three, Alison went to live with their father and Mariah lived with their mother. In a 1995 TV interview, Alison said she and her sister were raised very differently, which made her "jealous."

“My parents made me say, 'I am an interracial child,' which is going to alienate you right there," Alison, who has a black father and a white mother, said in the interview. "My mother said, 'Nothing like that will happen with Mariah. I won't let that happen.’ So they moved and Mariah became Italian and Irish."
https://www.lifeandstylemag.com/post...-sister-142073

[Larali]

I never thought of her as white. Maybe some people do.

[Heather Duval]

I never thought of her as white. Maybe some people do.

Most because she wanst a big fan of fake tan and her surname sounds white and she doesnt look black

[Larali]

Well, I'm sure that no one said to her "Sorry, Mariah, you're cool and all, but I just can't be your friend because you're not white enough for me."

[Morena]

She is an interesting case. She could almost pass as white, but not quite. Although no one really thought of her as white, her choice to associate herself with black culture and people cemented it. She also had children with a black man, as opposed her white husband. I think if she had done the opposite, and had children with a white guy, and been more 'white' in culture, she would have passed and her children would have been white.

"her surname is Anglo"

almost all black americans have anglo surnames. that doesn't make a difference in how people perceive you here in the US. It's all about phenotype.

Personally, to me, she was the #1 example I point to when I think of how ridiculous the one drop rule is.

[Asht]

She doesn't look white. She looks like a Latin American with dyed hair.

[Morena]

She doesn't look white. She looks like a Latin American with dyed hair.

The older she gets, the more exotic she looks. She gained weight and got a tan.

[Asht]

I find her phenotype very exotic and it is obvious she's mixed race.

But in some pictures she looks less mixed.

[Morena]

I find her phenotype very exotic and it is obvious she's mixed race.
But in some pictures she looks less mixed.

I'm not saying she doesn't look mixed, but I think she places emphasis on it. I think if she hadn't, she would have been less exotic, but not quite white. Think of Rashida Jones.