Speaker 1: You're listening to Comedy Central.
Speaker 2: Covering the news is exhilarating. You travel the country, meet
Speaker 2: interesting people and find real stories. But then one day
Speaker 2: you realize it's a looking Tuesday in November again.
Speaker 3: Well, it's election day again.
Speaker 4: Got it?
Speaker 3: It's election day again. Because it's sorry, I can't.
Speaker 2: It's election Day again, Virginia. As a journalist, I'm honored
Speaker 2: to be covering this sacred process.
Speaker 5: Again.
Speaker 2: I feel super chill about it.
Speaker 6: I'm good.
Speaker 2: It's election day again, and we've got another close race
Speaker 2: on our hands, so you better start clenching those butt cheeks.
Speaker 7: Early voting is already underway in the Virginia gubernatorial race,
Speaker 7: with the latest polling showing Democratic Governor Terry mccauliffe effectively
Speaker 7: in a debt heat.
Speaker 8: Political If Terry mccauliff doesn't pull out a win, Democrats
Speaker 8: are privately predicting a collapse on Capitol Hill.
Speaker 2: Wait, Virginia could go red. For a state that went
Speaker 2: blue by four hundred and fifty thousand votes in the
Speaker 2: last election, this was a story worth keeping down the Vombit.
Speaker 2: I sat down with Jeffrey Skelly from five point thirty
Speaker 2: eight to help me make sense of this.
Speaker 3: Sorry about the mess elections? Am I right?
Speaker 2: Why is this race in particular so close? Isn't Virginia blue?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 9: So Virginia has been Democratic leaning over the last few years,
Speaker 9: but President Biden is now somewhat unpopular and I think
Speaker 9: voters are responding to that, and so the electoral environment
Speaker 9: is better for Republicans. So you've got a close race
Speaker 9: in Virginia.
Speaker 3: Who do you think will actually decide this race?
Speaker 9: Young voters are really important because they are basically the
Speaker 9: most Democratic leaning group. Well, one little interesting thing McCall
Speaker 9: he's done is run campaign ads attacking Glenn Youngkin because
Speaker 9: he was a CEO of the Carlisle Group, which was
Speaker 9: involved in the purchase of Taylor Swift's Mashur ordings. And
Speaker 9: so they've been using this to try to get young
Speaker 9: people to pay attention to the race, because there are
Speaker 9: a lot of young people out there, you know, eighteen
Speaker 9: to thirty four year olds who really like Taylor Swift.
Speaker 10: Virginia Democrat candidate for governor Terry mcaulloff recruiting Taylor Swift fans,
Speaker 10: o'culloff reportedly linking his opponent to music executive Scooter Braun,
Speaker 10: who infamously bought Swift's master recordings.
Speaker 3: Back in twenty nineteen.
Speaker 11: After I was denied the chance to purchase my music outright,
Speaker 11: my entire catalog was sold to Scooter Braun's Epica Holdings
Speaker 11: in a deal that I'm told was funded by the
Speaker 11: Carlisle Group.
Speaker 12: One of the targeted ads reading, did you know that
Speaker 12: Republican candidate for governor Glenn Youngkin helped by Taylor Swift's
Speaker 12: masters out from under her?
Speaker 3: He be shitting' me. Taylor Swift fans vote.
Speaker 9: I think that's what the call Iff campaign is hoping.
Speaker 2: If the Swifties are backing mccaulliff, what group of fans
Speaker 2: are backing Youngkin?
Speaker 3: Chet Hanks fans?
Speaker 9: Chetheads, Well, we don't have any polling on on different
Speaker 9: fan groups of musical artists.
Speaker 3: Five eight.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a real it's a real niche Could we
Speaker 2: be underestimating the Swifties.
Speaker 9: I think I'd be careful about giving them too much weight.
Speaker 9: But there are a lot of young people who like
Speaker 9: Taylor Swift. We know that's true.
Speaker 2: Could Taylor Swift fans be the key to the Virginia race?
Speaker 2: To find out, I had to dive deep into their fandom,
Speaker 2: no matter how many of her albums I had to
Speaker 2: buy on the show's credit card.
Speaker 11: Oh sorry, this just happened to me without my approval
Speaker 11: or consent.
Speaker 3: Shame on him.
Speaker 12: Whoa, whoa.
Speaker 2: Finally, after becoming fluent in all things Taylor, I gathered
Speaker 2: a group of her fans of Virginia to see how
Speaker 2: angry they were with Canada. Youngkin, are you all true fans?
Speaker 2: Are you true Swifties? Did you buy signed Fearless albums?
Speaker 3: Taylor version?
Speaker 13: I actually do have it and I can pull it up.
Speaker 8: I also have every single Taylor record on vinyl right
Speaker 8: next to me.
Speaker 12: I want to go that far.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 14: The two most important dates in November is November two,
Speaker 14: which is an election day, in November twelfth, which is Red.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 14: I'm taking off work for election, Jay Andy, just in
Speaker 14: case the lines are too long.
Speaker 2: Are you also taking up work for Taylor's release of Red?
Speaker 4: Oh one?
Speaker 8: I need to get through all the emotions of all
Speaker 8: the songs on that album. I'm taking off work and
Speaker 8: my therapist is not getting the day off.
Speaker 2: While I respect this generation, it's clear dedication to mental health.
Speaker 2: Could this new base of voters actually tip the scales
Speaker 2: in Virginia.
Speaker 14: I'm originally from Texas, and the last three years in
Speaker 14: college I voted in Texas. But I just knew that
Speaker 14: I couldn't just sit by and watch as Youngkin took Virginia.
Speaker 14: And so that's when I decided to change my voter registration.
Speaker 2: Wow, okay, so you just changed your registration. This is dedication.
Speaker 8: I was in the weird college era as well, where
Speaker 8: I was kind of voting in my home state, but
Speaker 8: now I am voting Virginia.
Speaker 15: Because of this issue.
Speaker 2: I couldn't help but pity these young girls. There are
Speaker 2: so many important issues. All they care about is Taylor
Speaker 2: Swift's Master recordings.
Speaker 8: It's not really about the Masters, But I mean, just
Speaker 8: a couple of days ago, Youngkin came out and said,
Speaker 8: you know, he loves everyone who When asked if that
Speaker 8: includes LGBTQ people, he said.
Speaker 2: No, Are there other issues that you care about?
Speaker 10: Women's choose.
Speaker 14: I'm very passionate about gun violence prevention.
Speaker 2: Climate change is going to be the biggest issue of
Speaker 2: our time, so those policies are super important.
Speaker 3: I'm an environment engineer, so this is life changing.
Speaker 2: What would you say to boomers like my aunt Silo,
Speaker 2: who say fourteen year old girls should stay out of
Speaker 2: politics and stop stealing my sleeping pills.
Speaker 3: Daisy.
Speaker 8: I think that's such a weird stereotype of Taylor so
Speaker 8: fans because we're not fourteen anymore. We are adults, We
Speaker 8: pay tectives, and we vote.
Speaker 14: Yeah. Do you want to see my thesis paper about
Speaker 14: congressional legislation because I can show you that. Don't underestimate Swifty's.
Speaker 2: All right, take it easy, Molly geez. I don't want
Speaker 2: any snake comments on my Insta. Yes they are are
Speaker 2: fans of Taylor Swift, and yes they are in their twenties.
Speaker 2: Maybe they can make a difference in this upcoming election.
Speaker 2: No matter what happens, at least now I'll have some
Speaker 2: great music to cry to, just in time for next election.
Speaker 16: Tuesday, we welcome back to the Daily Show.
Speaker 17: My guest tonight is a Grammy nominated singer songwriter whose
Speaker 17: latest album is called Witsit Chapel.
Speaker 12: Please welcome, Jolly Roe, My God, thank you.
Speaker 17: That's right, they all wishing you happy birthday. You celebrated
Speaker 17: a ball day on Monday, right, yes, sirs, past Monday, sir,
Speaker 17: and you celebrated a number one record. Would save me, Yes, sir, Yes, sir, many.
Speaker 1: Number one, look at.
Speaker 12: Me jail the show God, you know I love saved me?
Speaker 13: Man.
Speaker 12: You released it what three years ago on YouTube?
Speaker 1: Yes, sir, three years ago on YouTube.
Speaker 17: And you posted a I know this is a little
Speaker 17: different from me, but I'm wondering if this should make
Speaker 17: the album or not?
Speaker 1: Y'all let me know below.
Speaker 12: Why didn't you believe the song should make the house?
Speaker 1: Oh? Man? Insecurity?
Speaker 15: That that voice of the negativity that gets in all
Speaker 15: of our ears, man, that one that we fired every day.
Speaker 1: I'm glad I followed enough to put it up.
Speaker 12: Absolutely did save me.
Speaker 17: Taking off change your perspective on the type of music
Speaker 17: you do and how you release it because it just
Speaker 17: three years ago it came out, but it just went
Speaker 17: number one on the country charts this week.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 15: Absolutely, man, I want to show me that sometimes you
Speaker 15: gotta let a song find people. You know, music meets
Speaker 15: us where we are. That's the beauty of a Charlemagne
Speaker 15: is that music is therapeutic. It's stare to help and heal.
Speaker 15: It's a constant and a life that doesn't have many
Speaker 15: constants in it.
Speaker 1: So I'm just glad to see the song finally touch people.
Speaker 12: I love your story too.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 17: Fifteen years ago you were in prison and now you're
Speaker 17: a Grammy nominated musician.
Speaker 12: So I guess my question is, man, no finking.
Speaker 17: So, so my question is should everybody go to prison?
Speaker 17: Yeah to find success?
Speaker 13: Ye?
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. They're giving it away free, y'all. Especially, I
Speaker 1: promise it's really easy to get there. In your take three.
Speaker 15: Hots and a cop, baby, you got guaranteed bed, three
Speaker 15: meals a day.
Speaker 1: It's all good. Actually, it's cod Might see a high school.
Speaker 17: Friend and I love your song she too, Man, when
Speaker 17: you address the heroin and fentanyl epidemic.
Speaker 1: Yes, why is this song so.
Speaker 12: Important to me?
Speaker 9: You know?
Speaker 15: Man, I think it's important as an artist for us
Speaker 15: to talk about the things that people are afraid to
Speaker 15: talk about, and that art sometimes is an expression of
Speaker 15: what words are even afraid to say. So I think
Speaker 15: it's a responsibility as a songwriter to write those kind
Speaker 15: of songs. And the Fennol epidemic is sickening. What's happening
Speaker 15: in America right now is absolutely sickening. I think it's
Speaker 15: fourteen p thank you. I think it's thank y'all. So
Speaker 15: I think I heard it's statistic that it's fourteen people
Speaker 15: an hour overdosing dime United States of America every hour
Speaker 15: on the hour, twenty four hours a day, three hundred
Speaker 15: and sixty five days a year, three sixty six in
Speaker 15: a leap here. I'm that country, and I think if
Speaker 15: you think about those numbers alone, it shows me that
Speaker 15: you heard people here sharing that it has effected every household.
Speaker 1: Every side of the aisle.
Speaker 15: Everybody in America has been affected by this somewhere or
Speaker 15: the other. And I think it's time we stand up
Speaker 15: to do something about it.
Speaker 17: We would you, right, what would you tell people who
Speaker 17: were struggling with that addiction?
Speaker 15: I would tell them that there is hope. That My
Speaker 15: biggest message as actually had I had my first viral
Speaker 15: clip Charlem Mane. I don't know if you know it.
Speaker 1: Come on, I know you did.
Speaker 15: You helped it go viral, and it was I was
Speaker 15: talking about how it's so important for us to recognize
Speaker 15: that our windshield is bigger than our rear view mirror
Speaker 15: for a reason, because what's in front of us is
Speaker 15: more important than what's behind us.
Speaker 1: That who we were is not who we are, right,
Speaker 1: you know that's right.
Speaker 17: You know a lot of people may not know, but
Speaker 17: I read Juicy Jay's book, so I know you was
Speaker 17: down with three six of my.
Speaker 1: Field, Yes, sir, from day one.
Speaker 17: Yeah, they performed just hard out there for a pimp?
Speaker 1: At was it?
Speaker 15: Yes, sir, Bonnaru and I actually had the privilege of
Speaker 15: them going on tour with me and doing five shows
Speaker 15: and we did hard out here for a pimp every night.
Speaker 12: And y'ah was a group though, right, it was you,
Speaker 12: a little waited, me.
Speaker 15: Little White and our our guy BPsy from Indianapolis who
Speaker 15: sadly passed away rest in peace BPS of Yes, sir.
Speaker 12: What did you learn from your time in three six oh.
Speaker 15: Man, everything, Little White and three six Juicy J and
Speaker 15: Paul The importance of ownership, the importance of independent music,
Speaker 15: the importance of making the music for your community, and
Speaker 15: that all that matters representing your people in music, because
Speaker 15: they didn't care about representing nothing but Memphis. And the
Speaker 15: fact that the sound went worldwide just shows that how
Speaker 15: much the problems are common everywhere. So write what you know,
Speaker 15: don't write what you think you know, Write what you know.
Speaker 15: And they taught me a lot through that, but most
Speaker 15: importantly the independence and ownership.
Speaker 17: Yeah, hip hop has more in common with country music
Speaker 17: than people realize.
Speaker 12: Like, they're both great storytellers. They both talk about their
Speaker 12: vehicles a lot.
Speaker 1: Yeah right, yeah, they both talk about bitch.
Speaker 17: It is twenty twenty three, say women, But no, I
Speaker 17: met dogs, Oh may, I brought a bunch of songs
Speaker 17: about my dog.
Speaker 12: Let me get my mind out. That's wrong with out here.
Speaker 1: I got my dog with me on the bus right now,
Speaker 1: the bus dog.
Speaker 12: Speaking of that.
Speaker 17: Speaking of that, though, you know, it feels to me
Speaker 17: and I'm only getting this from what I see you
Speaker 17: post on social The more you blow up, the more
Speaker 17: it seems like you want to be around your family
Speaker 17: and your dog and your loved ones.
Speaker 15: My reading that correctly, sir, man, I want to anchor
Speaker 15: myself and family. I think it's the root of everything
Speaker 15: we do. Plus, I'm gonna be honest. He we're a
Speaker 15: little we're a little tribe, and they're my best friends.
Speaker 15: My favorite human on earth is my wife.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean here?
Speaker 8: Like one hundred.
Speaker 1: I love my daughter, I love my relationships. And I
Speaker 1: was joking, but I love.
Speaker 15: My dogs, man, I love my ay.
Speaker 1: They're all with us now.
Speaker 15: My wife's got one, I got two in the bus
Speaker 15: right now, I got a basket hound. She's got a bully,
Speaker 15: and we got a French. We got a French bulldog. Okay, yeah,
Speaker 15: we're dog people. Then we had a cat. I had
Speaker 15: a hairless cat, of bald cat, one of them.
Speaker 1: Listen. It was so ugly, it was cute, it was awesome.
Speaker 1: And this cat this.
Speaker 17: Needs to say about me when I was younger. Yeah,
Speaker 17: they kind of still say that. Now.
Speaker 1: It's better what they said about me. He's cute, but
Speaker 1: he's fat.
Speaker 12: But all you got to do is lose, wait and
Speaker 12: unlock that.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, totally. Then i'd be a president. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. God, That's why God didn't make me skinny.
Speaker 1: He knew I had to abuse the powers. You know.
Speaker 7: My guests to Know is an award winning singer, composer
Speaker 7: and instrumentalist whose new album is called You're the One.
Speaker 4: Please welcome Rhiannon Giddons.
Speaker 2: The Gray.
Speaker 4: They're gray, right, Thank you for being here, Thanks for
Speaker 4: having me, thank you for chatting with us.
Speaker 7: You're in town to accept the Politzer for this opera
Speaker 7: called Omar, about an enslaved African Muslim that you took
Speaker 7: the memoirs and converted into an opera.
Speaker 4: Explain this, I mean, we went from banjo to opera.
Speaker 18: It's all just Yeah, it's been really interesting because it
Speaker 18: was the opposite. I went to Oberlin learned opera, and
Speaker 18: then kind of got burnt out and went down in
Speaker 18: North Carolina where I'm from and learned.
Speaker 3: The banjo, and then full circle came back.
Speaker 18: I was asked to write this opera about Omar and
Speaker 18: Ben Sayid, who was a Senegalese Qoranic scholar at thirty
Speaker 18: seven sold into slavery. And it's just an incredible story
Speaker 18: because we're talking about like who gets to represent the
Speaker 18: American story, you know, and it's to complicate that narrative.
Speaker 18: It all these different kinds of people who represent the
Speaker 18: American story. And he's went and his autobiography was written
Speaker 18: in Arabic while he was enslaved, and it's the only
Speaker 18: document of that kind that we know of in existence,
Speaker 18: and it's just a really special story.
Speaker 12: So I just.
Speaker 18: Feel amazingly overwhelmed by the fact that I got to
Speaker 18: make it with Michael Abels, my co composer, and that
Speaker 18: for the Spiletto Festival, and that it's been honored with
Speaker 18: a Pulitzer.
Speaker 4: It's just like it's a dream come true. That's graz
Speaker 4: That's awesome. Fassin, this is your latest album. It's great.
Speaker 4: I love this album cover. This is awesome. This album
Speaker 4: is a little more playful.
Speaker 7: Is that a good word to use totally than your
Speaker 7: previous albums?
Speaker 4: Was that an obvious choice for you?
Speaker 13: Yeah?
Speaker 18: I mean like, for the last fifteen years, I've been
Speaker 18: that girl at the party on a Friday night that
Speaker 18: you back away from it. Man, you don't talk about
Speaker 18: slavery or the banjo or both, and I'm just like
Speaker 18: really not into it. I just like I was kind
Speaker 18: of getting burned out and I just needed to change
Speaker 18: things up, and I had these songs I've been writing
Speaker 18: over fourteen years and just wanted to explore the other
Speaker 18: sides of my artistry on this album, though there is
Speaker 18: one really important song. Well, you know, the other thing
Speaker 18: is that I'm forty six and this is the first
Speaker 18: original record I've ever liked, all original songs that I've made,
Speaker 18: and it's like my first sole album was when i
Speaker 18: was thirty six, and so it's kind of like you
Speaker 18: do it on the time that it's time to do it,
Speaker 18: you know, you don't do it on anybody else's you know,
Speaker 18: you just like you take the opportunities as they come.
Speaker 18: So this was a really amazing project with producer Jack
Speaker 18: Splash to just explore and to also say, bleep the categories,
Speaker 18: bleep the genres. Right, I'm just saving your guys the
Speaker 18: trouble later, you know, just like forget like what is
Speaker 18: blues and what is jazz and what is country?
Speaker 4: It's all the same thing.
Speaker 18: It's all coming from the same American well of cross
Speaker 18: cultural collaboration. So I was just like, yeah, put it
Speaker 18: in whatever box you want. It's just fun music.
Speaker 4: You know, I'm really inspired. I just had two acts
Speaker 4: that didn't clap once.
Speaker 7: For me, I really inspire by what you just said,
Speaker 7: because it feels like everything that I've looked at with
Speaker 7: your work has true integrity. But then we're also mixing
Speaker 7: in the commercialism of the industry, and as someone who's
Speaker 7: trying to be a comedic artist, this make money and
Speaker 7: also stay authentic and make your work have integrity is
Speaker 7: near impossible. I've sold out, of course, but everyone wants
Speaker 7: to put you in a box. They want to tell
Speaker 7: you this. So this is your demo. You sell to
Speaker 7: these people, and this is speak to them. How are
Speaker 7: you navigating that? How would you advise a younger artist
Speaker 7: to navigate that?
Speaker 18: It's really hard because it's antithetical to making art, is
Speaker 18: the capitalistic system that we forced artists to work with it.
Speaker 18: So we're all having compromises, We're all having to prad art.
Speaker 18: Where's our line? And so my line for a long
Speaker 18: time has been pretty far out, and it's like, I
Speaker 18: just want to tell these stories. And I've just been
Speaker 18: really lucky with the opportunities that I've gotten, and I
Speaker 18: stuck to my guns. I said, I'm doing what I
Speaker 18: need to do to make the world a slightly better
Speaker 18: place or to add to the positive conversation. And I
Speaker 18: come back around and here I am doing it exactly
Speaker 18: as I want and being you know, getting the MacArthur
Speaker 18: and being able to do so. I just I tell
Speaker 18: young people, you got to tell what is your story
Speaker 18: that you can tell that nobody else can tell, and
Speaker 18: get people around you who believe in you and your
Speaker 18: story and who aren't out for what money you can
Speaker 18: make them. And so I'm surrounded by an amazing team
Speaker 18: red Light Management, none such who believed in me, and I,
Speaker 18: you know, waiting for this record. They let me do
Speaker 18: projects that I really felt, you know, I was really
Speaker 18: felt passionate about. And so it's really a give and
Speaker 18: a take and you're part of a team and you
Speaker 18: just have to have people around you who.
Speaker 6: Believe in you.
Speaker 7: Yeah, and the passion then comes out in that project. Yeah,
Speaker 7: and then it's way better because you're enthusiastic.
Speaker 18: Well, this is it, and this is what people are
Speaker 18: actually looking for. They might say they're looking for something else,
Speaker 18: but they're looking for that energy, that brightness, that passion,
Speaker 18: which you can only get when you're following your arrow,
Speaker 18: you know, and not trying to be what other people
Speaker 18: want you to be. And you see that a lot
Speaker 18: in the industry, and I was just like, you just
Speaker 18: got to do you.
Speaker 1: I love that.
Speaker 4: I love that. I love that.
Speaker 13: Michelle Obama, Welcome to The Daily Social Distancing Show.
Speaker 6: It's my first time being on your show. It's just,
Speaker 6: you know, I'm sad that it's not in face to
Speaker 6: face or in person, but I'm glad.
Speaker 13: I am I'm sad. I'm sad too, but I don't mind.
Speaker 13: You're still here. I've gotten used to this being here
Speaker 13: for me, you know, it's still you listen, you're gonna
Speaker 13: tell me like your personality changes.
Speaker 6: It does not. I'm maybe I'm more silly in person,
Speaker 6: but I've gotten silly on you know, in zoom too.
Speaker 6: I can do it both. Now, just playing silly.
Speaker 13: Before we get into talking about your projects, let's talk
Speaker 13: a little a little bit about that. I'd love to
Speaker 13: know on a personal level, what your life has felt
Speaker 13: like since you left the White House because I remember,
Speaker 13: and I mean I was one of the fans, maybe
Speaker 13: because you know, I've also had had journeys. I remember
Speaker 13: everyone just being like, wow, Michelle, the afro and the
Speaker 13: hair's coming, and everyone is just like she's just she's
Speaker 13: got got a different swag about her. Was there a
Speaker 13: weight that's lifted from your shoulders when leaving the White
Speaker 13: House as first Lady?
Speaker 6: Absolutely? I mean, you know, for so many reasons. I mean,
Speaker 6: you know, being the first Lady and be the president,
Speaker 6: it's a huge responsibility. And being the first you know,
Speaker 6: we felt a deep responsibility to do it right and
Speaker 6: to do it better, to be careful with our words,
Speaker 6: all the things we thought were important, things like thinking
Speaker 6: about what you say before you say it, you know,
Speaker 6: telling the truth, you know, getting your facts right, all
Speaker 6: of this we worried for no reason. We could have
Speaker 6: done it so differently, it could have been easier, but no, no,
Speaker 6: we were doing the traditional thing. And so you know,
Speaker 6: it was a big responsibility, a big weight on our shoulders,
Speaker 6: but it was an honor to serve, and we kept
Speaker 6: our eye focused on just every day trying to show
Speaker 6: up right and push the ball forward on the issues
Speaker 6: that we cared about. But we were also doing it
Speaker 6: while raising our kids.
Speaker 1: All right.
Speaker 6: So you know, they were ten and seven when we entered.
Speaker 6: They lived in the White House longer than they lived
Speaker 6: in any house they've ever lived in. Wow, So they
Speaker 6: grew They were growing up right in that spotlight. And
Speaker 6: so we had that pressure of getting through the adolescent
Speaker 6: years and the teen years and sending a kid to college.
Speaker 6: So we were exhausted and stressed because not only are
Speaker 6: you trying to get it right on the big picture level,
Speaker 6: but you're trying to get it right as a parent.
Speaker 6: And now we're on the other end of that, literally
Speaker 6: on the other end of all all of that, and
Speaker 6: our kids are about to be twenty three and twenty
Speaker 6: our oldest is graduating from college. They are alive so
Speaker 6: all of that. You know, being at the end of
Speaker 6: that part of the journey, you know it. You know,
Speaker 6: I am in a different place. I feel freer, i
Speaker 6: feel more at peace. I'm also older, so I'm more comfortable.
Speaker 6: I'm even more comfortable in my own skin. So so yeah, yeah,
Speaker 6: it was you know. I mean, living in the White
Speaker 6: House is like living in a nice, older hotel where
Speaker 6: you can't get out unless you call twenty people.
Speaker 13: It almost feels like you were living a sort of
Speaker 13: quarantine life before all of us times.
Speaker 6: This is what I tell people, This is why we're fine.
Speaker 6: Barack and I are like, well, you can't go out
Speaker 6: just when you want to. You know, You're like this,
Speaker 6: We've been doing that for eight years. You've got security
Speaker 6: with you at all times. You can't make a move,
Speaker 6: and you have to think about how your movements impact
Speaker 6: the rest of the world. Every time we went out,
Speaker 6: we had to think about it. It's like, who's gonna
Speaker 6: have to shut down what gate? How is this going
Speaker 6: to disrupt this whole community? Because the presidential motorcide is
Speaker 6: coming through, we have to worry about agents and not
Speaker 6: doing something that will put them in harm's way. We're
Speaker 6: good in quarantine. We're like, welcome to our world. Everyone.
Speaker 13: We've've been somebody who has been not just an icon,
Speaker 13: but but somebody that people have followed so passionately from
Speaker 13: the beginning. And what I loved about reading your book
Speaker 13: and talking to your husband is that, you know, is
Speaker 13: getting into the familial side of things, the personal side
Speaker 13: of things. I've always wanted to know from your perspective
Speaker 13: because a lot of people may not think of it
Speaker 13: like this because of president, but you're the cool one
Speaker 13: in the relationship, right, And so like was like this,
Speaker 13: like you know this, like like who's like you say
Speaker 13: in your book, who's this Barack? Who's this dude? Like
Speaker 13: you know what I mean? And yes, he's mister president,
Speaker 13: don't get me wrong, but I mean to you, he's
Speaker 13: still baroque. Is there a part of you that like,
Speaker 13: when it was done, you were like, all right, finally
Speaker 13: the power balance can go back to what it was.
Speaker 6: Well, he's still pretty cool, you know.
Speaker 13: Oh definitely, But I mean you yeah, I mean, let's
Speaker 13: be ho, it's like a game of chess.
Speaker 4: You don't want to use the queen, you.
Speaker 6: Know, that's I'm gonna use that at dinner tonight.
Speaker 13: But what's fun to see is how it feels like
Speaker 13: you are each other's biggest fans, the way you show
Speaker 13: your love towards each other. You've never been afraid to
Speaker 13: do that. But at the same time, there's also a
Speaker 13: healthy competitive spirits. I mean, whether you're selling books, whether
Speaker 13: you're releasing your your work on Netflix and creating documentaries,
Speaker 13: is there a little bit of that where you look
Speaker 13: at your numbers and then you go, I mean, you know,
Speaker 13: you go like Barry, you're doing well, but you know,
Speaker 13: you know, is there a little bit of that?
Speaker 6: Uh yeah, yeah, yeah, he's brockets super competitive, so you know,
Speaker 6: and true let me, I am too, So yeah, there's
Speaker 6: a little there's a little bit of that. I mean,
Speaker 6: but you know, you can do that when you know
Speaker 6: your partner holds their own It's it's a nice funny joke,
Speaker 6: you know. I mean if he if he wrote his
Speaker 6: book and nobody bought it, we wouldn't be joking about it, right,
Speaker 6: We would be like, honey, you're doing a great job.
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, it's a great book. Great book. We love it,
Speaker 6: And tell your dad how much you like his book.
Speaker 6: But you know, I mean, he's written like a thousand books.
Speaker 6: You know, he's like, yeah, I've done this before.
Speaker 12: You're the newbie.
Speaker 6: You know, he was. He fed us on his book
Speaker 6: books for a very long time. So, you know, it's
Speaker 6: a funny joke when it's you know, when it's when
Speaker 6: it's not fully true. The kids are actually joking. They're
Speaker 6: talking about how, you know, my mom's doing a lot
Speaker 6: of work out. Their dad, you're at home looking kind
Speaker 6: of cute. You know, They're like, you're now the cute one.
Speaker 4: That's hilarious. You are the cute one.
Speaker 6: President, Mister President.
Speaker 13: Mariah Carey, Welcome to the Daily Social Distancing Show.
Speaker 5: Thank you.
Speaker 1: I'm glad to be here.
Speaker 13: When we think of Mariah Carey, I don't think I
Speaker 13: would be remiss if I said, or I don't think
Speaker 13: i'd be incorrect if I said that black people have
Speaker 13: claimed you from the beginning. But something I took for
Speaker 13: granted is that so many people have always just gone like, oh,
Speaker 13: Mariah makes music that black people enjoy, everyone enjoys, but
Speaker 13: she's not black. And you lived this, and you talk
Speaker 13: about this in the book, where people who you wanted
Speaker 13: to belong to sometimes didn't even know that you were
Speaker 13: part of the tribe. What I would love to know
Speaker 13: from you as a human being is when you were
Speaker 13: searching for your identity, how hard was it to infuse
Speaker 13: that within your music? Because that's something I think everyone
Speaker 13: will enjoy in the book is reading how the record labels,
Speaker 13: for instance, like Sony at the time, kept on pushing
Speaker 13: you to push all of the hip hop out of
Speaker 13: your music, like Mariah, this is too black, Mariah, this
Speaker 13: is too black. Mind you're going this is me, this
Speaker 13: is what I love. Tell me a little bit about
Speaker 13: that journey of trying to connect with something that you
Speaker 13: felt was a part of who you are and really
Speaker 13: made who you are well.
Speaker 5: It was a very difficult journey. But the interesting thing
Speaker 5: about it to me when I look back on, particularly
Speaker 5: like the Vision of Love era, my first single, that
Speaker 5: song went number one on the R and B charts
Speaker 5: which were then called the black charts first before it
Speaker 5: went number one on the pop charts, because it really
Speaker 5: isn't a pop record, and especially at that time, it
Speaker 5: wasn't what other R and B singers pop singers, It
Speaker 5: wasn't what most people were doing. It's a different style,
Speaker 5: you know. The record is like a six ' eight
Speaker 5: vibe and it's got all these backgrounds and all these
Speaker 5: layered vocals and stuff. So it was geared for an
Speaker 5: R and B audience and from that's where I wrote it.
Speaker 5: From that place, But after that, it was like, we
Speaker 5: need another pop ballad. I know how to do that too,
Speaker 5: Like I know how to write a middle down the middle,
Speaker 5: Like I get it. So when you're asked and you're
Speaker 5: a nineteen year old girl, you know, well, we need
Speaker 5: another pop ballad. Rather than have them impose a songwriter's
Speaker 5: idea of what that is on me, I just said, okay,
Speaker 5: they want a simplistic ballad. I wrote Love Takes Time,
Speaker 5: which I now like and enjoy, but at the time
Speaker 5: I was like, okay, it took me an hour.
Speaker 4: We're done.
Speaker 5: You know it's it's cute and it'll it'll do what
Speaker 5: it needs to do. But I think the journey that
Speaker 5: you were referring to in terms of hip hop that was,
Speaker 5: you know, a long I don't want to say struggle,
Speaker 5: but I secretly snuck in like loops, like from like
Speaker 5: on Dream Lover, there's like the eight and a half
Speaker 5: step two and people like I remember Q Tip was like,
Speaker 5: we're listening to another song and he was like, you
Speaker 5: realize you're the catalyst for all this, right, you realize,
Speaker 5: like and he knew this before Fantasy. He knew it
Speaker 5: just from listening to dream Lover, which is very it
Speaker 5: was slightly whitewashed, you know, rather than you know, when
Speaker 5: we put the organ solo and all that, it's it's nostalgic.
Speaker 5: But I know that that's there because I wanted a
Speaker 5: rapper to be on that part, but they nobody was
Speaker 5: ready for that. Yeah, So you know, when I finally
Speaker 5: was able to work on Fantasy with ODB, and in
Speaker 5: the audiobook, that's one of my favorite parts because we
Speaker 5: hear his voice and you know, rest in peace, ODB.
Speaker 5: But that story and especially when some people were like
Speaker 5: I could do that. You know, I don't know if
Speaker 5: you know what I'm talking about, but there was there
Speaker 5: was a moment that was pretty freaking hilarious because there
Speaker 5: was no understanding of like, oh, this collaboration with a
Speaker 5: member of the Wu Tang clan Oldertie Bastard.
Speaker 12: No less, this is.
Speaker 4: A huge moment.
Speaker 5: It's a huge moment. But I had to fight for
Speaker 5: it so hard because nobody understood it. But had they
Speaker 5: heard his album or even seen the front cover of
Speaker 5: his solo album, I'm sure it would have gotten squashed.
Speaker 5: I snuck that one in.
Speaker 13: There are so many rappers who who would attest to that,
Speaker 13: you know, rappers who are included in the book, Rappers
Speaker 13: who who were featured on your songs, Rappers who would
Speaker 13: a test to the fact that Mariah Carey gave me
Speaker 13: my big break in the mainstream because you were adamant.
Speaker 13: You're like, I'm gonna make a remix. They might let
Speaker 13: me make the original like this, but there's always going
Speaker 13: to be a remix. And hip hop seems like it
Speaker 13: was such a huge part of your life. Why do
Speaker 13: you think you had such a connection with hip hop
Speaker 13: or what was it about hip hop that connected with
Speaker 13: Mariah carry where you were like, this has to be
Speaker 13: in my music.
Speaker 5: Well, I think it's that element has always been there
Speaker 5: because ever since I first heard you know, the biggest
Speaker 5: hip hop records as a child, be it anywhere from obviously,
Speaker 5: every little kid has always heard sugar Hill the sugar
Speaker 5: Hill Gang, like the one of the first songs you
Speaker 5: ever hear all the way through like Eric B and
Speaker 5: rock Him, Slick Rick, all different rapper and I ended
Speaker 5: up working with Slick Rick last year, which was amazing,
Speaker 5: and just knowing him because I was such a fan
Speaker 5: of his when I was in high school, but.
Speaker 4: And still am.
Speaker 5: But you know, I could continue to name all the
Speaker 5: different hip hop artists and people that inspired me. But
Speaker 5: I think when you ask the question that you asked
Speaker 5: was what was it about it the music itself, you know,
Speaker 5: the freedom and the music, the artistry in the music.
Speaker 5: And I think that was where a big disconnect happened
Speaker 5: with the label because the executives did not grow up
Speaker 5: listening to hip hop, so they didn't understand it, and
Speaker 5: they thought it was a fad rather than an element
Speaker 5: that I wanted to integrate more into my music. So
Speaker 5: I continued to do it. Like you said, I did remixes.
Speaker 5: You know, I love a lot of the remix remixes
Speaker 5: that I did, particularly with Jermaine Dupree, and we were
Speaker 5: able to use you know, some people may not even
Speaker 5: know those remixes, but you know, they'll know, like, oh,
Speaker 5: we Belong Together. That's a big record they wrote that.
Speaker 5: But that's also inspired by in its own way. It
Speaker 5: has its own own hip hop influences, just within the
Speaker 5: cadence of the way that I'm singing certain parts, some
Speaker 5: parts were more Jermaine's idea. I'm like yes, because he
Speaker 5: always Jermaine always makes a joke. He's like, she's the rapper,
Speaker 5: I'm the diva because I'm always like, can you make
Speaker 5: it more grimy?
Speaker 4: Can you do that?
Speaker 5: And he's like, I just wanted her to do it
Speaker 5: the other But we end up getting to a good
Speaker 5: place together, so that's one of their positive things.
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