Mariah Carey tapped Anderson .Paak for a flirty new song and music video from her latest album, Here for It All. The black-and-white visual for "Play This Song" shows Carey, 56, and .Paak, 39, getting cozy in a lavish mansion as they sing lyrics like, "And I know you miss me, babe. Don't pretend like you don't feel the same."
Throughout the video, the duo hold hands and dance together, all the while looking quite close. At one point, .Paak drops kisses on Carey's knuckles as she flashes him a smile. Later, Carey grabs his face, seemingly to wipe something off his cheek.
Carey dropped the track on Friday, September 26, after teasing the collaboration during an interview with Gayle King on CBS Mornings earlier this week. The Grammy winner explained that she "reached out" to .Paak about the duet first. When King, 70, asked why Carey wanted to work with .Paak, she replied, "He's brilliant. He's a really great artist."
King went on to ask Carey about photos that have shown her holding hands with .Paak, to whom she was first linked late last year, but the "Fantasy" singer mostly played coy. "He just likes to hold my hand. He just grabs my hand. I don't know what he's doing," Carey said with a laugh. "He's in a hand-holding club. That's what it is."
When King pointed out that .Paak was spotted hanging out with Carey at Christmas - famously her favorite time of year - the Glitter star hinted that their relationship isn't strictly platonic. "Well, they better know that it's something special," Carey. "It's Christmas. He enjoyed it." After King asked whether Carey enjoyed her Christmas celebration, she responded, "I did! There's a hot tub there. It was nice."
Earlier this year, Us Weekly confirmed that Carey and .Paak are seeing each other after sparks flew last year while they were working together. "Mariah and Anderson are dating. They met working last summer, and he has always been a huge fan and looked up to her," an insider exclusively told Us in March. "Their dates have been very far apart because of schedules, but it's been going on a few months."
A second source told Us that the duo are "full-on dating", adding, "Their relationship started in the studio as they were working on new music together, and it quickly turned romantic."
While Carey was "never anticipating" a romance, the second insider said she was "pleasantly surprised" with how charming .Paak - who "won her over quickly" - was. "They have a lot in common and it's going really well," the second source told Us, noting that they both have children who are teenagers and have "bonded over parenthood and raising kids in today's day and age".
Carey shares twins Moroccan and Monroe, 14, with ex-husband Nick Cannon, whom she wed in 2008. The former couple called it quits in 2014 after six years of marriage. .Paak, meanwhile, shares Soul Rasheed and Shine Tariq with estranged wife Jaylyn Chang. He filed for divorce from Chang in January 2024.
Earlier this year, an insider told Us that Carey was hoping her new album - her first since 2018's Caution - would remind fans that she has more up her sleeves than Christmas music.
"She is, of course, amazed by the renewed success of 'All I Want for Christmas Is You' each year, but she wants to remind the world that she's more than just the Queen of Christmas," the insider explained in June. "It's been a while since Mariah has had a new hit, but everyone around her is confident that this will be her most fruitful and successful era in over a decade."
(Us Weekly)
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