Someone's Ugly Daughter

Mariah Carey worked on Someone's Ugly Daughter while recording her 1995 album Daydream. It was recorded in The Hit Factory in New York. Carey originally provided lead vocals until she was told by record label executives that the album could not be released in that form, due to worries it could damage her image and thriving career. As a compromise, Carey enlisted friend Clarissa Dane to provide lead vocals whilst leaving her own background vocals on the tracks.[3] Upon revealing her role in the album's recording, Mariah stated she was looking for the original recordings of the album with her lead vocals.[4] In December 2020, Carey confirmed in an Apple Music interview that she had found the version of the album with her vocals but was still looking for the original board mixes.[5]

Carey stated in her memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey: “I created an alter-ego artist and her Ziggy Stardust-like spoof band. My character was a dark-haired brooding Goth girl [a version of her, Bianca, showed up a few years later in the ‘Heartbreaker’ video] who wrote and sang ridiculous tortured songs.” Carey also expressed on her memoir that she "looked forward to doing her alter-ego sessions after recording Daydream each night".[6]

Adapted from the Someone's Ugly Daughter liner notes.[7]

• Chick - production, art direction
• Clarissa Dane-Davidson – lead vocals, writing (tracks 1-7, 8-11)
• D. Sue – background vocals, writing (tracks 1-7, 8-11)
• W. Vlad – drums, writing (tracks 1-7, 8-11)
• W. Chester – guitar, writing (tracks 1, 4, 6)
• Mann - bass
• M. Kim – background vocals
• Dana Jon Chappelle - engineering
• Jay Healy - engineering, mixing
• Andy Smith - assistant engineering
• Kurt Lundvall - assistant engineering
• Glen Marchese - assistant engineering (track 2)
• Bob Ludwig - mastering
• Chris Austopchuk - art direction
• Tracy Boychuk - design

Notes

• Aside from Clarissa Dane and technical staff, those involved in the project used pseudonyms, meaning the identities of those credited are not know.
• W. Vlad is believed to be Walter Afanasieff, who was Carey's main collaborator at the time of the project's recording, as W. is the first initial of his professional name and Vladimir is his birth name.
• D. Sue is believed to be Carey, due to the name being credited as both a backing vocalist and as a writer on every original track, consistent with Carey's comments on the creation of the project. Carey is also believed to be credited on the project as Chick, the name listed as being responsible for the album's production and art direction, consistent with Carey's comments on the creation of the record.
• The identity of W. Chester is unknown, but the name is believed to be a pun on Westchester Country, the location of Carey's home at the time.