This article is part of a series in celebration of a new, dynamic voice in Black America: the NUBIANO Exchange. Brace yourself for the NUBIANO experience. 
"You look at me and see the girl who lives inside the golden world. But don't believe that's all there is to see. You'll never know the real me." ~ Mariah Carey, "Looking In"
With the release of E=MC2, I knew one thing early on: this was not the Mariah Carey my mother would recognize from almost twenty years ago.
In the early days when Mariah first debuted, she collaborated with top-tier crooners like Boyz II Men and Luther Vandross. Today's barely-clothed "impostor" lays tracks with "flavor-of-the-week" artists instead.
The old Mariah held long-term relationships with Derek Jeter and Luis Miguel. This new chick is still in the honeymoon phase of a marriage to a man 10 years her junior, whom she dated for only several weeks.
By most accounts Mariah Carey has undergone a complete transformation.
Keyword: most.
Author Lynn Hall put it best: "We didn't change as we grew older; we just became more clearly ourselves." Mariah has always been Mariah, but on a very public road to self-discovery, every deviation from what is expected is often a cause for concern.
Mariah cuts her hair: panic.
Mariah wears jeans one day and a skirt the next: state of emergency.
I can still remember when the nightgown she wore in the "I Don't Wanna Cry" video was such a big deal. Now it appears that less has become her standard.
While this phony "carbon copy" may not seem like the same Mariah, very few people can say they were the same person three years ago, let alone 20.
Mariah's metamorphosis – from soft-spoken songbird to scantily-clad diva – wasn't sudden or drastic. Rather, the "change" we see is the same natural progression of growth, maturity, and self-realization that everyone experiences at some point.
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