Mariah Carey, ‘Here for It All’ (Ethan James Green)

Mariah Carey‘s kids, Moroccan Cannon and Monroe Cannon, enjoy their mom’s music, but Mariah says that doesn’t necessarily mean she wants their opinions on it — at least not while she’s in the process of creating it.

Asked by GQ if she ever “run[s] musical ideas by them or make[s] them listen to songs and see what they think,” Mariah replied, “Sometimes, I run musical ideas by them, but not really. I don’t care what they think.”

“No, I’m only kidding,” she laughed. “I do care what they think, but I barely run songs by them, because I’d rather wait until the song is completely done, the album’s completely done, because that way they won’t be like, ‘Mom, why’d you do this? Why’d you do that?'”

But Mariah did say that her son’s love for the duo Silk Sonic inspired her to reach out to Anderson .Paak, who ended up working with her on her new album, Here For It All.

“Actually my son … was obsessed with them,” she says of the Grammy-winning duo, made up of Paak and Bruno Mars. “And he would listen all the time, he wore the shirt — it was a whole thing.” Mariah notes that she and Paak had “great musical chemistry.”

But Mariah remains coy about whether or not she and Paak are dating: They’ve been seen in public holding hands. Asked about their relationship on CBS Mornings, Mariah told Gayle King, “He just likes to hold my hand. He just grabs my hand. I don’t know what he’s doing.”