I don't know her

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Mariah Carey saying the phrase "I don't know her" while smiling and shaking her head.
Mariah Carey saying "I don't know her" in response to a question about Jennifer Lopez became a popular Internet meme

"I don't know her" is a phrase popularized by American singer Mariah Carey in response to a circa 2003 question about her thoughts on American singer Jennifer Lopez, whom media outlets perceived as her rival at the time. Carey's reaction, in which she shakes her head and smiles while stating "I don't know her", became a popular Internet meme and GIF. Vanity Fair deemed mid-2016 "The Summer of Not Knowing".

When asked about Lopez, Carey identified herself as a singer and denied an ongoing feud. After stating "I don't know her", she employed the expression over the next two decades. Carey contends it is not an affront to Lopez because she does not know her personally; Lopez herself says they do not know each other.

Background

Mariah Carey singing on stage in a pink dress
Jennifer Lopez singing on stage in a green outfit
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, media outlets considered Mariah Carey (left) and Jennifer Lopez to be in a feud.[1]

American singer

1998 Grammy Awards and announced that she had signed a record deal shortly thereafter.[6] Those in the music industry described her forthcoming album as a Latin version of Carey's work.[7] Similar to the conflict instigated by the media regarding her relationship with Whitney Houston, Carey's feelings toward Lopez became a subject of gossip.[1] In a 1999 interview with Mirabella, Carey answered questions about a purported rivalry: "She's a dancer, isn't she? She lip-synched Selena's vocals, you know. I don't think that as a singer, we're in the same category as artists."[7]

In 2001, Carey left Sony and signed with Virgin Records in advance of releasing the soundtrack to the film Glitter (2001).[8] Mottola remained connected to the movie through its production company Sony Pictures.[9] Carey alleged that during the recording process, Sony officials heard a sample from the 1978 song "Firecracker" that she used in the track "Loverboy" and incorporated it in Lopez's "I'm Real" (2001).[10] As the latter was released before Glitter, Carey re-recorded "Loverboy" to sound distinct from "I'm Real".[11] Sony denied that "I'm Real" used a stolen sample from "Loverboy".[12] Following these events, Carey responded to Lopez's comments about sleeping eight hours per night in a 2001 interview with journalist Vanessa Grigoriadis: "If I had the luxury of not actually having to sing my own songs I'd do that too."[13][b]

Description

Around 2003, Carey was interviewed by the German television program taff. Upon being asked about Beyoncé, Carey remarked that she loved her as an artist. After she was questioned about Lopez, Carey stated "I don't know her" while smiling and shaking her head. The interview was uploaded on YouTube in 2008 and her "I don't know her" comment originated as a GIF on Internet forums.[15] It spread to Twitter and Tumblr in the latter half of the 2010s.[16] By 2018, "I don't know her" became known as a popular Internet meme and GIF.[17] Abby Ohlheiser ranked it at number two on The Washington Post's 2019 list of the most important viral reactions on the Internet since 2000.[18] According to journalist Marina Hyde, "I don't know her" is Carey's most famous quote.[19] Musicologist Lily E. Hirsch argued that the popular reaction to the phrase contributed a sexist and racist image of Carey as a diva.[20]

Carey used the phrase to address Lopez throughout its rise in popularity.

Watch What Happens Live appearance ("I don't know her. What am I supposed to say?").[15] While discussing the sampling controversy in her 2020 memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey, she described Lopez as a "female entertainer on [Sony] (whom I don't know)".[22] Carey contends that the phrase is not an insult but rather an honest response because she does not know Lopez personally.[23] Lopez had not acknowledged the sampling controversy by 2004.[24] In 2014, she said that "I don't have a feud against [Carey] at all. I know from back in the day, I’ve read things that she's said about me that were not the greatest, but we have never met. Like, we don't know each other."[25] During a 2016 Wendy Williams interview, Lopez stated that they have "met many times" and accused Carey of being "forgetful". [26]

Carey has used the phrase toward other singers such as

club nights and clothing.[30] The phrase has been used in political contexts such as a meme about Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau[c] and interpretations of US president Donald Trump's commentary.[32][d]

Analysis

Most commentators considered the phrase an insult. Who? Weekly podcasters Lindsey Weber and Bobby Finger described "I don't know her" as an example of shade.[15] According to Mireille Lalancette and Tamara A. Small, the phrase "is used when another person is so irrelevant you pretend to not know them when you clearly do".[35] Issy Sampson of The Guardian wrote about its appeal: "Claiming not to know someone means you don't sound bitchy – how could you be, you don't know them? – but it's a sly way of saying that someone's personality is unmemorable."[36] Vogue's Michelle Ruiz viewed the phrase as a more effective version of the catfight.[37] Kenzie Bryant of Vanity Fair said it can be misinterpreted when used as a neutral no comment response.[38]

Notes

  1. ^ Their separation was announced on May 30, 1997.[5]
  2. I'm Real (Murder Remix)", as well as a co-writer.[14]
  3. ^ The meme is a photo of US president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin with the words "Justin Trudeau – I don't know her."[31]
  4. Symone Sanders deemed him "the Mariah Carey of politics ... He is very good at pretending he doesn't know someone when it suits him".[33] After Trump said he never spoke with US ambassador Gordon Sondland, MSNBC host Ari Melber described him as employing the "Mariah Carey defense".[34]

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b Hirsch 2023, p. 145.
  2. ^ Shapiro 2001, p. 43.
  3. ^ Shapiro 2001, pp. 42, 48.
  4. ^ Shapiro 2001, pp. 74, 98.
  5. ^ Reilly 1997.
  6. ^ Snow 1998.
  7. ^ a b Herman 1999, p. 128.
  8. ^ Leeds 2001.
  9. ^ Curto 2020.
  10. ^ Lynch 2020; Freydkin 2004, p. 2D.
  11. ^ Grigoriadis 2001, p. 82; Lynch 2020.
  12. ^ Susman 2002.
  13. ^ Grigoriadis 2001, p. 81; Freydkin 2004, p. 2D.
  14. ^ Mamo 2019.
  15. ^ a b c Weber & Finger 2019.
  16. ^ Weheliye 2019, p. 259.
  17. ^ a b Respers France 2018.
  18. ^ a b c Ohlheiser 2019.
  19. ^ Hyde 2017.
  20. ^ Hirsch 2023, pp. 146–148.
  21. ^ Vineyard 2005.
  22. ^ Lynch 2020.
  23. ^ Platon 2015; Blair 2016; Respers France 2018.
  24. ^ Freydkin 2004, p. 2D.
  25. ^ Platon 2015.
  26. ^ Duboff 2016.
  27. ^ Lam & Raphael 2022, p. 113; Hill 2016; Groom 2023.
  28. ^ Hill 2016.
  29. ^ Faris 2022, p. 411.
  30. ^ Levine 2016.
  31. ^ Lalancette & Small 2020, p. 306.
  32. ^ Lalancette & Small 2020, p. 306; Sanders 2019; Melber 2019.
  33. ^ Sanders 2019.
  34. ^ Melber 2019.
  35. ^ Lalancette & Small 2020, p. 321.
  36. ^ Sampson 2018.
  37. ^ Ruiz 2017.
  38. ^ Bryant 2016.

Sources

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