Caution was (rightly!) a critically-acclaimed masterstroke for Mariah Carey, but there are a couple of things about its creation and rollout that she would have liked to have been done differently.

Specifically, she’s said in a new podcast that she wishes she had a bit more time to make it; and she really isn’t a fan of the whole ‘instant-grat’ phenomenon (where songs are put out in advance of the album – not necessarily as full singles, but as sort of ‘promo singles’, if you will).

Speaking on Questlove Supreme (below), as spotted by That Grape Juice, she said the whole experience has inspired her to take a “different approach” with its upcoming successor.

“When I did Caution, I love some of the songs from Caution, but I don’t think I was at the place vocally where I could be now. Also, it was rushed,” she mused.

“Not that it was rushed… and look, it was my best, most critically acclaimed album, you know I think that’s because the critics have changed and shifted since back in the day. Believe it or not, if you look at those things, it’s [critics’] most favorite album.

“But what I was gonna say is that I didn’t have the time I would normally take, and I really wish I did have that time to do a few more records on that album to just, fully have that expression.”

She added: “It was like ‘oh, we got to have her back and have people know she put out a studio album’. And then they screwed that up with the way they gave away these instant-grats. ‘Oh, we’re gonna do instant-grats!’ Why? Just put the single out.

“These stupid instant-grats… this is no shade to anybody, but we know they didn’t have to do it like that! ‘Put out an instant-grat, maybe put out another instant-grat…’ So by that point, you’re three singles in that you gave away for free, when you could have had the whole experience with your fans.”

Clarifying that she does “really… like Caution as an album”, she compared the process of making that to the way she made, say, Butterfly.

“I had all the time in the world,” she said of the latter. “I went in there and did what I wanted. I worked in Florida, I worked in New York, I worked wherever I wanted and put that time in.

“But with the way the record industry is now, we don’t have that luxury anymore.”

The whole podcast appears below.