It’s the Queen Bey vs. the “Honey” hitmaker — and the mere suggestion of the buzz-worthy battle royale has fans on both sides sharpening their stingers.
A digital demand for a song-for-song showdown between R&B divas Beyoncé, 40, and Mariah Carey, 51, is reaching a fever pitch on Twitter, thanks to legendary music mogul L.A. Reid.
“Mariah Carey versus Beyoncé, bring that on,” said Reid, 65, during his recent appearance on the daytime talk show “The Real.” He said the vocal voluptuaries would be the “ideal” opponents in a Verzuz battle — an online head-to-head between two musical giants attempting to best one another with their chart-topping hits.
“Come on, man,” the former Epic Records honcho continued of a potential face-off between the celebrated songstresses. “The fans that they both have, the hits they have, the legacy they have.”
Reid — who’s played an instrumental role in Carey’s decades-long career, including his notable contributions to her 2005 multiplatinum anthology “The Emancipation of Mimi” — went on to warn diehard Beyoncé zealots against underestimating the sometimes “underrated” Carey.
“Bey is the Queen — we know Bey is the Queen, right?” he said.
“[But] Mariah might sometimes be slightly underrated for how long her career has lasted, how many hits she has — and she practically owns Christmas,” he added, inciting a wave of affirming nods from the panel of “The Real” cohosts. “I think that’d be a good one.”
However, cyber soldiers from both the “Love on Top” singer’s fierce #BeyHive fan base and the “We Belong Together” chanteuse’s loyal #Lambs camp think Reid is off his rocker.
“LA [Reid] needs to keep quiet,” one incensed music fan tweeted. “Beyonce vs. Mariah stylistically/era doesn’t make ANY sense. Beyoncé’s cultural reach is LEGIT. The most important act of her time. But Carey has a damn near a 10 year head start on her. There’s nothing underrated about Mariah Carey…lol.”
“Mariah & Beyoncé are both legends but they are NOT peers. Y’all sound young and inexperienced when y’all suggest they are,” wrote another, insisting that the two luminaries are in different leagues.
And other music aficionados happily argued their stance on which of the two microphone queens they believe would reign supreme.
“Beyoncé would tear her up. Wasn’t Mariah caught using auto tune?” noted a Bey devotee, shrugging off Carey’s world-record-breaking success.
“Hit for hit, Mariah is washing Beyoncé,” penned a Carey fanatic, disregarding the 28-time Grammy-winner’s eminence.
Thus far, neither singer has publicly commented on Reid’s call for their Verzuz matchup.
