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Mariah The Scientist is opening up about feeling boxed in with her music and clarifying its genre.
The 26-year-old sat down for an interview with Complex published on Monday, October 23. At one point in the interview, the songstress was questioned about feeling like “people” put her “in a box” when it comes to her music.
Mariah agreed while also explaining that “anybody that sings and is Black” is “put… in this category of R&B music.” According to the Library of Congress, R&B is also known as “Rhythm and Blues, originally referring to “secular,” non-religious music.
“I think anybody that sings and is Black or they think you might be Black, they put you in this category of R&B music,” the singer explained. “It’s like, why? What really defines R&B? What does that mean?”
The “Spread Thin” singer then went on to compare the phenomenon to alternative music and artists like Lana Del Rey.
“Or what really defines alternative? It’s like if Lana Del Rey is singing about heartbreak, why is her album categorized as alternative?” she continued. “And then I put out music, and it’s automatically supposed to be R&B.”
As the interview continued, Mariah The Scientist proposed that her music is neither R&B nor alternative. The 26-year-old then went on to share her desire to create a “new” music genre called “A&B,” or “Alternative & Blues.”
“What if it’s neither of those? I told somebody that I wanted to make a new genre and I want to call it A&B, as in alternative and blues,” the singer shared. “I don’t know if it’ll happen, but I feel like if I did make that, that’s what I would fall into.”
Social media users entered The Shade Room’s comment section to share their reactions to Mariah The Scientist’s stance.
“so what is her genre if not R&B?”
“Definitely sounds like r&b. Solange sounds more alternative. But we gone let her be what she wants to be…A&B.”
“You singing R&B stank ❤️”
“She’s definitely in her own genre. If you really know her catalogue you’ll understand what she’s saying”
“Listen to all her projects in full & you’ll understand her point. I agree.”
“I feel like sometimes it’s r&b and sometimes it’s a little more unconventional sonically, like alternative music. So I feel like A&B is a merge of the two. It’s just coining the term A&B, it was a casual thought… Let me guess y’all the same folks that supported them telling Lil Nas X ‘Old Town Road’ wasn’t a country song… why do people get so offended by the evolution of art or the fact that sometimes it’s a spectrum it doesn’t have to be one thing all the time. I’m so tired of y’all being fake offended by everything I do. Beat it! Project out at midnight… Can y’all wait n listen to the whole project before y’all get on here ready 2 tell me I’m slow and uncultured….like what”
