Mariah Carey co-writes, sings theme song for 'black-ish' spinoff, 'mixed-ish'
Mariah Carey performs onstage during the 2019 Billboard Music Awards on May 1, 2019, in Las Vegas. Credit: Getty Images for dcp / Kevin Winter
Pop star Mariah Carey, who is biracial, has co-written and will sing the theme song for ABC's upcoming "black-ish" spinoff "mixed-ish," a sitcom following a mixed-race girl growing up in the 1980s.
"As a fan of Kenya Barris' megahit shows 'black-ish’ [on ABC] and 'grown-ish,' [on sister network Freeform] I was inspired to connect with Kenya to find a way we could work together," Carey, 50, said in a statement Monday. "As a biracial woman in the entertainment industry, there was no way I did not want to be a part of 'mixed-ish,' especially after seeing the pilot, which I loved. I could not be more honored and proud to be writing and performing 'In the Mix' for Kenya and the show."
She added on Instagram, "Dear Kenya Barris, ABC and the mixed-ish family, this is a dream come true. I'm so thankful this show exists and I couldn't be more honored to be a part of it."
The new series, announced in May and set to premiere Sept. 24, follows Bow Johnson (Arica Himmel), the child version of "black-ish" wife, mom and anesthesiologist Rainbow Johnson (Tracee Ellis Ross), as she recalls her biracial upbringing. When parents Paul (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) and Alicia Johnson (Tika Sumpter) move from a hippie commune to the suburbs, Bow and her siblings find challenges in a school and a neighborhood unused to mixed-race families. Christina Anthony, Ethan William Childress, Mykal-Michelle Harris and Gary Cole also star.
Five-time Grammy Award-winner Carey, who was born in Huntington and raised in Greenlawn, is the daughter of an African-American aeronautical engineer, Alfred, and an Irish-American singer and voice coach, Patricia. The couple divorced when Carey was 3 years old. Carey told People magazine in 1993 that as the family moved from one predominantly white Long Island town to another, her parents "had their dogs poisoned, [and] their cars set on fire and blown up. It put a strain on their relationship that never quit."
She added that she, herself, "coming from a racially mixed background, I always felt like I didn't really fit in anywhere."
