Mariah The Scientist is fed up with listeners categorizing her as an R&B artist. During an interview with Complex, the 26-year-old spoke about the judgments her music receives. Black artists are often pigeonholed no matter the field of interest — especially Black women. Mariah The Scientist said the music label stereotypes have fans believing her music is classified as R&B.
“I put music out, and it’s automatically supposed to be R&B?” Mariah The Scientist asked.
View this post on Instagram
“I put music out, and it’s automatically supposed to be R&B?” Mariah The Scientist asks.
“Anybody that sings and is Black, or they think you Black … they like put you in this category of she makes R&B music,” Mariah The Scientist said. “But if Lana Del Rey is singing about heartbreak, why is her album categorized as alternative? But I put music out and it’s automatically R&B? What if it’s neither of those?”
Frustrated by the biases, the Atlanta native revealed her latest idea of creating a new genre. She is calling the new genre “A&B,” a blend of “alternative and blues.”
“I told somebody that I wanted to make a new genre and I wanted to call it A&B for alternative and blues,” she said. “I don’t know if it will happen but if I did have to categorize myself, it would be that.”
Mariah The Scientist recently signed a deal with Epic Records after leaving RCA. Her new album, To Be Eaten Alive, is her first project released on Epic Records according to RatedRnB. The album is long-awaited after her 2022 EP, Buckles Laboratories Presents: The Intermission.
“I was reluctant to sign a new deal… But I was excited to find a partner that understands me as an artist and has the infrastructure to support me in the ways I need most,” she said in a previous statement.