Someone’s Ugly Daughter is the only studio album by the rock bandChick, released on September 5, 1995, through Epic Records and 550 Music.
On September 27, 2020, Mariah Carey revealed in her memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey that she secretly recorded and co-produced the album with her friend Clarissa Dane under the moniker “Chick“. On the official release Dane is the lead vocalist, and Carey sings background vocals.
Carey worked on Someone’s Ugly Daughter while recording her 1995 album Daydream. She originally provided lead vocals until her label intervened and told her the album could not be released in that form, due to worries that it would damage her clean-cut image and thriving career. As a compromise, Carey enlisted a friend, singer Clarissa Dane, to recut the album’s lead vocals while she did uncredited background vocals instead.
Prior to revealing her role in the recording, Carey has hinted at the existence of the album. In 1995, she sarcastically said in an interview that her new album would be “an alternative record”, referring to her work on Someone’s Ugly Daughter. In 1999, she said in an interview with Craig Seymour:
“As a songwriter, I’m capable of writing more mainstream stuff or adapting a hip hop record to be my thing, or a house record or probably a country song, you know what I mean? Or even, like, no one knows, but I’ve written some alternative things that nobody knows about. I’m a musical person.”
In 2003, when asked about the name of her label Crave Records, Carey felt that she was not ready to reveal the true origin of the name.
“It came from a song I wrote that no one’s ever heard. It’s a secret. One day I’ll talk about it.”
The name of the song was later revealed in her memoir to be “Demented“. After revealing her role in the album’s recording, Carey said she was looking for the original recordings of the album with her lead vocals. In December 2020, she 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. The album was recorded in The Hit Factory in Manhattan, New York and Carey wrote 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 expressed in her memoir she “looked forward to doing her alter-ego sessions after recording Daydream each night”.
Tracklist:
- Joe (Clarissa Dane-DavidsonD. SueW. VladW. Chester)
- Love Is a Scam (Clarissa Dane-DavidsonD. SueW. Vlad)
- Violent (Clarissa Dane-DavidsonD. SueW. Vlad)
- Malibu (Clarissa Dane-DavidsonD. SueW. VladW. Chester)
- Demented (Clarissa Dane-DavidsonD. SueW. Vlad)
- Freak (Clarissa Dane-DavidsonD. SueW. VladW. Chester)
- Agony (Clarissa Dane-DavidsonD. SueW. Vlad)
- Surrender (Cheap Trick cover)
- Hermit (Clarissa Dane-DavidsonD. SueW. Vlad)
- Prom Queen (Clarissa Dane-DavidsonD. SueW. Vlad)
- Stork: Orphan in My Room (Clarissa Dane-DavidsonD. SueW. Vlad)
Credits:
Chick: production, art direction
Clarissa Dane-Davidson: lead vocals, writing (tracks 1–7, 9–11)
D. Sue: background vocals, writing (tracks 1–7, 9–11)
W. Vlad: drums, writing (tracks 1–7, 9–11)
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
