Lu CelineFan Posted March 22, 2014 at 10:57 AM Posted March 22, 2014 at 10:57 AM I was listening to Charmbracelet the other day and it was wonderful. I forgot what kind of gems were on that album yeah! like Through the rain, Clown, I only wanted, Bringin on the heartbreak 1 Quote Team Céline Dion Brazil@lu_celinefan
Ray Posted March 22, 2014 at 04:50 PM Posted March 22, 2014 at 04:50 PM Through The Rain (great video!!!) and Bringin' On The Heartbreak (maybe her best cover) are two of my favorite songs as well. 1 Quote Céline Dion Mariah Carey Madonna Lara Fabian Debbie Gibson Wilson Phillips Linda Eder Tina Arena Martika
Ray Posted March 23, 2014 at 07:37 PM Posted March 23, 2014 at 07:37 PM (edited) Billboard: #179 wks - Mariah Carey (18)33 wks - Janet Jackson (10)32 wks - Madonna (12)31 wks - Whitney Houston (11) Top 3147 wks - Mariah Carey (24)92 wks - Madonna (22)88 wks - Janet Jackson (19)74 wks - Whitney Houston (13) Top 5196 wks - Mariah Carey (26)141 wks - Madonna (28)137 wks - Janet Jackson (24)112 wks - Whitney Houston (19) Top 10273 wks - Mariah Carey (27)219 wks - Madonna (38)216 wks - Janet Jackson (27)176 wks - Whitney Houston (23) Top 20407 wks - Mariah Carey (32)361 wks - Madonna (44)316 wks - Janet Jackson (29)258 wks - Whitney Houston (26) Longest Charting SingleJANET JACKSON: "Together Again" - 46 wksMARIAH CAREY: "We Belong Together" - 43 wksMADONNA: "Take A Bow" - 30 wksWHITNEY HOUSTON: "I Will Always Love You" - 29 wks Longest Charting Single In Top 10MARIAH CAREY: "We Belong Together" - 23 wksWHITNEY HOUSTON: "I Will Always Love You" - 18 wksMADONNA: "Take A Bow" - 15 wksJANET JACKSON: Together Again, That's The Way Love Goes, & All For You - 14 wks Longest Charting Singles In Top 5MARIAH CAREY: "We Belong Together" - 20 wksWHITNEY HOUSTON: "I Will Always Love You" - 15 wksMADONNA: "Take A Bow" - 13 wksJANET JACKSON: That's The Way Love Goes & All For You - 12 wks Longest Charting Singles Top 3MARIAH CAREY: We Belong Together - 18 wksWHITNEY HOUSTON: I Will Always Love You - 15 wksJANET JACKSON: All For You - 12 wksMADONNA: Take A Bow - 8 wks Longest Charting Single at #1MARIAH CAREY: "One Sweet Day" - 16 wksWHITNEY HOUSTON: "I Will Always Love You" - 14 wksJANET JACKSON: That's The Way Love Goes - 8 wksMADONNA: "Take A Bow" - 7 wks Edited March 23, 2014 at 07:37 PM by Ray 2 Quote Céline Dion Mariah Carey Madonna Lara Fabian Debbie Gibson Wilson Phillips Linda Eder Tina Arena Martika
Lu CelineFan Posted March 23, 2014 at 10:35 PM Posted March 23, 2014 at 10:35 PM Billboard: #179 wks - Mariah Carey (18)33 wks - Janet Jackson (10)32 wks - Madonna (12)31 wks - Whitney Houston (11) Top 3147 wks - Mariah Carey (24)92 wks - Madonna (22)88 wks - Janet Jackson (19)74 wks - Whitney Houston (13) Top 5196 wks - Mariah Carey (26)141 wks - Madonna (28)137 wks - Janet Jackson (24)112 wks - Whitney Houston (19) Top 10273 wks - Mariah Carey (27)219 wks - Madonna (38)216 wks - Janet Jackson (27)176 wks - Whitney Houston (23) Top 20407 wks - Mariah Carey (32)361 wks - Madonna (44)316 wks - Janet Jackson (29)258 wks - Whitney Houston (26) Longest Charting SingleJANET JACKSON: "Together Again" - 46 wksMARIAH CAREY: "We Belong Together" - 43 wksMADONNA: "Take A Bow" - 30 wksWHITNEY HOUSTON: "I Will Always Love You" - 29 wks Longest Charting Single In Top 10MARIAH CAREY: "We Belong Together" - 23 wksWHITNEY HOUSTON: "I Will Always Love You" - 18 wksMADONNA: "Take A Bow" - 15 wksJANET JACKSON: Together Again, That's The Way Love Goes, & All For You - 14 wks Longest Charting Singles In Top 5MARIAH CAREY: "We Belong Together" - 20 wksWHITNEY HOUSTON: "I Will Always Love You" - 15 wksMADONNA: "Take A Bow" - 13 wksJANET JACKSON: That's The Way Love Goes & All For You - 12 wks Longest Charting Singles Top 3MARIAH CAREY: We Belong Together - 18 wksWHITNEY HOUSTON: I Will Always Love You - 15 wksJANET JACKSON: All For You - 12 wksMADONNA: Take A Bow - 8 wks Longest Charting Single at #1MARIAH CAREY: "One Sweet Day" - 16 wksWHITNEY HOUSTON: "I Will Always Love You" - 14 wksJANET JACKSON: That's The Way Love Goes - 8 wksMADONNA: "Take A Bow" - 7 wks Quote Team Céline Dion Brazil@lu_celinefan
Bell Posted March 27, 2014 at 06:16 AM Posted March 27, 2014 at 06:16 AM It's Mariah's birthday today! 1 Quote 16 YEARS A FORUM MEMBER
karebear82 Posted March 27, 2014 at 11:06 AM Posted March 27, 2014 at 11:06 AM (edited) Billboard: #179 wks - Mariah Carey (18)33 wks - Janet Jackson (10)32 wks - Madonna (12)31 wks - Whitney Houston (11) Top 3147 wks - Mariah Carey (24)92 wks - Madonna (22)88 wks - Janet Jackson (19)74 wks - Whitney Houston (13) Top 5196 wks - Mariah Carey (26)141 wks - Madonna (28)137 wks - Janet Jackson (24)112 wks - Whitney Houston (19) Top 10273 wks - Mariah Carey (27)219 wks - Madonna (38)216 wks - Janet Jackson (27)176 wks - Whitney Houston (23) Top 20407 wks - Mariah Carey (32)361 wks - Madonna (44)316 wks - Janet Jackson (29)258 wks - Whitney Houston (26) Longest Charting SingleJANET JACKSON: "Together Again" - 46 wksMARIAH CAREY: "We Belong Together" - 43 wksMADONNA: "Take A Bow" - 30 wksWHITNEY HOUSTON: "I Will Always Love You" - 29 wks Longest Charting Single In Top 10MARIAH CAREY: "We Belong Together" - 23 wksWHITNEY HOUSTON: "I Will Always Love You" - 18 wksMADONNA: "Take A Bow" - 15 wksJANET JACKSON: Together Again, That's The Way Love Goes, & All For You - 14 wks Longest Charting Singles In Top 5MARIAH CAREY: "We Belong Together" - 20 wksWHITNEY HOUSTON: "I Will Always Love You" - 15 wksMADONNA: "Take A Bow" - 13 wksJANET JACKSON: That's The Way Love Goes & All For You - 12 wks Longest Charting Singles Top 3MARIAH CAREY: We Belong Together - 18 wksWHITNEY HOUSTON: I Will Always Love You - 15 wksJANET JACKSON: All For You - 12 wksMADONNA: Take A Bow - 8 wks Longest Charting Single at #1MARIAH CAREY: "One Sweet Day" - 16 wksWHITNEY HOUSTON: "I Will Always Love You" - 14 wksJANET JACKSON: That's The Way Love Goes - 8 wksMADONNA: "Take A Bow" - 7 wks ok i have a couple of questions for u, can u please answer these for me, thank u: why arent any of celines songs on this list???????? i thought that celine was just as successful as mariah, madonna, whitney, & janet have been over the years, & that she had @ least a few songs that were in the charts for as long as the other 4 divas had, what about "my heart will go on", "because you loved me", "the power of love", "beauty & the beast", etc????????? if u could answer these questions for me, that would be great... :) :) thank u soooo much, i really appreciate it... :) :) Edited March 27, 2014 at 11:08 AM by karebear82 Quote sincerely, karebear82 :) <3 <3
Si J'etais Quelqu'un Posted March 30, 2014 at 04:45 PM Posted March 30, 2014 at 04:45 PM ok i have a couple of questions for u, can u please answer these for me, thank u: why arent any of celines songs on this list???????? i thought that celine was just as successful as mariah, madonna, whitney, & janet have been over the years, & that she had @ least a few songs that were in the charts for as long as the other 4 divas had, what about "my heart will go on", "because you loved me", "the power of love", "beauty & the beast", etc????????? if u could answer these questions for me, that would be great... :) :) thank u soooo much, i really appreciate it... :) :) In terms of album sales, Celine ranks WAY up there. But when it comes to singles, Celine had ten U.S. top ten hits and four #1s. And certain label choices stunted the official chart run of My Heart Will Go On. My Heart Will Go On wasn't released as a physical single until late February 1998 - at this time, the rule for Billboard was that a song could only chart if there was a physical single. So despite hitting #1 at radio in January, the song couldn't debut on the chart until a month later when a CD/cassette single appeared. And when THAT happened, they only printed 690,000 copies. After two weeks, the singles were sold out and the song dropped from #1, though it was a #1 airplay hit for 10 weeks. If you analyze the 90s Hot 100 charts, you'll notice that a lot of songs with very long runs at the top of the airplay chart either chart low on the Hot 100 or don't chart at all. Torn from Natalie Imbruglia, Don't Speak by No Doubt, I'll Be There For You by The Rembrandts, these were all affected by the rules at the time. My Heart Will Go On's chart run is also affected as it doesn't really demonstrate how huge the song was. The single didn't even make the year-end top ten but can you think of a song at the time that was bigger? It broke radio records and is certainly one of the biggest songs of that decade in terms of ubiquity. Labels liked to do this because, if they held off the physical single until the song was everywhere on radio, they could ensure a high debut position on the charts because people would already know and like the song and they'd buy it in larger quantities when it became available. This was also done sometimes to encourage people to buy the album if they wanted the song. My Heart Will Go On, like I said, had only 690,000 copies released in America, and the Titanic score and Let's Talk About Love have combined sales of about 20 million here, which might not QUITE have happened if people had other options to purchase the song. The side effects include what have been previously mentioned, and that a song that debuts at #1 because of a stunted release lacks possibly 5-6 additional weeks in the top ten as it would have naturally climbed to that position, so that takes away from her total tally of weeks in the top ten. All By Myself was a top ten hit that debuted in the top ten, and spent only five weeks in it. By the way, Beauty and the Beast peaked at 9th place and spent just two weeks in the top ten. All that being said, BYLM, TPOL, and IACBTMN spent a combined 53 weeks in the top ten I think, split about even. I'm not sure why she's not included on this list as, combined with the other four, she helps comprise the top 5 female artists of the 90s. It might be because she simply doesn't sit in the same neighborhood as them in terms of American singles success. That's The Way It Is by Celine peaked at #6 on the Hot 100 based entirely on airplay, showing how huge the song was at radio; if they'd released a physical single in tandem with the song going to radio, I think it could have been another #1 hit for her. Celine also doesn't have as many single hits as the others because she lacked the widespread Top 40 support the other women had. Madonna, Mariah, Whitney and Janet were youth-friendly with major presence on MTV and that helped their exposure and got them a lot of support with younger people who would be requesting these songs at radio and buying the singles at stores. But 200 million + in record sales show us that Celine's audience didn't screw around when it came to buying the albums. Okay, that was way more than I intended to write, but I hope that answers some questions! 2 Quote http://oi39.tinypic.com/dzjgva.jpg
rakesh Posted April 8, 2014 at 11:50 AM Posted April 8, 2014 at 11:50 AM whats up with Nick Cannon's sorta revolting behavior lately? is he having a melt down or is he trying too hard so that he can get divorced 2 Quote
Lu CelineFan Posted April 8, 2014 at 01:52 PM Posted April 8, 2014 at 01:52 PM whats up with Nick Cannon's sorta revolting behavior lately? is he having a melt down or is he trying too hard so that he can get divorced I know...poor Mariah Quote Team Céline Dion Brazil@lu_celinefan
Ray Posted April 11, 2014 at 07:08 PM Posted April 11, 2014 at 07:08 PM Less than a month now and we'll have the new album! Quote Céline Dion Mariah Carey Madonna Lara Fabian Debbie Gibson Wilson Phillips Linda Eder Tina Arena Martika
PriscillaBarragan Posted April 12, 2014 at 08:38 AM Posted April 12, 2014 at 08:38 AM yeah! like Through the rain, Clown, I only wanted, Bringin on the heartbreak So good! I love My Saving Grace, Subtle Invitation and Lullaby! So she's been doing interviews for the album and whatnot and someone posted this interview she had with ETalk onto Facebook. I couldn't find the video on YouTube but someone was kind enough to post it to Facebook. I thought it was super cute when Ben Mulroney showed her the video that his kids made for her! https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=656846651054432&set=vb.454199504652482&type=3&theater A short clip from her interview with ET Canada.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpbdokzlAR8 Enjoy! 1 Quote
Ray Posted April 12, 2014 at 08:03 PM Posted April 12, 2014 at 08:03 PM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB1RKmXpHN8 2 Quote Céline Dion Mariah Carey Madonna Lara Fabian Debbie Gibson Wilson Phillips Linda Eder Tina Arena Martika
Si J'etais Quelqu'un Posted April 25, 2014 at 01:47 PM Posted April 25, 2014 at 01:47 PM (edited) http://mariahcareynetwork.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/mariah-carey-cover-image-billboard-6501.jpg It's been a long road to Mariah Carey's 14th album -- a project she first began working on in 2010, before the birth of her nearly three-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe -- that has been stalled over the years after stiff-performing singles and numerous tweaks to the track listing. But, as Billboard exclusively reveals in its latest cover story, Carey will be taking a surprise approach to the project by revealing her new album's title, track listing, artwork and music all at once via to-be-announced digital partners (a physical release at retail is expected the following week.) "I have to be the one that announces this, especially the title," Carey says, noting that the album takes its name from a "personal possession of mine that's part of an entity that I've had almost all my life." Though Carey doesn't mention other artists in describing her strategy, it's clear she's taking a page out of the "Beyoncé" playbook. It's a particularly direct parallel when you consider that Beyoncé herself was coming off an underperforming album (2011's "4") before opting to go the surprise route -- much in the way that Carey's last album, 2009's "Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel," produced just one top 10 hit ("Obsessed") and sold a disappointing 549,000 copies, low enough to cancel a planned remix album. Though last summer's Miguel duet "#Beautiful" was a bonafide hit, peaking at No. 15 on the Hot 100 and selling 1.2 million downloads, a string of other singles ("Triumphant," "Almost Home," "Eternal [You're Mine]") have failed to catch fire along the way. In the Billboard cover story, out Monday, Carey and her new manager Jermaine Dupri talk candidly about the rocky road to the album's launch – from the failed singles to her drama-plagued stint on "American Idol" in 2013 to the shoulder injury that nearly derailed her plans altogether ("I really downplayed that incident.")Here's five more things we learned: SHE'S ASSEMBLED A DREAM-TEAM OF COLLABORATORS. Frequent collaborators Rodney Jerkins and Dupri are back for Album No. 14, but so is a surprisingly diverse roster that ranges from of-the-moment producers like Hit-Boy and Mike Will Made It, guest features from Wale, Nas and Trey Songz and even contributions from veteran arranger Larry Gold and the Love Unlimited Orchestra. There's also "a special guest star that I'm not allowed to reveal," Carey teases. SHE'S AWARE OF THE FAILED SINGLES. Carey will cop to a few of the pre-release singles not doing as well as past hits, pausing to note that 2013's Stargate-produced "Almost Home" was intended for the "Oz, Great and Powerful" soundtrack. "You would think I would be all about the singles-driven situation, and I am in a way, but with this particular album I want my fans to hear it as a body of work," she says. "This is my life since we last left off. Just picture a dot dot dot, and then here's the album." THE NEW ALBUM WON'T BE HER LAST. Despite recent comments to Bravo's Andy Cohen on "Watch What Happens Live" ("If this were to be my last album, people would hear everything they needed to hear"), Carey is not calling it quits anytime soon. "I will always make music. When I said it could be my last, that's because tomorrow's not promised to anyone." EXPECT BIG BALLADS AND UPTEMPO BANGERS. After immersing herself in her own catalog ("a friend of mine made me a playlist with 1,000 of my songs on it called 'The Ultimate MC Audio Collection,'" she says), Carey explored her feel-good, hip-hop/R&B side as well as her more introspective moments that could give her fans the best of all worlds. SHE MAY SOON RETURN TO TELEVISION. Her rocky stint with Nicki Minaj on "American Idol" last year notwithstanding, Carey says she'd like her next reality-competition venture to be something where she was executive producer. "I have another project that I'm so very excited about that's finally coming to fruition." Return to Billboard.com on Monday morning for the FULL cover story. http://www.billboard...direction=false Edited April 25, 2014 at 01:48 PM by Si J'etais Quelqu'un 1 Quote http://oi39.tinypic.com/dzjgva.jpg
québecflower Posted May 1, 2014 at 04:31 PM Posted May 1, 2014 at 04:31 PM Marhia and her new album...the back cover is inspired a bit by Celine .... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mSezvKLxVM 2 Quote Plus qu'ailleurs , but now Si c'était à refaire , i still love tant de temps....
Bell Posted May 2, 2014 at 06:13 PM Posted May 2, 2014 at 06:13 PM Oh, I'm very excited about this album! Quote 16 YEARS A FORUM MEMBER
comingback Posted May 2, 2014 at 06:40 PM Posted May 2, 2014 at 06:40 PM http://cdn1.fuse.tv/image/5361c0cfa61de9a956000008/365/500/image.jpg OMG, her new album cover is so photoshop Quote
Neddo Posted May 3, 2014 at 09:39 AM Posted May 3, 2014 at 09:39 AM Well, Celine was also photoshopped for LMBTL. Also, Elusive Chanteuse? WTF W Y So egoisitc Mariah? JUst look at her Art of letting go single! It flopped in her criteria and she put it as a bonus track! lol lol lol Celine may not have hits these days but she haves honor. And lots of it. Quote http://imageshack.us/a/img138/7804/5tq2.png
PriscillaBarragan Posted May 4, 2014 at 04:58 AM Posted May 4, 2014 at 04:58 AM Well, Celine was also photoshopped for LMBTL. Also, Elusive Chanteuse? WTF W Y So egoisitc Mariah? JUst look at her Art of letting go single! It flopped in her criteria and she put it as a bonus track! lol lol lol Celine may not have hits these days but she haves honor. And lots of it. Why the need to be negative? I mean the end of this paragraph is a little absurd. 1 Quote
PriscillaBarragan Posted May 4, 2014 at 05:04 AM Posted May 4, 2014 at 05:04 AM For the other fans who are interested. She posted this a few days ago in regards to the new album. And she shut down Times Square. I would've loved if Celine did something like this http://instagram.com/p/nedi8HreOF/ http://instagram.com/p/nfH18YLeL8/ 2 Quote
Bell Posted May 4, 2014 at 09:21 AM Posted May 4, 2014 at 09:21 AM http://cdn1.fuse.tv/image/5361c0cfa61de9a956000008/365/500/image.jpg OMG, her new album cover is so photoshopSo what? Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to be offensive but the cover doesn't really matter. The songs are much more important. There are ablum covers that I don't like much but I do like the albums themselves. 2 Quote 16 YEARS A FORUM MEMBER
Neddo Posted May 4, 2014 at 10:14 AM Posted May 4, 2014 at 10:14 AM Why the need to be negative? I mean the end of this paragraph is a little absurd. I mean that Celine isn't egoistic like Mariah. And that's a fact that even Mariah's fans can accept. And I'm actually glad that they ditched Art Of Letting Go from main version. Quote http://imageshack.us/a/img138/7804/5tq2.png
dj_a_rock Posted May 4, 2014 at 10:43 AM Posted May 4, 2014 at 10:43 AM The album cover is so fake. Quote
PriscillaBarragan Posted May 4, 2014 at 10:54 AM Posted May 4, 2014 at 10:54 AM I mean that Celine isn't egoistic like Mariah. And that's a fact that even Mariah's fans can accept. And I'm actually glad that they ditched Art Of Letting Go from main version. Ah I see. Sometimes she jokes around with her ego, other times it's serious. I can never tell, and don't necessarily mind it. That song wasn't really memorable for me even though I liked it. I really loved You're Mine (Eternal) and am slightly disappointed it didn't do well 1 Quote
Ray Posted May 4, 2014 at 08:20 PM Posted May 4, 2014 at 08:20 PM I was in New York last week. Such a shame I missed Mariah as she went to Times Square the day after I left. 1 Quote Céline Dion Mariah Carey Madonna Lara Fabian Debbie Gibson Wilson Phillips Linda Eder Tina Arena Martika
PriscillaBarragan Posted May 4, 2014 at 11:25 PM Posted May 4, 2014 at 11:25 PM I was in New York last week. Such a shame I missed Mariah as she went to Times Square the day after I left. Aw man that sucks! How was your trip? Sometimes it is really difficult to be a fan of two huge divas. It can be exhausting. 1 Quote
Bell Posted May 5, 2014 at 10:03 AM Posted May 5, 2014 at 10:03 AM Sometimes she jokes around with her ego, other times it's serious. I can never tell, and don't necessarily mind it. +1 Quote 16 YEARS A FORUM MEMBER
Neddo Posted May 5, 2014 at 12:40 PM Posted May 5, 2014 at 12:40 PM Ah I see. Sometimes she jokes around with her ego, other times it's serious. I can never tell, and don't necessarily mind it. That song wasn't really memorable for me even though I liked it. I really loved You're Mine (Eternal) and am slightly disappointed it didn't do well She was joking for like at least 5 years. Let's say that Celine's sincerity and elegance is a parody... #Beautiful did well, YM is too similar to WBT and that's why it was weaker Quote http://imageshack.us/a/img138/7804/5tq2.png
PriscillaBarragan Posted May 6, 2014 at 03:16 AM Posted May 6, 2014 at 03:16 AM (edited) She was joking for like at least 5 years. Let's say that Celine's sincerity and elegance is a parody... #Beautiful did well, YM is too similar to WBT and that's why it was weaker It's been longer actually. The media loves to play her up as this big diva (not to say she doesn't have her moments) but she loves to play with it. She likes messing with people's heads. It's funny to her, because she's not necessarily like that in real life.She gave an interview recently actually. She was recalling how she used to read Marilyn Monroe's biographies as a child. "I was a reader as a child, believe it or not."Why should I not believe it?"It doesn't go with the ditzy image, I guess. I have too many highlights!" She breaks into laughter, and I ask if that image – of the ditz – frustrates her. "No. I flirt with it and I play with it. If it pisses people off, whatever." Mariah is sincere and elegant. No one is better than the other. Sure they have different lifestyles but let's not forget Celine has had her moments as well (even if they are rare). Edited May 6, 2014 at 03:16 AM by PriscillaBarragan 2 Quote
PriscillaBarragan Posted May 6, 2014 at 03:20 AM Posted May 6, 2014 at 03:20 AM +1 She jokes so much about it. I love her for it, honestly. Quote
PriscillaBarragan Posted May 6, 2014 at 03:28 AM Posted May 6, 2014 at 03:28 AM (edited) I didn't see this interview posted here, so for those of you who are interested here's a nice read I'd like to say a word on Mariah's behalf: Mariah makes me laugh. She makes herself laugh, too – breathy chuckles that ripple through our conversation, as if she is leery of taking herself too seriously. She says she will sometimes wake up like that in the middle of the night – laughing. That, of course, is part of the image that Mariah Carey cultivates. It's part of the charm, too. "Darling, I'm eternally 12 years old," she purrs when the subject of her age is broached – a familiar line, and all part of the act. "I'm going to give her to you," she says, clicking her fingers with a flourish. "Ready?" And she slides into a 12-year-old girly voice – "Hi" – all fluttering eyelids and adolescent bashfulness.Carey loves this kind of pantomime. Her first and most enduring influence was Marilyn Monroe, and you don't need to spend much time in her company to see that the identification runs deep. When I note the dazzling butterfly ring on her finger, she extends her hand theatrically, like a caricature of Monroe's Lorelei Lee in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. "This is Van Cleef and it's missing a diamond, and it is shocking," she says, faux dramatically, before riffing: "Shock and awe, shock and awe – I'm very upset now, Aaron, I gotta tell you." She pretends to fling her ring across the room, before anticipating how this might read in print: "It's missing a diamond." She tosses it on a couch. Another bubble of laughter. "There, I did it, so now you can say I did it."Carey traces her obsession with Monroe back to her childhood, when she received a copy of Norman Mailer's hefty biography of the actress as a Christmas gift. "I couldn't have been more than 10," she says. "I was a reader as a child, believe it or not."Why should I not believe it?"It doesn't go with the ditzy image, I guess. I have too many highlights!" She breaks into laughter, and I ask if that image – of the ditz – frustrates her. "No. I flirt with it and I play with it. If it pisses people off, whatever."Marilyn Monroe was pretty smart, I offer. "Marilyn was reading Nietzsche on the set of Something's Got to Give," Carey replies. "Marilyn Monroe Productions was the first female-owned production company in Hollywood. She paved the way for women in Hollywood, and every single woman owes something to her for that, whether they agree with her image or not."It's tempting to hazard that some of Carey's struggles, in her personal life and within the entertainment industry, parallel her idol. With both women, their public persona served as a disguise for a much more thorough grasp of their circumstances than either is given credit for. Like Monroe, Carey has experienced the ways in which the entertainment industry tries to control women. In 2005 she told Allure magazine that during her five-year marriage to Tommy Mottola, the chairman of Sony Music, she "longed for someone to come kidnap me… I used to fantasise about that. A lot. I'd have my pocketbook with me at all times in case I had to make an escape." It was Mottola, also, who engineered Carey's most saccharine songs with albums such as Music Box (1993) and Daydream(1995), resisting her efforts to explore other avenues in hip-hop and R&B. She was the biggest-selling artist of the 90s, but rarely on her own terms. When she did get her way – such as inviting Ol' Dirty Bastard from the Wu-Tang Clan to rhyme over her 1995 hit "Fantasy" – the results were inspired, but it wasn't until her post-divorce 1997 album Butterflythat fans got to hear Carey as Carey yearned to be heard.The toll of all those years must have been immense. The first Mariah Carey album was released in 1990, spawning four number one singles in the US. She has been a hit-making machine ever since, dropping albums approximately every 18 months and generally burnishing her reputation as the most successful woman in pop of all time. That well-worn line about being eternally 12 years old is no mere vanity. It's her pressure valve. "As a kid I made this pact," she says, recalling an incident from her tough-as-nails childhood on Long Island. "There had been some sort of argument with my mom and the man she was dating at the time, and somehow I became a part of it – I was around eight or nine years old, and I said: 'I'm never going to forget how it feels to be a kid, and you can't be seen or heard.' It's as though your opinion doesn't mean anything, or your feelings are not real."It was also as a kid that Carey found her voice. "I started singing when I started talking," she says. "My mother was doing Rigoletto – she's from the Midwest, but she got a scholarship to Julliard and came to New York – this young girl with the high shorts on meets my father, who she thought was Yul Brynner, driving around in a Porsche – there weren't many bald black men driving around in a Porsche, and he was fly." The marriage lasted three years, and Carey spent her childhood dealing with the dichotomies of her mixed-race background, neither white enough, nor black enough, to fully belong anywhere. "Being biracial is so much a part of who I am that it's almost: 'Let it go already'," she says. "It's intrinsic to me. I think a lot of my fans relate to me because they felt different." She has her own family now. Carey is mother to fraternal twins Moroccan and Monroe (from her second marriage, in 2008, to the multi-hyphenate Nick Cannon, whose Wikipedia entry lists him as actor, comedian, rapper, entrepreneur, record producer, radio and TV personality). "Pulling them away from me is so hard," Carey says. "It's unconditional love, and I never thought I was going to have kids – ever." Why not? "I remember, as a child, saying: I'm never going to get married. I'm never going to have kids." She pauses. "Here's the thing: would I have been better off if my parents stayed married? No way. They were miserable together, but the grass is always greener. I had a great childhood in some ways – and that's an amazing thing to be able to say – but I also didn't, because I was the caretaker and I still am, like it started long before I had any financing." Her explanation for wanting to purchase Marilyn Monroe's baby grand piano at auction in 1999 is instructive. "It was her only piece of the childhood she'd never had," she says. "It was very important for her to find something to cling to." One reason Carey has developed such a strong and rewarding friendship with the director Lee Daniels, who cast her in Precious in 2009, is that both can connect over their hardscrabble childhoods; both grew up feeling like outsiders. "He brings out the schoolgirl in me," Carey laughs. "You shouldn't lose your inner child, but everybody does."Carey's inner child plays better with some audiences than with others. At the OUT 100 Awards in New York last November, she generated rousing cheers and whoops from several thousand gay men assembled to see her present an award to Daniels."I'm a straight girl – I don't really know why they asked me to be here – but my boobs have been out for years," she joked, channelling drag-queen shtick as she flapped a lacy black fan against her face. By contrast, she shudders at the memory of an appearance with Daniels at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in 2010. "We didn't really know what we were walking into, but it was a pretty conservative crowd," she recalls, namechecking Sean Penn, Sidney Poitier and Clint Eastwood among the attendees. "Lee calls me Kitten, and I call him Cotton: it was just a private joke, onstage, on champagne, and the world was like: WTH, WTF, we don't understand." That appearance is one of several that are routinely aggregated in online symposia assessing Carey's state of mind.The most notorious remains an unscheduled appearance on the VH1 show Total Request Live in July 2001, when Carey surprised the host, Carson Daly, by pushing an ice cream cart on to the set before whipping off her T-shirt to reveal hotpants and a body-hugging top underneath. That incident, in which she told the live audience: "I just want one day off when I can go swimming and eat ice cream and look at rainbows", was widely viewed as a nadir in Carey's career. She was hospitalised for exhaustion a week later. This came shortly before the 11 September 2001 release of Glitter – the soundtrack to her semi-autobiographical movie. The extensive panning that both movie and album received knocked her career for six and lead to the annulment of her $100m, five-album contract with Virgin Records.Even now, with Carey's career back on the rails – her bestselling 2005 album The Emancipation of Mimi easily saw off the spectre of Glitter – the internet is a viper's nest of snarky asides about Carey's less-scripted moments. In 2008 the woman's interest site Jezebel – usually a citadel of indignation at the ritual humiliations that women undergo – resurrected that TRL clip with the headline "Remember When Mariah Carey Went Crazy?" But for those less wrapped up in her baby-doll image, that appearance made Carey likable and true. Who doesn't sometimes feel it's all too much? Who does not, in their heart of hearts, pine to spend a day swimming and eating ice cream?In the hotel suite where I meet Carey, with its tasteful arrangement of white roses, the fancy Diptyque candle and the glasses of prosecco, it's hard to tell whether she's on- or off-script this particular evening. She talks in a gush, changing direction mid-sentence, forcing me to keep up with the zigzags in her conversation. One minute she is talking about her nodules ("That's how I hit those notes, because I've learned to manipulate them somehow"), the next she is tugging at the back of her dress."The zippers to these dresses," she says, all good-natured exasperation and curves and smiles. "They make them and they break; it doesn't matter how much you pay for it, they frickin' break. There was a seamstress there, but she had gone; they had to call her back –Natalia from Italia. So it took a minute to get our tiny tailor and everybody to come back, and here we are, Aaron – I apologise, truly."It takes a moment to realise that this wardrobe malfunction is Carey's explanation for her three-hour delay, a familiar drill to those who've interviewed her before.Thirteen others were lined up behind me to chat to her that night, a veritable conveyor belt of platitudes and soundbites, predicated on the imminent release of her 14th album, formerly known as The Art of Letting Go and currently untitled. We'd each been promised an exclusive playback prior to meeting Carey, but a long-running series of delays and false dawns meant there was still no album to play. Instead we listen to three songs, all previously issued: "#Beautiful", a duet with Miguel, "The Art of Letting Go" and "You're Mine (Eternal)", released on Valentine's Day. None of these has yet succeeded in setting the charts alight, and the album's birthing problems has given rise to rumours of deeper, underlying issues.Carey's post-Mottola career has been distinguished by big hits and modest hits, but lately it is the column of modest hits that gets longer. Carey's last album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, sold just over 2m worldwide, compared to 12m for The Emancipation of Mimi, which earned eight Grammy nominations (and three wins).Carey insists she just wants to get it right. "I want the album to be heard and felt [as] an experience," she says. "I don't want to just be, like: 'Here's another iTunes moment' and this and that. Back then I allowed people to – how do I say it? – dictate policy to me, meaning if I didn't like something they didn't care. I listened to people – I was, like: 'Fine, cool, do whatever.' So now I'm just being adamant."But does Carey feel at all anxious that, at 44, she may soon have to reckon with the challenge of pop culture's fixation with youth, a whole lot harder for women than for men? When I point out that she's been a pop star for 25 years (her first number one single in the US was 1990's "Vision of Love") Carey goes into full-on Eartha Kitt mode. "First of all, don't round up," she admonishes. "If you're going to round, round down!" There is that laugh again. She continues: "I don't count years, but I definitely rebuke them – I have anniversaries, not birthdays, because I celebrate life, darling."As if realising this is almost too much a caricature of a diva, she adds: "Please put an LOL next to this, because people are going to be, like: WTF?"Of course there is no written rule that a musician must find a way to keep putting out platinum-selling albums. Carey's musical hero, Aretha Franklin, hasn't had a major album since 1985's "Who's Zoomin' Who?", released when Franklin was 43, and her last commercially significant single was a 1987 duet with George Michael, "I Knew You Were Waiting".Carey describes her first meeting with Franklin as like meeting the Queen. She says she already received the ultimate accolade last Christmas, when she got to sing with Franklin at the tree-lighting ceremony at the White House. "Of course, I – like an idiot – stand there and sing, with no umbrella, in the rain – my hair was destroyed, after I went through so much trouble in my white ensemble. Aretha, she had her umbrella, she had everything, it was magical, and she walked by my trailer singing [Carey's massive hit] 'All I want For Christmas is You'." Carey sings the words in her famous voice, all trills and stretched vocals, then begins to laugh. She is still laughing as a publicist ushers me out of the room to make way for the next writer. It's a genuine laugh, and long after I leave the hotel, I can hear it, tinkling in my ears. Mariah Carey's as yet untitled album is released at the end of May http://www.theguardi...-aware-pop-star Edited May 6, 2014 at 03:29 AM by PriscillaBarragan 3 Quote
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