Mariah Carey started 2024 off right. Or should we say…left?

The singer kicked off the new year Monday by sharing a celebratory photo of herself in all her crystal-bedecked dress glory at a New Year’s Eve celebration, with mountains of curly hair swept up in a ponytail almost as high as her legendary vocal range. That’s nothing new; her Instagram feed is full of photos of herself. She’s not here to take artsy photos of her breakfasts—she’s in every picture on that page. But there’s something a little different about the shot she chose to celebrate turning to a fresh page on the calendar. Something isn't quite…right.

“New year, new beginnings..taking a picture from my ‘bad side’!” she captioned the shot. It would appear the Queen of Christmas is also gunning for the title of Queen of Vulnerability, as she turned the other cheek and presented the rarely seen left side of her face to the camera. (We quibble with her characterization of it as “bad,” though Middle Ages-era witchcraft accusers may agree with Carey’s sinister characterization of her poor maligned left side).

In the 2016 reality show Mariah’s World, Carey revealed that she’d been trying to keep things right and tight since she was 19, when a makeup artist made a simple statement that would impact the legendary singer’s posing for decades. (She's 54 now, for the record.)

“This is your good side,” Carey said, imitating the woman while telling the story. “Only let people photograph you from your good side. Ever.”

And she’s lived by it, as a scroll through the National Carey Portrait Gallery (her Instagram) confirms: Power nap in full glam? Right side of the face. Touching a book? Keep it right! She even holds to the rule when posting a Barbie version of herself, a true commitment to the bit.

And as for those “new beginnings” Carey mentioned in her caption, there’s a non-zero chance that part of that is her newly single status. Bryan Tanaka, who had been linked to Carey for seven years, posted a statement to his Instagram last week confirming their split, calling it an “amicable separation.” “The memories we’ve created and artistic collaborations are etched on my heart forever,” he wrote.