Design Hunting - On the Cover: Mariah Carey

This issue of New York Magazine spotlights pop star Mariah Carey, who welcomed features writer Allison P. Davis into her quarantine pod as the first visitor in months.

Known for her candid profiles of cultural figures like Lena Dunham and Cardi B, Davis arrived at Carey’s compound with a mask on her face and negative COVID test results in hand for a four hour conversation that began at midnight. Meeting Carey in person, Davis says she was surprised to learn “there’s this sort of mischievous, real, after-hours party vibe to her that I don’t think you get to see because she’s so hard-working.”

Carey, who was photographed for the cover by Dana Scruggs, had a lot to say in advance of her new memoir. “We’re thrilled to feature someone who knows no season – Mariah Carey – at the center of it,” says New York’s culture editor Gazelle Emami of our Fall Preview issue, “as she reflects on an epic 30-year career.”

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• A postcard stamp? 35 cents. Watching the postmaster general admit he doesn’t know the cost of one in front of Congress? Highbrow despicable. View our deliberately oversimplified guide to who falls where on our taste hierarchies here. Plus, meet the Approval Matrix’s new editors Madison Malone Kircher and Benjamin Hart. (You can also follow the Approval Matrix on Instagram here.)

• What do you call emergency broadcasts, for short? Play this issue’s Crossword Puzzle here.

• Check out nymag.com all week for more great Fall Preview stories, including conversations with 13 designers about the future of fashion, a long talk with Big Sean, and a review of the novel Piranesi by Susanna Clarke.

• Missed last issue’s cover story on President Trump’s chaotic 2020 campaign? Read the story NBC’s Chuck Todd said was “one of those pieces like, Wait, I can’t believe that anecdote. I can’t believe that anecdote!”

• Nothing can stop Vulture Festival…not even all this. This year’s virtual extravaganza will take place from October 26-30 and you can be the first to hear about upcoming lineup announcements by following Vulture on Instagram or Twitter, or by feverishly checking our website.