--- title: Mariah Carey Rode the Subway in a Ball Gown description: The diva went underground in a sparkly ball gown canonical: https://time.com/2800001/mariah-carey-subway-ball-gown/ author: Laura Stampler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-30T16:41:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:10:11.969Z og:title: When Mariah Carey Rides the Subway, She Wears a Ball Gown og:description: Stars are just like us! og:url: https://time.com/2800001/mariah-carey-subway-ball-gown/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: When Mariah Carey Rides the Subway, She Wears a Ball Gown twitter:description: Stars are just like us! twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # When Mariah Carey Rides the Subway, She Wears a Ball Gown by [Laura Stampler](/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler May 30, 2014 4:41 PM CUT by [Laura Stampler](/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler May 30, 2014 4:41 PM CUT Some [celebrities subtly ride subways](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/11/celebrities-riding-the-subway-katie-holmes-jay-z%5Fn%5F1958558.html "undefined"), trying—but often failing—to blend in with the morning rush. But not Mariah! When the diva goes underground, she makes sure to wear a ball gown for the occasion. Obviously the _Glitter_ star documented the event on Instagram. Because you guys, she’s JUST LIKE US! Only… in #subwaycouture Remember when Jay-Z had a lovely conversation with an old lady outside his demographic on New York’s R train. (“Are you famous?” “Not very famous.”) Yeah, this wasn’t like that. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2800001/mariah-carey-subway-ball-gown/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2800001/mariah-carey-subway-ball-gown/"},"headline":"When Mariah Carey Rides the Subway, She Wears a Ball Gown","datePublished":"2014-05-30T16:41:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:10:11.969Z","description":"Stars are just like us!","url":"https://time.com/2800001/mariah-carey-subway-ball-gown/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities","subway","Instagram","Mariah Carey"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2800001/mariah-carey-subway-ball-gown/","name":"When Mariah Carey Rides the Subway, She Wears a Ball Gown"}}]}] ```