What Mariah the Scientist and Young Thug’s Engagement Says About Modern Romance

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In a recent article on Vogue, Chanté Joseph asked a question that feels almost uncomfortably timely: “Is having a boyfriend embarrassing now?” Judging by the internet’s response to Young Thug and Mariah the Scientist’s engagement, one might argue that modern romance, particularly within heterosexual relationships, has become something to be somewhat ashamed of.

Modern romance for women, given the zeitgeist of the time, has been dulled into two extremes: the aesthetic trad-wife, sprinkle-sprinkle fantasy versus the romance-fatigued crowd rapidly wary of anything that looks too “boyfriend-ified.”

On one end, romance is an aspirational lifestyle brand with soft lighting, homemade bread, and faux serenity. On the other, romantic attachment is a lapse in judgment, a betrayal of self-possession, a sign that someone has slipped out of their cool, autonomous era.

Young Thug proposed to Mariah the Scientist onstage at his Hometown Hero benefit concert in Atlanta, just as she finished performing her song “Burning Blue.” As the crowd roared, Thug dropped to one knee, and the jumbo screen behind her lit up with the words Will You Marry Me? Fan-shot videos show the two embracing as he asks, “What you say, baby?” Mariah’s response, “Put it on!”, was met with cheers, applause, and, within hours, scrutiny.

TikTok clips circulated almost immediately, many of them riffing on the same conclusion that Mariah the Scientist was no scientist at all if she couldn't see that there was no "chemistry" between the two. 

Mariah and Thug’s history together intensifies the scrutiny received. The two have been in an on-and-off relationship since 2021, remaining together throughout Young Thug’s two-year imprisonment during the YSL RICO trial.

In October, Thug publicly hinted at a breakup during a livestream with Adin Ross, saying he had been “broken up with.” That they have since reconciled and are now engaged appears to many as confirmation of a cycle they believe they recognize too well.

Popular culture has repeatedly seen talented women tether their futures to men whose instability becomes a shared burden. Over time, the audience has stopped asking is she happy? and started asking how long until this costs her something?

There is a collective wariness around the perceived quality of men available or at least the men who dominate the cultural space. Romance fatigue makes one's eyes twitch in response to every relationship as one watches to see if a party's emotional bandwidth shrinks in the shadow of the other.

Nonetheless, to properly understand why Thug and Mariah's engagement is judged so harshly, perhaps one might want to consider their musical styles as artistes.

Mariah the Scientist tops my Spotify Wrapped chart each year and I am working hard to keep it so. Her songwriting is built on an undercurrent of self-surveillance. As in her MASTER and RY RY WORLD, her narrators are hyper-aware of the cost of attachment.

Desire is often precarious in her songs. She sings as someone aware that wanting too much risks destabilizing the self. Love, this way, is never just pleasure but a negotiation of sorts. Everything from her vocal range and texture to the lyrics shows an understanding of intimacy.

Young Thug’s music operates in a register outrageously different from Mariah the Scientist’s. His artistic persona thrives on the outward. The elasticity of his voice may be interesting to some. Nonetheless, where Mariah’s songs invite listeners inward, Thug’s music cannot afford the same quality of expansive affect and soul.

Maybe the story here isn’t whether Mariah and Young Thug make sense together, but why we feel so compelled to decide. The engagement has become a mirror for our own anxieties about romance, a cultural exhaustion that has evaporated our senses of desire or admiration for relationships.