I don't know her
Background
"Yet another formidable rival — on the horizon, and on Mariah's home turf of Sony — is Jennifer Lopez; music industry insiders are referring to her debut album as “Latin-Mariah-can.” Mariah is aware that Sony is releasing Lopez's album; what's not clear is if she knows that Tommy Mottola is rumored to be romantically involved with his latest project. “She's a dancer, isn't she?” Mariah asks. I say that Lopez is the actress who starred in the movie Selena. “She lip-synched Selena's vocals, you know,” Mariah says. “I don't think that as a singer, we're in the same category as artists.”"[1]
"For many reasons (not least because she also has a sexy image and is romantically linked to Tommy Mottola), Jennifer Lopez's name cannot fail to crop up in the conversation. The normally very opinionated and talkative Mariah goes very quiet when asked what she thinks of Jennifer Lopez's new found music career. She's diplomatic alright, but her diplomacy is easy enough to read into. When asked if she thinks Jennifer's image is following a blueprint successfully used by herself, Mariah offers, "I think I'd rather not comment on other artists and particularly not single out any individuals. However if we're talking about artists in general, usually you work with what you have. For instance, if you're the sexy dancer type of girl, you make the most of it. While the ballad singer will just stand there and sing and be plain. I can't speak on anybody else's image, though.""[2]
""Have you ever thought of calling yourself Ma Ca?" I ask, by way of a naughty reference to the re-branding of the artist formerly known as Jennifer Lopez to J.Lo. Mariah splutters and then smiles in the way women do when the last thing they want to do is smile. "Not really, people call me 'MC' and always have done," she states. I allude to the rivalry between the two divas: "As a singer?" she asks, genuinely amazed I could have posed the question. "Like...singing?" she shrugs, too clever to commit to tape but raising her eyes to the sky and going into Wisegirls waitress mode. "Hmm, mmm...love to everyone.""[3]
Description
"Queer icon Mariah Carey’s 2003 response to a question about Jennifer Lopez in which she smiled and shook her head, saying, “I don’t know her.” The phrase has become queer lexicon and has been used in a variety of memes."[4]
Reception
Other appearances
References
Citations
- ^ Herman 1999, p. 128.
- ^ Mundawarara 1999, p. 42.
- ^ Burrows 2001, p. 64.
- ^ Faris 2022, p. 411.
Sources
- Burrows, Bill (September 2001). "Against All Odds". Cosmopolitan (UK ed.). pp. 61–64. ISSN 0141-0555.
- Faris, Michael J. (2022). "The Queer Babadook: Circulation of Queer Affects". In Rhodes, Jacqueline; Alexander, Jonathan (eds.). The Routledge Handbook of Queer Rhetoric. Routledge. pp. 403–412. ISBN 978-0-367-69658-0.
- Herman, James Patrick (May 1999). "There's Something About Mariah". Mirabella. pp. 92–99, 128. ISSN 1044-5153.
- Mundawarara, Gus (November 1999). "Babe in the Hood". Touch. pp. 38–42. ISSN 0969-8019.