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Carey has been called a pop icon  and has been labeled a "diva" for her stardom and persona. She stated, "I have had diva moments, and then people can't handle it. I guess it's a little intense, because I come from a true diva: My mother is an opera singer. And that's a real diva, you know - Juilliard diva. And I mean it as a compliment, or I wouldn't be the person I am without experiencing that."

Fashion is a part of Carey's image. She was cited a fashion icon by Insider writer Susanna Heller who added that "her decadent closet spans multiple rooms and is full of designer clothing, lingerie, shoes, and accessories". CR Fashion Book writer Shepherd also stated that while her "sartorial aesthetic has shifted here and there ..., the music icon largely favors sexy, skin-baring, and often bedazzled looks. During her tours, she has frequently worn Jimmy Choo and Christian Louboutin high-end stiletto footwear, as well as leotards, corsets, and fishnet tights. Laura Antonia Jordan of Grazia called Carey fashion "royalty" and stated that in the 1990s, her go-to looks were "super-tight silhouettes, cropped tops, thigh-grazing hemlines and dangerously high slits."

As part of her diva image, Carey partakes in throwing shade. When asked about American singer Jennifer Lopez in a German TV interview, Carey's response was, "I don't know her". The clip became a viral internet meme and been brought back in many other interviews with both of the singers. After the release of "Obsessed", critics heavily compared its lyrics to Eminem who had negatively referenced her several times in songs, and suggested Carey alluded to him and his 'obsession' with her. "Obsessed" never mentions the rapper's name, although reviewers felt it to be very obvious. Additionally, Carey played a role that resembled the rapper in the song's accompanying music video.

She has also been described as a sex symbol. The singer mentions Marilyn Monroe as one of her biggest idols and her "beauty icon", and she referenced Monroe in some of her music videos, such as "I Still Believe" or "Don't Forget About Us". As the biggest pop star in music by the mid-1990s, Carey's "first years as a pop star were extraordinarily fruitful but restrictive". In the late 1990s, after separating from Mottola, Carey adopted a more provocative and less conservative image than had been previously seen and began wearing more revealing clothes. Her album Butterfly has been credited for revamping Carey's image as a pop star where she began to embrace hip hop and R&B themes and fully come into her own self, resulting in butterflies becoming a metaphorical symbol of her impact and legacy upon pop and R&B music. Emilia Petrarca of W stated that "Carey is uber-cautious about cultivating her public image" but that when it comes to style, she is "more do than don’t".

She is recognized as a gay icon and her song "Hero" is regarded as an anthem among the gay community as it touches upon themes of embracing individuality and overcoming self-doubt. According to Carey herself, a lot of her gay fans admitted to also be growing up listening to her song "Outside" and relating to the feeling of isolation and unfitting. Her diva persona has also given her much admiration from gay fans. Carey was honored by GLAAD in 2016 with the "GLAAD Ally Award" for which she expressed gratitude to her LGBT+ fans. In her speech she thanked the community, "For the unconditional love ... I wish all of you love, peace, [and] harmony".

"All I Want for Christmas Is You", as well as her 1994 album Merry Christmas, have become such a ubiquitous part of wider popular culture that Carey has been dubbed the "Queen of Christmas". The album is credited as being the greatest selling Christmas album of all time. Both the song and album have been hailed as being "one of the few worthy modern additions to the holiday canon" by publications such as The New Yorker. Speaking to Vogue in 2015 about "All I Want For Christmas Is You", Elvis Duran stated that the song's appeal was based on the fact that it was "a modern song that could actually have been a hit back in the '40s", praising its "timeless, classic quality". The success of the song, in particular, has led Carey to build what Billboard described as a "growing holiday mini-empire".

Numerous historians and social scientists have also credited Carey's outspokenness on her own multiracial heritage for facilitating public discourse surrounding race relations in the United States, as well as the advent of intersectional feminism, during the 1990s. As noted by Professor Michael Eric Dyson in his book, Between God and Gangsta Rap: Bearing Witness to Black Culture, Carey's "refusal to bow to public pressure" surrounding the nature of her ethnicity exposed "the messy, sometimes arbitrary, politics of definition and categorisation" and "the racial contradictions at the centre of contemporary pop music" at the time. Sika Dagbovie-Mullins of Florida Atlantic University further credited Carey as being a trailblazing "multiracial heroine", remarking upon her ability to both exploit and critique "the various manifestations of the mulatta stereotype" throughout her career.
 * doi/10.1515/9781503626331-009/pdf
 * doi/10.4159/9780674059207-004/pdf