Fans from the Paris area, migrate to the Pont Alexandre this Monday to support Mariah!!!! and don't forget your signs!

Posted on March 29th.

The three fans that come up with the most creative signs will be selected from the red carpet, invited into the press conference and will be given the chance to ask Mariah one of the first three questions at the event. So grab your markers, sparkle and best boa and we look forward to seeing you on Monday, March 31 at 5:30pm at the Alexandre III bridge in central Paris.

The only requirement is that the signs must be hand made. Be creative and show your support! See you there.
Source: MariahCarey.com
Posted on March the 29th.

NTV has been getting low ratings for its baseball telecasts. NTV sports producer Kengo Okada said: In 2008, the popularity of professional baseball will bounce back. I hope the song will attract viewers who are not big fans of baseball. We’re counting on the Yomiuri Giants and Mariah.”

Carey was quoted by her agent as saying: "I hope everybody enjoys the baseball together with my song. Ai shite masu!” (I love you!)
Source: JapanToday (All rights reserved)
Posted on March 29th.

By the time all of this was done, it was just past noon. Her afternoon consisted of another radio interview, and in the evening she returned to the studio to work on mastering the album, "E=MC2" -- due April 15 via Island Def Jam.

If "E=MC2" scores big, Carey could find herself in elite chart company. She's currently tied at No. 2 with Elvis Presley for the most Hot 100 No. 1 singles, with 17. The Beatles hold the crown with 20.

The busy singer recently spoke with Billboard about the new album.

Q: "E=MC2" crosses a lot of genres. There are a few ballads, but there's definitely some hip-hop and even some gospel-tinged songs and a bit of a reggae beat.

Mariah Carey: I'm really a festive person, and that's what came across with the "Mimi" album. I hate it when people are like (uses a dramatic voice): "She's taking a new direction with hip-hop." I'm like, "Will you please freakin' research?" I've been doing this for a long time -- working with (writer-producer) Dave Hall on "Dreamlover," using the "Ain't No Half-Steppin'" loop.

I think that it was Q-Tip -- he said this to me in '97 --that I was really the catalyst for so many of these artists who are now trying to infuse (songs with hip-hop). It was just digging in the crates with Dave Hall and coming up with, "Hey, let's use this loop!" And from then on, I did it anytime I could. The next was "Fantasy," which was a groundbreaking moment for me, the ability to be able to work with Puffy (Sean Combs).

Right now everything is kind of merged together because pop is such a nebulous format, in my opinion. You'll hear a hip-hop record next to sort of a rock-sounding pop beat, or a country song. Aretha Franklin can still have a hit -- look at "A Rose Is Still a Rose" -- it's just her talent is shining through. She can work with anybody at any time in her life. Same thing with Patti LaBelle and Luther (Vandross), God rest his soul, before he passed away. The true talent will always come through.

Q: And after the success of "We Belong Together," "Don't Forget About Us" -- co-produced by Bryan-Michael Cox -- and "Shake It Off" on "Mimi," you've teamed up with Jermaine Dupri again for several songs on "E=MC2."

Carey: JD is the best. I love him, I really do. We have such similar influences. It's funny because a lot of our favorite records from growing up are really the same. Back in the day we did the (R&B) remix of "Always Be My Baby." The original version was a hard track, if you listen to the bass -- but it was very poppy on top. I knew JD could do it, even though he hadn't really worked with somebody like me before. I knew he was just incredibly talented. He's really just honed his skill as a producer in so many ways. I'm a fan and a friend.

Q: Do you ever think about surpassing the Beatles with their 20 No. 1s?

Carey: I do, because people bring it up. (laughs) But it's not like I sit around thinking about that type of stuff while I'm creating something. I did write this record in terms of wanting it to be a lot of songs that could potentially be singles, because people like that.

Q: You write or co-write almost all your songs -- what's your process? What inspires you to write?

Carey: For each album, I try to have a book that I write the whole thing in. It started -- this was a long time ago. I don't have birthdays, I only have anniversaries. (laughs) But actually, this was the last birthday party I had ... I think it was my 21st birthday, even though I'm only 12. We had it in advance. (laughs) Cyndi Lauper came to the party, and I've always been a big fan of hers since I was growing up. She gave me this book, and I wound up writing the whole "Music Box" album in this book, which I still have.

Jay-Z said something to me that was really interesting, and I don't even know if he really remembers this. He's known me for a long time, and he's like, "You need to use some of your phrases in your music." I have my own little slang that I make up and say stupid stuff just for laughs. (On) the song "O.O.C." -- that's a Swizz Beatz track -- it means, "Out of control." So me and my friends will say that to each other, like, "OK, you're a little O.O.C. right now, tone it on down." Da Brat, who's a really good, close friend of mine since we worked on "Always Be My Baby" -- we wrote the lyrics together, and it was so fun. By saying (sings), "I get so O.O.C./So out of control, baby," we could explain it.

When somebody was helping me type up the lyrics, and they wrote "Out of Control" in parenthesis (by the song title), I was like, "Get rid of that. It's 'O.O.C.'! Let them figure it out! It's not that tough! I say it in the next line!"

Q: The "Touch My Body" video is hilarious. 

Carey: Thank you. That was a (director) Brett Ratner-and-me collabo. (laughs) I love Brett because he is like me. If I'm eternally 12 -- because he's a little bit more naughty than I am -- he's eternally 15. He has a great sense of humor, obviously, and he knows that I have a sense of humor and he feels that people don't recognize that about me. And I'll do stuff that I'm totally joking and they're like (uses mean girl voice), "Why is she doing that? Why is she doing the treadmill with her high heels on?" I'm like, "It's a freakin' joke! It's 'Cribs'! Hello! It's a freakin' joke!"

Q: Have you thought about touring for this album?

Carey: It's come up, and I'm probably going to do it, but I don't know exactly how we're going to do it or when. I'm thinking probably September. But I think it's important to tour with this album, because there are so many songs that I really want to sing live, that I really enjoy. Fun songs, like "I'm That Chick" or "O.O.C.," and then the ballads, of course. I really want to do "I Wish You Well" and "I Stay in Love" and "Bye Bye."

Q: And now that you're in promotional mode, does it ever get daunting?

Carey: I'm totally ready for a nap. I'd love a nap ... It's a little tiring to have this kind of schedule. As long as I'm straight up in promo mode, it's cool, but I'm still doing little things on the record -- we're mastering ... (But) I'm collaborative about it. I like to hear what other people have to say. I wouldn't feel like an artist if I didn't. I wouldn't feel like I was truly the architect of the record. And why do it, then?
Source: Billboard (All rights reserved)
Posted on March the 29th.

"Touch My Body," the first single from her upcoming album, dipped one place to No. 15 on the latest survey, issued Thursday. But the fresh availability of a digital download should send the song hurtling to the top next week.

That will push Carey to second place among artists with the most No. 1s in the rock era. The record is held by the Beatles with 20. She is currently tied with Elvis Presley.

Carey's album, "E=MC2," the follow-up to her 2005 Grammy-winning smash "The Emancipation of Mimi," is due in U.S. stores on April 15.

Asked recently by Billboard if she ever thinks about surpassing the Beatles' record, Carey admitted with a laugh, "I do, because people bring it up. But it's not like I sit around thinking about that type of stuff while I'm creating something. I did write this record in terms of wanting it to be a lot of songs that could potentially be singles, because people like that."

"I think it would be phenomenal," Island Def Jam Music Group chairman Antonio "L.A." Reid says of the prospect. "But the real goal is to create music the whole world can sing. And if we break records and set some milestones while doing that, that would be beautiful."
Source: Fred Bronson for Billboard (All rights reserved)
Posted on March the 28th.

Her new album, E=MC2, drops April 14, so she’s been on Oprah, performed on Saturday Night Live and at The Hills premiere party and is set to appear on American Idol. Oh, she’s also in a new Macy’s commercial.

While she probably would be working hard anyway, I’m told there might be some extra incentive: Making the album may have gotten a little pricey. A source tells me Carey had not one but two photo shoots to take care of publicity, marketing and album art.

The shoots, according to my source, may have cost up to $500,000. Each. 

A rep for the label says two shoots for someone like Carey isn’t unusual, and while she said she didn’t know figures, the rep added, “I don’t think it was that much.”

Meanwhile, Carey is on the cover of Monday’s issue of music trade magazine Billboard. She says she’s not the diva people think she is. But she realizes she’s partly to blame for the bad rap, especially after trying to show her funnier side on MTV Cribs.

“I’ll do stuff...and they’re like, ‘Why is she doing the treadmill with her high heels on?' ” Carey says in the mag. “It’s a freakin’ joke! It’s Cribs! Hello!” 
Source: E!Online (All rights reserved)
Posted on March the 28th.

2-track:
1. Touch My Body - Single Version
2. Touch My Body - Seamus Haji & Paul Emanuel Radio Edit
Source: B-Fly on our forum
Posted on March the 27th.

Includes
*** Touch My Body ( Music Video )
*** Poster style Booklet
*** Sticker
*** Meet & Greet lottery card
Source: Universal Music Japan - Love Love Jack
Posted on March the 27th.

Mariah – who celebrates her 38th birthday today – said: “Clearly I’m not friggin’ Einstein. I like to leave that to people who know what they they are talking about.” 
Who cares with a body like that?
Click on the pic to enlarge
Source: Daily Star UK
Posted on March the 27th.

- Dutch speaking part of Belgium
27 March 2008
Top 100: #1 (+1) 

Click to enlarge
Posted on March the 27th.

Check out Mariah Carey on Idol Gives Back, American Idol's star filled charity event airing on Fox April 9th at 9pm. BLI and Island Def Jam Records want to send you there live in LA! Listen to win Mariah's new CD E=MC2 before you can buy it and qualify for the trip to see Mariah with Fergie, Miley Cyrus, Daughtry and tons more at Idol Gives Back. 
Contest Runs March 24th-March 28th 2008. 
Click here to read the rules
Source: WBLI

KTU is running a contest too

Look through KTU's Mariah Carey photo gallery and tell us which picture appears twice for the chance to win a trip for two to see Mariah Carey perform live at the Emmy-Award winning "Idol Gives Back" special in Los Angeles on April 9! Other international stars like Bono, Brad Pitt, Reese Witherspoon, Eli Manning, Fergie, Annie Lennox and many more will also appear on American Idol's special fundraising show! 
Contest ends March 27 at 11:59p - so find those photos fast! 
Click here to access the contest
Click on the pic to enlarge
Posted on March the 26th.

She will be calling in to New York's WBLI at 7:30am EST. Fans can listen live via the station website. 

Mariah will also be calling in to the KTU Morning Show With Cubby show on 103.5 WKTU at 8:00am EST. Fans can listen live via the station website. 

Make sure to tune in or listen online! 
Source: MariahCarey.com
Posted on March the 26th.

- Mariah said how excited and happy she was that "Touch My Body" reached #1 on iTunes. She said she woke up today to hear this news and is grateful to her real fans for helping to make it happen.

- Jermaine Dupri told Mariah on the phone that when "Touch My Body" reaches #1, he'll do something on top of his desk and film it for YouTube 

- The next single will be a ballad. Mariah said it's the track she worked on with Stargate and Johntha Austen and that it's an emotional ballad that people cry when they hear it but it's also a current song. From previous reports about the album, it appears to be that Bye Bye is the second single. Mariah said they are working on a remix for it now.

- Mariah said her anniversary is being planned by her friends without her and she's hoping they would all get on a plane and go somewhere nice to celebrate. 

- Mariah talked about her anniversary tomorrow and said she has to work but at least she'll be in a nice climate but didn't reveal where she would be. Mariah joked about not wanting the album to be released on April 15th because it's the day taxes are due in the US.  The DJs tried convincing Mariah to come to their newly built studio in Tucson but Mariah wasn't sure if she had time for it since she is going to Europe soon (she mentioned going to Germany). 
Posted on March the 26th.

And the vocals? More on point than that time Lauren showed Heidi the door. “We Belong Together” was so beautiful it was like waking up inside of a perfect dream. When Mariah dropped her new single, “Touch My Body,” believe that all eyes — and, yes, cameras — in Gotham were glued to the glamstress, who looked like 2008 Mariah (i.e. — the hottest she’s ever been in her impressively long career) but busted out those high notes like it was 1990 all over again. And Mariah’s sexy, soulful rendition of “I’m That Chick” (you didn’t see it on air, but you can watch it live, exclusively on MTV.com tomorrow) was the perfect ending to a night of glamour that’s all about our favorite females.
Source: MTV Remote Control
Posted on March the 25th.

Touch My Body is currently no. 9 in Capital Radio's Top 10 Hit List which is on every weekday at 7 pm. 
Fans may request the song from the form on the site or send an email to istek@capitalraido.com.tr
Source: Can from Mariah Türkyie by e-mail
Posted on March the 23rd.

France
- French radio "Skyrock" announced they probably will have Mariah for an interview on their radio, but no dates were announced.

Germany
All we know is that the special site Universal Germany made for Mariah posted the following:
28.03., 11:30h - MTV, Making The Video - Touch My Body
28.03., 17:00h - Pro7, Taff
28.03., 17:40h - ZDF, Leute heute
28.03., 18:30h - RTL, Exclusiv
According to several German fans and the Universal Germany newsletter, these are interviews made in New York they are broadcasting.  So, until now, there's no hint to a visit in Germany, however I cross the fingers for German fans.
Posted on March the 22nd.

As you might imagine, this is not just any automobile. This is a $400,000 Maybach Touring Sedan—long and sleek, with deeply tinted windows mirrored on the outside. Passersby who gawk see only themselves. When you live in a fishbowl, it’s nice to be able to turn the tables now and then. 

Aspiring pop divas, take note: It’s lonely at the top, but not lonely enough.

 It’s a quarter after 12 on a cold night in New York City, and Carey—one of the best-selling recording artists of all time—is about to go into a studio to put the finishing touches on her latest album, E=MC2. We’re the only ones in the car, both Carey’s chauffeur and her boyfriend, record producer Mark Sudack, having obligingly vanished. 

“Not to give a woe-is-me moment,” the 38-year-old singer/songwriter says, “but it’s not as easy as everybody thinks to have this kind of life. Even sitting here talking to you, I feel like there should be a bit of intimacy, and when there is always somebody else around, it’s tough.” 

There’s a brief silence. It’s so cozy and quiet that I feel an overwhelming temptation to pop the big question. 

“Are you a diva?” I ask.

Carey rolls her eyes. “They throw that word around like it’s a friggin’ Frisbee!” she says. 

Then, fortunately, she smiles. 

“I grew up hearing it, because my mother is an opera singer,” Carey tells me. “The actual definition is ‘a talented female singer.’ Definition two is ‘a difficult woman who is successful,’ I believe. So I take it as a compliment.”

Mariah Carey is a complicated mixture, at once powerful and vulnerable, grown-up and girlish. “I’m eternally 12,” she says. But nothing about her—aside from the jeweled butterfly ring she wears on each hand—looks 12. She’s tall and voluptuous, a fact that her outfit (a tight blouse with a deep-scooped neckline, tight black pants and platform heels) does not disguise. She speaks with an unvarnished Long Island accent, shows her emotions easily and seems touchingly—and oddly—eager to please. “My self-esteem has never been topping the charts,” she admits.

At the same time, Carey is a woman of parts: a dedicated philanthropist (The Fresh Air Fund and the Make-A-Wish Foundation are two of her favorite causes), an actress and, of course, a monumentally successful and wealthy recording artist. From the time of her discovery as an 18-year-old with a phenomenal eight-octave singing range, she has sold more than 160 million records worldwide and charted 17 No. 1 singles—tied with Elvis Presley and three fewer than the Beatles. She could catch or surpass both with this album. Carey’s success is built on the strength of that amazing voice and on the sweet sexiness of her songs, which also contain hints of a difficult personal past.

As a biracial child growing up poor (her father, an Afro-Venezuelan aeronautical engineer, and her mother, an Irish-Catholic, Juilliard-trained opera singer, divorced when Mariah was 3), she felt “like an outcast.” After Sony Music Entertainment head Tommy Mottola discovered her, signed her with Columbia Records and then married her, she spent the ’90s turning out one platinum album after another—and feeling like a prisoner in an overprotective marriage. 

“That part of my life always remains with me, because it was so intense,” Carey admits. “But part of that is my fault, for allowing that relationship to kind of linger—or, dare I say, fester—for so long. I grew up with such dysfunction that I assumed I didn’t have a right to a happy personal life.”

Carey divorced Mottola, left Columbia Records, signed the biggest record deal in history ($80 million) with Virgin—and then, in 2001, suffered a physical and emotional breakdown. “My life was in such a shambles because I had allowed it to become a shambles,” she says. Virgin dumped her, but then Carey signed with Island/Def Jam Records. In 2005, she made one of the most remarkable comebacks in recording history with her multiplatinum album The Emancipation of Mimi.

“You know what?” she says. “I guess I am a diva in many ways!” She laughs. “When it comes to certain things, yes, I can be difficult and a little bit rigid about what I want. Am I demanding? I don’t think I’m demanding enough. I think if I were more demanding, I would have felt that I had some sort of power, as opposed to feeling like a pawn, which is something I had to grow out of.

“You’ve got to go through some stuff,” she continues. “Somehow people have to know there’s something that’s not perfect about you. I had to learn to grow up a little bit. I feel like I connect to people through song because it’s filling a void in me. I need to make music. If I didn’t have this, I don’t know where I would be.”

“How do you know that the people around you would still be there if you weren’t so successful?” I ask.

She sighs. “It’s extra-difficult,” she says. “You don’t know who is here for the glamour, for the gossip factor. You really just want to know that somebody loves you for you. That’s a difficult thing when, you know...” She hesitates. “Sometimes you just do really feel like an ATM machine with a wig on it.” 

Carey looks at me for a moment, then breaks into a raucous laugh. 

“Forgive me,” I say, “but you seem happy.”

“I am,” Carey says. “I’m really happy.”

“Can you say more about your boyfriend?” I ask, referring to the pleasant young man who I now see is waiting patiently on the sidewalk.

She laughs again. “Well, I’ve been on this mission to refuse to discuss it as long as I can,” she says.

The final song on her new album, “Bye-Bye,” is a sweetly sad farewell to important people in all our lives—in Carey’s case, the father from whom she was estranged for much of her childhood, the stern man who never encouraged her singing. Yet before Alfred Carey died in 2003, Mariah reconciled with him.

“He was a very strict man, and I think it was such a long shot in his mind that anybody could actually become a success in this business,” she says. “He explained that to me before he passed away. We discussed a lot of stuff. Anything and everything I needed to say to him, and vice versa. So I am very grateful for that time that I had.

“I never knew that he kept a scrapbook of my stuff,” Carey tells me. “I never knew all the things that he saved—cards from when I was a little girl. And he did say to me before he passed away, ‘You were always...’” She has to stop for a second. 

“Dramatic moment,” she says, regaining her composure. “He said, ‘You were always a star in my eyes.’ Which was very meaningful, because to a lot of people you’re really not worth anything unless you’re raking in the dough and having No. 1 hits.”

Mariah Carey is clearly all that and a lot more.
Source: Parade (All rights reserved)
Posted on March the 21st.

Extra TV: April Is The Month of Mimi (Includes a new interview at BET backstage)

Click on the caps to enlarge
Click here to download

Access Hollywood: Footage from Macy's commercial shoot, includes commercial segments that are not in the one posted by MTV.

Click on the caps to enlarge
Click here to download

March 20 E! News: Parade Magazine

Click on the caps to enlarge
Click here to download

Click here to download one SVCD file that contains all three
Thanks to Moony
Posted on March the 21st.

Additional infos on the second ad
The Aubry ad shows the Calvin Klein model reporting for his first day on the job.
He strolls past and speaks to a flirtatious Martha Stewart, passes through the Macy's I.N.C. area, runs into Mariah Carey at the perfume counter, speaks to Donald Trump and then shows up at the Calvin Klein clothing rack.
The camera pans back and the viewer sees that all these women have followed him through the store.

Source for the clip: MTV
Posted on March the 20th.

Universal Italy has also confirmed that they will release two versions of the album (standard and deluxe, both on 11th April) and that there will be surely a bonustrack for the deluxe downloading edition (for ITunes only).
Source: Universal Italy to Ila and Dan from GlitteringMariah by e-mail
Posted on March the 20th.

The stars continue to align for Macy's
The retailer's latest round of celeb-filled commercials breaking later this week build on a concept introduced last fall in which various celebrities and designers who sell namesake brands are seen working at the store. For the spring season there are two new spots, both directed by Barry Levinson, who won an Academy Award for his direction of "Rain Man."

Ga-ga for Gabriel Aubry
In the first commercial, Gabriel Aubry, a Calvin Klein model and father of Halle Berry's newborn daughter, strolls through the store attracting appreciative glances from the likes of Mariah Carey and Martha Stewart. Ms. Stewart is so distracted by his presence that she drops a plate from her collection with Wedgewood. Donald Trump, meanwhile, looks on from his department and declares, "So very shallow," as the women fawn over Mr. Aubry. In the second spot (which also has a Spanish version), Carlos Santana riffs on his guitar, inspired by his footwear line and Ms. Carey's fragrance. Ms. Carey chimes in with vocals.

The first spot airs Sunday on Spanish networks, while two other commercials roll out on network and cable TV channels beginning next week. WPP's Group's JWT, New York, handled the creative, while sibling Mediaedge:cia developed the media campaign, which runs through May. 

Source: Adage (All rights reserved) (extract)
Posted on March the 20th.

MTV is throwing a BASH and we are looking for the biggest Hills and Mariah Carey fans!

We are hooking up fans with the ultimate Hills experience you don't want to miss it. MTV is throwing a glamorous premiere party with the cast of the Hills and performances from the one and only Mariah Carey. We will be watching the Hills Season premiere LIVE from our party and getting your opinion on the show. You'll find out the Hills scoop right from the girls! 

We will be shooting in a secret location in NYC, and the show will last from 5pm-11pm. Must be red carpet ready, dress to impress! We are looking for outgoing and fun fans!

If you are interested in attending please email us at mtvshowcasting@mtvstaff.com the following info:
Full Name:
Age:
Why you are a fan of either the Hills or Mariah:
Attach a recent picture:
We will email you back with a confirmation, if we can accommodate your request!"
Source: an upsetted Dario by e-mail
Posted on March the 20th.

On Her Ex-Husband, Former Chairman of Sony Music, Tommy Mottola 

“Some of the songs on the new album discuss a certain time of my life that was so intense. I grew up with such dysfunction that I was just used to it. I assumed that I didn’t have a right to be a happy in a personal life. If I had a career and all these other things, I thought, ‘you asked for it, you got it.’ But I look back at it now and I feel that part of that was my fault, for allowing the relationship to linger — or, dare I say, fester — for so long. I knew that I needed to be singing and expressing myself, or I never would have gotten through that period. I do believe that I learned a lot from him, and that he really did believe in my talent and I am very grateful for that. On my new album, the song 'Side Effects' says, ‘Kept my tears inside, ‘cause I knew if I started I’d keep crying for the rest of my life.’ It’s really true. At that point in my life [during my marriage] I didn’t cry because I had to be so emotionally cut off to deal with it.” 

On Maintaining Artistic Integrity

“I never really felt famous. Even when my album Music Box was out, I didn’t feel that thing other young singers or songwriters who are just starting out feel when they become famous. I see other people who have one hit and they’re already thinking they’re the biggest star in the world. But I didn’t feel that because of the relationship that I was in and because I think there was a concerted effort to keep me from feeling too empowered. So how do you keep your artistic integrity while you become a corporation? You’ve got to go through some stuff! I feel like I connect to people through song because it’s filling a void in me. I don’t do it just because I want to make money or I want to be famous. I need to make music. If I didn’t have this, I don’t know where I would be.” 

On Being an Outcast

"I felt very much like an outcast when I was younger. No matter where I went, there was always this sense of not really falling into place or into one category. I moved around a lot when I was growing up, so nobody knew me and I was never one thing or the other. Being biracial, I didn’t really have somebody to look at and say, ‘Okay, this person is exactly the same as me, and they’re out there.’ A lot of kids have said that to me, ‘Until you put your first record out, I didn’t feel like there was anybody that was the same as me.’ People who don’t feel like they fit in can identify with me. I promised myself when I was a little girl that I would never forget what it felt like to be a kid. I never wanted to grow up and be out of touch with what that feels like.” 

On Her Mother

"I must give my mother credit for really inspiring and encouraging me to sing. She was an opera singer and went to Juilliard. She still sings and was a classically trained musician. I’m not a technical person, so I went the other way and got into R&B because I can just do whatever and sing whatever comes to mind. But she instilled the belief in me that I could become who I am today. She tells a story about when she was rehearsing a part of the opera Rigoletto, and I stopped her and said, ‘No, you made a mistake, it goes like this,’ and sang it back to her in another language at 4 years old. So my mother thought, 'Okay, she has an ear.'” 

On Getting Older

"I’m eternally 12. And that 12-year-old inside me is an eternal optimist. I know what it feels like not to have fame or money, and I do still feel like that same person in many ways. Honestly, I don’t even have birthdays. I call them ‘anniversaries.’ It really is about being as young as you feel. Some people convince themselves they’re old, or they think, ‘I have to grow up now; I can’t have fun.’ I will still always choose a day at Disney World over a night in Las Vegas, because that’s who I am. " 

On Her “Breakdown”
“How do you climb back from the shambles when everybody counts you out? That can be a very difficult thing to come to terms with, especially when you’ve had so much success from such an early age. I have such faith in God that I really had to surrender everything and just know that I was going to be okay. That’s truly where I had to go to when it felt like the bottom. More than anything, it was learning to grow up and take care of myself. Not treat myself like the corporation wanted to treat me, but treat myself like a human being. I’ve faced my worst fears and come out of them okay. Everything is always going to be all right as long as I hang on to the person inside of me. " 

Photo Credit: Ondrea Barbe For PARADE 
Source: Parade (All rights reserved) - Andy by e-mail
Posted on March the 19th.

An absolutely crazy street promo is in the works, but no date is setted yet as it will depend of Mariah's promotion in Europe.
Posted on March the 19th.

Rock musician Carlos Santana, R&B singer Mariah Carey and model Gabriel Aubry are featured in ads debuting this weekend promoting their designer products sold at Macy's. A Spanish version of one ad will run on Hispanic-geared television.

The new stars for the national TV ads will be joined by domestic entrepreneur Martha Stewart and tycoon Donald Trump, holdovers from Macy's original star-packed campaign last year.

Analysts say the celebrity ads have helped get shoppers to look at Macy's and the celebrity brands it carries, but that the Cincinnati-based retailer must show budget-tightening shoppers the value they can get from the branded products.
Source: International Herald Tribune (All rights reserved)
Posted on March the 19th.

Check out the official tracklisting and producers for Mariah Carey’s E=MC² exclusively on Rap-Up.com. The album contains 14 tracks and will be available April 15th.
1. Migrate featuring T-Pain (Danja)
2. Touch My Body (C. “Tricky” Stewart and Tarius “The-Dream” Nash)
3. Cruise Control featuring Damian Marley (Jermaine Dupri)
4. I Stay in Love (Bryan-Michael Cox)
5. Side Effects featuring Young Jeezy (Scott Storch)
6. I’m That Chick (Stargate)
7. Love Story (Jermaine Dupri)
8. I’ll Be Lovin’ U Long Time (DJ Toomp)
9. Last Kiss (Jermaine Dupri)
10. Thanx 4 Nothin’ (Jermaine Dupri)
11. O.O.C. (Swizz Beatz)
12. For the Record (Bryan-Michael Cox)
13. Bye Bye (Stargate)
14. I Wish You Well (James Poyser)

Please credit Rap-Up.com and link to www.rap-up.com if posting elsewhere.
Posted on March the 19th.

But the diva admits there's one thing lacking in her life — "You don't know who is here for the glamour, for the gossip factor," the singer, 38, tells Parade magazine. "You really just want to know that somebody loves you for you. Sometimes you feel like an ATM machine with a wig on it."

Of her estranged father Alfred's death in 2003, she says, "Before he passed away, he said, 'You were always a star in my eyes.' Which was very meaningful, because to a lot of people, you're really not worth anything unless you're raking in the dough and having #1 hits." 
Source: OK!Magazine (All rights reserved)
Posted on March the 19th.

MTV's "52/52" campaign features one artist every week of the year for 52 weeks, giving phenomenal exposure to artists with 11 hours of on-air commercial time per week on MTV ranging from interviews, performances, skits and behind the scenes footage.
Source: MariahDailyJournal - Andy by e-mail
Posted on March the 18th.

Down the road, there will be a new No. 1, of course, and now it appears to be Usher's Love in This Club taking command. The song jumped from No. 5 to No. 3, overtaking Mariah Carey's Touch My Body, which remains at No. 4.

The annotated top 10:
1-1 last week  Chris Brown, With You (down 1.4% in total audience): Now with a 36 million lead in audience impressions, and more than 50 million ahead of the next song that actually poses an eventual threat. Chris enters his comfort zone.

2-2  Flo Rida, Low (-7.4%): Hitting the floor, but it will be a while before it really gets low.

3-5  Usher, Love in This Club (+16.3%): Looking unstoppable; it went from 2 1/2 million behind Mariah last week to 3 million ahead.

4-4  Mariah Carey, Touch My Body (+9.1%): A 9% gain this high up the chart is tremendous, but further miracles are needed if the song is to give Usher any competition for No. 1.
Source: Nielsen BDS - Arbitron - Radio & Records - USA Today
Posted on March the 18th.

The online gossip turned on Carey over the weekend calling "Migrate," her collaboration with rapper T-Pain, "disappointing".

Caustic Hilton upset Carey by claiming the song will be the singer's next single, and stating "it sucks."

And so the hitmaker took matters into her own hands during a radio chat with Los Angeles DJ Ryan Seacrest, revealing "I'm kinda tired of it (criticism)."

Seacrest then invited Hilton to join the chat by phone, prompting Carey to tell him, "I love you, no matter what you do... (but) you can't hate on that song with T-Pain; you need to listen to it again."

She then added sarcastically, "I think I've had this job for a long time."

And Carey insisted the song she performed on live TV on Saturday night is not her new single.

She added, "I'm definitely not even releasing "Migrate" as a second single. It was just fun to do on Saturday Night Live... My next single is going to be a ballad, darling. I ain't stupid... I ain't trying to mess with what we already know.

"We don't talk about personal lives."

And when Hilton attempted to speculate about Carey's love life, the sassy pop star cut him off, stating, "Y'know Perez, that's for you and me to have a personal, private moment and discuss what we want the world to know." 
Source: KIIS (All rights reserved)
Source for the cap: MariahCarey.com
Posted on March the 17th.

Mariah wants to sent "Migrate" to Perez Hilton , hopefully the label won't forget HBF, her official fanclub 

Downloads:Ryan Seacrest interview (thanks to Josie)
Thanks to Josie we have 2 ways to download it:
- click here to download the interview with Sendspace.
- click here and here to download the interview in 2 parts on Rapidshare.

Some Highlights of the interview with Ryan seacrest: (thanks to MariahDailyJournal)
- Mariah was nervous during the performance of "Touch My Body" at SNL.
- She finished sequencing the album last night in L.A. Reid's office.
- She will be on American Idol 3 times: April 9th (Idol Gives Back), April 15th (mentoring the contestants) and April 16th (performance).
- "Migrate" will not be the second single from the album, but rather a ballad.
- She said she'll have a tour for the album hopefully in September. She wanted to do it in August but didn't think she'd be ready by then.
- Ryan put Perez Hilton on the line and Mariah told him she loves him and that the reason she did "Migrate" was because her DJ friends in New York were asking her to about it for a long time. She said she usually hates doing songs live for the first time because it's hard to get into them that way and that she will send Perez the real version of the song.
Posted on March the 17th.

The hip-hop diva's newest single "Touch My Body" is poised to give her 18 No. 1 singles, knotting her with the Fab Four. 

The song is the lead track on her latest album "E=MC2," due to hit stores later this month. 

The 37-year-old songstress is currently tied with Elvis Presley for second place for top singles. 

Carey, the best-selling female singer of all time, showed off her new hit and slimmed-down body on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" this weekend, sporting stilettos and a micro-miniskirt. 

In an interview with Allure magazine, Carey joked that she doesn't need steroids to stay in top shape, but she does have some tricks to keep her voice sharp. 

Carey said she sometimes sleeps in the steam room of her Tribeca penthouse, claiming it keeps her vocal cords lubricated. 

She said she imported a personal trainer from St. Barts to help her trim off an estimated 30 pounds from her 5-foot-9 frame. 

"This trainer has actually helped me reshape my arms. That's where I gained most of my weight: upper body," she said. "With this whole steroid crap, that's crazy. I'm almost on the verge where I'd be too muscular if I was going to do a thing like that." 

Carey, a native of Huntington, L.I., lives with a Jack Russell terrier named J.J., and said she's too busy to settle down with a man. 

"I mean, I have three personal assistants just to keep up with my schedule. It's not that difficult to become exhausted," said Carey, who in 2001 was hospitalized after suffering a mental breakdown. 
Source: New York Daily News (All rights reserved)
Posted on March the 17th.

"It's a dichotomy, I understand," the 37-year-old bombshell singer tells Allure magazine. "I understand that people think I'm a ditzy moron."

For ditzy, she's doing well since she notes: "I have three personal assistants just to keep up with my schedule." 

The hip-hop and R&B superstar's newest single "Touch My Body" - the lead track on her latest album, "E=MC2" - is poised to be her 18th No. 1 single, tying with the Beatles for having the most chart-toppers.

Carey, the best-selling female singer of all time, showed off her new hit and slimmed-down figure on NBC's "Saturday Night Live" this weekend, sporting stilettos and a micro-miniskirt.

The once-married superstar, who has been romantically linked to Yankees captain Derek Jeter and rapper Eminem, said fans would be mistaken if they think she has loose morals. She insists she's never had a one-night stand.

"I'm Mary Poppins: I'm what the buttoned-up girls are supposed to be," Carey told Allure.
Source: New York daily News (All rights reserved)
Posted on March the 17th.

(Although, to this ear, Amanda Overmeyer already knows what to do!)

Mariah’s “AI” appearance is part 2 of her well-constructed campaign to promote her new CD, “E=MC2” which hits stores on April 15th. Remember? I gave you a preview of the CD a few weeks ago. Last night on “Saturday Night Live,”

Carey—a quick substitute for the fluish Janet Jackson—performed her current single, “Touch My Body” and her next one, “Migrate,” featuring T Pain with aplomb. The album is loaded with singles possibilities, so two before the album’s release date is no prob.

I visited with Mariah backstage after “SNL” last night, and here are some tidbits I picked up. For one thing, as you could see on the show, she looks amazing. She told us she’s lost 20 pounds after a rigorous diet and exercise plan. Last night, she cheated a little bit on the limo ride up to NBC, though. “Don’t tell anyone, but I had two bits of a piece of Sicilian pizza. I had to have sustenance!” Her trainer, I hope, will forgive her.

In addition to “American Idol,” Mariah is back in Los Angeles this week to finish the all important song sequencing of “E=MC2” and to polish up one or two tracks that are just, almost, not quite finished. “There are three songs you didn’t hear, I think,” Carey said of my early listening session. “You’re going to love one of them especially. It’s very old school R&B.”

So who else was backstage at SNL? Visiting Mariah were also her manager Benny Medina, and film director/producer Lee Daniels who directed Mariah in the upcoming film, “Tennessee” which debuts at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 26th. Ironically, Carey got that role, too, when Jackson dropped out. Strange, huh? Just like last night. Daniels is so psyched about Mariah’s performance that he wrote a cameo for her in the film he’s shooting now called “Push,” which features rocker Lenny Kravitz in his acting debut.
Source: Roger Friedman for Fox (All rights reserved) (extract)
Posted on March the 16th.

Five foot nine inches of athlete-fit Mariah Carey lunges towards me with a glass bottle. Pfffft! comes the spray onto the wrist, as she takes my hand, pulls me along a studio floor and pirouettes the pair of us through a cloud of a fragrance called 'M'. Naturally, it's her own. 'M' is a light, floral/incense affair with a toasted marshmallow 'top-note' personally requested by Carey because it reminds her of being young. Just about the most successful female recording artist the world has known, aged 37, believes she is 'eternally 12'.

'So how are you?' she coos in her husky New York timbre. 'I see your new haircut [fondles the bottom of my hair], it's cute...' And on we go, across the floor - Pfffft! - pirouetting through the marshmallow clouds in Mariah Carey's infinitely preposterous parallel version of reality.

When we think of Carey, the words 'hands on' don't spring to mind. What does spring to mind is an image of her being carried overhead on a silken sedan chair by four bare-chested Egyptian princelings, fanning herself with a plume of exotic fern. We've met twice before and each time she's been less the Demanding Diva of showbiz legend, and more a Looney Tune high-camp drag queen, endlessly caricatured by a gleeful press with the kind of urban myth which says Carey 'doesn't do stairs'. But, as she has confirmed, 'I prefer the stairs. I've had experiences being stuck in elevators so I prefer the stairs, even in shoes like this [5in Alexander McQueens]. And now it's gonna be, Mariah says "build me some stairs dah-ling!" Joan Crawford style! The diva stuff, to me, I'm laughing at it.'

She is certainly, as she puts it, 'slightly over the top'. In 2005, we spent three hours alone inside her rented Los Angeles mansion, a colossal homestead with a vast, Old Colonial living area where 20ft palms swayed over a grand piano. We sat in two switched-on state-of-the-art massage chairs, her buoyant bosoms (all her own) sashaying from side to side as the chair pummelled across her back. She told me about Jack, her Jack Russell dog, and how he is disqualified, for being 'too big', from flying first class in his very own seat between her homes in LA and New York. Jack, therefore, travels the 3,000 miles in Carey's chauffer-driven Mercedes, making Jack (as far as we know) the only dog in the world with a chauffeur-driven Mercedes. One day, she twinkled, Jack will surely have 'his own private jet...'

Two and a half years later and this is a different, as Carey would say, 'moment'. We're in New York, in a photo-studio complex in west Manhattan where a group of us are perched in a row in an L-shaped office having a 'listening session' for Carey's new album, the spectacularly titled 'E=MC2' ('Emancipation equals Mariah Carey to the second power'), a vibrant, r&b club-pop record lyrically obsessed with love, heart-break and sex.

At the album's close, a Carey official issues instructions for our forthcoming interview. 'So we're here to talk about the music,' he says, crushingly. 'Mariah is a big celebrity and we understand personal questions will come up. But if there's anything too personal the interview will be wrapped up. And these interviews are being recorded.'

Suddenly, the lyric sheets we were handed earlier, which we've used for our album-listening notes, are being brusquely confiscated because they must not 'leave the building'. Cue a number of journalists, mid-handover, furiously scribbling over any less than rapturous remarks...

In 2005, no one expected Carey's 10th studio album, the cool r&b comeback collection 'The Emancipation of Mimi', to be the biggest-selling album of the year worldwide (10 million copies sold), taking her career total to well over 160 million. In pure success terms, her status is undeniable: 17 American Number 1 singles, six more than Madonna, one less than Elvis. Last year Forbes magazine estimated her worth to be around $225 million.

In 2001, she was supposedly finished, buried under the rubble of the trifling, contrived 'Glitter' album (and 'Glitter' movie); its global failure caused a highly publicised, exhaustion-related 'breakdown'. As her supernova waned, the critics inevitably cheered. Carey had been the undisputed titan of the drearily billowing ballad since her debut in 1990, a yodelling cartoon calamity whose gift is a voice like a dolphin's. To her fans, though, Carey has single-handedly redefined what it means to be a female singer. She's now the single greatest influence on the Pop Idol/American Idol generation bar none. Today she cites her 2001 meltdown as her 'breakthrough', leaving her 'creatively free' to all but abandon the showboat balladeering for knowingly sultry, stylised r&b. Her latest single, Touch My Body - with a sexual-fantasy concept video part Beyoncé, part Benny Hill - sends herself up as a coquettish, breathy saucestrel.

'Did you say saucestrel?' she blinks. 'Is that a bad word? It's like, saucy? Oh, leave it to the Brits to make a demented moment! Well we're not taking ourselves that seriously. It's not [po-faced] "touch my body, I'm so amaaaazing". In the video we have a unicorn, so let's face it, we're taking, as you guys say, the piss.'

It's past half midnight and we're sitting in the dark, in a vast, white, 13th-floor photo studio with the lights switched off. In the corner, Carey sits on a chaise-longue, casual in jeans and sleeveless vest, legs to one side, beneath enormous windows where tea-lights on windowsills and the thrusting skyscrapers of moonlit Manhattan provide low-key, high-glam illumination. She's been working since midday (photos/interviews) despite working 'til eight this morning (album mastering) and is therefore amiably woozy, sipping white wine and prone to dreamy, melancholic reflections. She rummages, suddenly, at the back of her skinny-fit jeans.

'What's this in my pants?' she wonders, snapping off a stray string. 'This would be my jean trousers tag!' - hands over tag - 'To prove to you that it is a size 27...'

And so I find myself pocketing Carey's new jeans tag: 'Miss Sixty, Size 27 (UK size 6) Radio Trousers 30in L, $239'. Her much-admired new physique has come from 'hard work with Patricia', her personal trainer, after she'd gotten, she insists, 'too bulky. Now, I'm down to my 11th grade size and it feels good and yet it doesn't feel good because I can't eat what I want'. She reverted to her famed Morsel Diet, replacing some meals with bowls of low-carb nibbles, 'so there's been some olive/almond moments.'

In the past two years she's simultaneously worked harder at everything else: a global tour, the new album, launched her 'M' beauty product range and appeared in two new films, the road-trip drama Tennessee playing a waitress/aspiring singer, and playing herself in the Adam Sandler comedy You Don't Mess with the Zohan. Queries as to what drives her these days elicit a scarily earnest and bewildering response - something about 'not letting the bad times overpower what the goodness is'. Her campy tomfoolery is perhaps compromised tonight by the evident sleep-deprivation - or perhaps the official foot-long record label microphone pointing directly at her head.

'It's been tough for me to embrace who I am as a human being,' she eventually decides. 'Just from feeling like an outsider a lot of the times. So, to not be redundant, I just decided to let me be me. And that's a big place, you know?'

Carey describes her life as 'a friggin' mini-series'. She was a mixed-race kid whose mother was disowned by her family for marrying a black man. Their all-white, hate-fuelled Long Island neighbours poisoned the family dog and set fire to their car. Alison, Carey's older sister by 10 years, who had a baby aged 15, became heavily involved in drugs, turned to prostitution, contracted HIV (and still lives in New York - Mariah is 'legally' forbidden to talk about her).

Her parents divorced when Carey was three, and she was raised in 'a shack' by her mother, Patricia, an Irish-American opera singer. The family moved house 13 times, and Carey developed a profound fear of poverty, the insecure mind-set of an 'outcast freak' and the blazing conviction that her always-astonishing voice could save her life. Aged 18, as a waitress, beauty school dropout and fledgling singer/songwriter with a demo-tape, she met Tommy Mottola at a party. Mottola was the chairman of Sony Music Entertainment, and 20 years her senior. After a four-year courtship they were married in 1993, with Robert De Niro among the guests.

'He was in it,' smiles Carey. 'There were a lotta people there.'

Barbra Streisand, I believe.

'Yes, she was,' she nods, 'and I've seen her since and it's been all good. Y'know... I was really young. When I got in the relationship I was very very young. And inexperienced.'

They lived a life of absurd extravagance in a 12-bedroom mansion with a ballroom, firing range, two swimming pools and a helicopter pad while Carey made albums for Sony. 'That company,' she says, 'made a billion dollars from the raggedy girl he met at that party.' Tommy was a deeply controlling husband who left Carey feeling confined to the house (where she obsessively over-decorated). He aggressively dictated every aspect of her career, from the soul-less music to her sexless clothes to her holographic public persona, taught as she was 'to say as little as possible, don't be yourself'. Her new album contains a song specifically detailing her escape from Mottola, called Side Effects. 'You were scared that I'd become much more/Than you could handle,' she lilts. 'Shining like a chandelier/That decorated every room inside this private Hell that we built.'

Since her divorce in 1998 she's kept a stringent privacy over her relationships but reportedly dated the Latino singer Luis Miguel, music executive Mark Sudack, acerbic rapper Eminem and baseball player Derek Jeter. In 2005, however, when questioned about Eminem she gave an uncharacteristically full response. 'Please!' she roared. 'I never had any type of sexual relationship with that man. I can count the number of people I've had sex with on less than the fingers on one hand.'

You haven't had many boyfriends and you've never been promiscuous, I say. Why is that?

'You're right and I'm still not. Because... maybe if I had been a promiscuous person I'd feel even less able to be, um, forgiving of myself. Because... there were examples of ways I didn't wanna be that I saw when I was growing up. And that made me feel really vulnerable. And I still do. And I hate that I still do. But I do.'

She's talking about her big sister, the person she also credits with her lifelong aversion to drugs - 'I just saw too much of it as a child'. She also finds it almost impossible to trust men, not least because of our rapacious kiss-and-tell showbiz culture, mobile phones and cameras everywhere. (This is a lyrical theme of Touch My Body - post anything private on YouTube, she sings, 'and I will hunt you down'.) 'We live in a world of extremely high technology,' she nods, 'it is so difficult and so hard for me to trust people.' In 2005, she said she wasn't sure she'd ever been in love. Is this still the case?

'But have you?' she replies. 'Have you been totally in love? See, I can answer that I've been infatuated. With me it's like, well, do I love this person? They say they love me, why can't I accept that? I can't accept it because I've had a difficult time feeling worthy of being loved. [Directly into tape-recorder] I can't accept it because I've had a difficult time feeling worthy of being loved.'

Do you still feel that?

'No, I feel like I'm worthy of being loved but because I felt like I wasn't worthy of being loved for so many years I've put myself in situations that are maybe not the best situations for me,' she says, obliquely. 'And I need to find a way to fully grow out of that. 'Cos you know what? There's so many people I don't wanna emulate. It shouldn't take people to be freakin' 60 years old 'til they feel like "I finally found the person I'm supposed to be with".

'Most people get caught up, they have their babies and they raise their kids and then they're not with those people any more because they never really had anything in common to begin with, but the kids. And that's what I was always scared of. You know, it's been tough for me to say: "OK, I'm allowed to be happy." To be working at this pace. To be successful. And also to believe that I'm in love and this person isn't just with me for the moment. Whoever it is [in the future], I hope that that person is genuine. No matter what, it's always about a genuine person.'

This month, Carey will be 38. She lives in the TriBeCa area of New York, in a three-tiered apartment co-designed by herself and Mario Buatta, the billionaire's favourite and so-called 'Prince of Chintz'. The apartment's visual (indeed emotional) themes are mermaids, butterflies and Marilyn Monroe, her 'humungous' 'Marilyn bathroom' featuring pale limestone walls, a gold ceiling, pink and beige satin drapes, recessed lighting and two steps up to the bath. Her dark-green marble kitchen, meanwhile, hosts its own chaise-longue. 'Because I like to recline when I eat,' she smiles. 'If you can lay down, why would you sit up?' The last time she used the subway was perhaps 1992, and as for the bus... 'I hate the bus!' she cackles. 'I've already been on the bus, I don't need to go back on the bus.' 

With her unimaginable wealth comes negligible guilt: she feels only 'grateful' for 'God's majesty and his gift of creativity'. There's evidence in her apartment of her claim to be 'eternally 12' (or possibly a great deal younger); pink 'Hello Kitty' guitar, pink CD player, 'Hello Kitty' slippers, the 'Bambi' pyjamas she sleeps in.

How would she feel about being 40? Even though it's a good couple of years away...

'And a good couple of years away is how it's gonna stay!' she mock-wails, 'because I am eternally 12.'

But you're not 12, Mariah. At almost-38, isn't it time to want to be a grown-up? 'No,' she says. 'Because when I was a kid I said to myself, "I'm never gonna forget what it feels like to be this age." I try to stay in touch with the me that has never left me. The inner child that is me.'

The funny thing is, when you were actually 12, you were, as you've said, a 'hideous mess'. You were emotionally berserk, had barely a stitch to wear, accidentally shaved your eyebrows off and dyed your hair orange. 'Yeah. I had orange hair.'

So let's go for straightforward cod-psychology here: a huge part of her life is all about trying to replace the real Mariah at 12 with a fantasy Mariah at 12, for ever.

'Well I think you are very close to something that's pretty accurate,' she says. 'But you know, I wouldn't say it's anything that consciously done. "Eternally 12" was a phrase that just happened from always going on roller-coasters and hanging out with friends at Disney World and really feeling like, y'know... free.'

It seems she's very simply part of the greatest tradition in showbiz history: filling the enormous hole in your soul with the love of the enormous crowd.

'I think it is a kind of tradition,' she says. 'Another female, she's not a singer, she's a very famous actress and I'll protect her privacy, but she said to me: "You know, Mariah, I think we just have to go through things a little bit more than other people do. Because we're given this thing, this gift." And I think she's right. But I think when you're given a musical gift, it's almost on another level because people feel music deeper than most things they feel. And that's my testimony as a human being who's gotten through some of the worst times. A song like Side Effects goes out to somebody who needs to feel cleansed of an abusive relationship. They're gonna hear it and hopefully be healed. I remember singing songs at the top of my lungs, growing up, because I needed to. Y'know? It's healing.'

And with this momentous soliloquy of scorching luvvie-ness, Carey's man twitches and announces our time is up.

I hope Jack, by now, has flown, alone, in a private jet.

'Of course he has!' she hollers. 'Jack lives on a private jet...'

She leans back on the chaise-longue, onto a black pillow. 'Dah-ling,' says the incorrigible Ms Carey, with a final waft of toasted marshmallow, 'you know how I like to lie down...'

Long notes, long gowns: Mariah Carey by numbers

165m Total record sales worldwide. Carey is the second-bestselling female artist of all time - behind only Celine Dion (175 million).

0 The number of singers in the world who can hold a note higher than Carey, according to The Guinness Book of Records. A dolphin is the only mammal capable of producing a higher one.

1 The number that Carey finished in a 2003 MTV chart of the 'Greatest Voices in Music'.

25,000 The cost, in dollars, of the Vera Wang gown worn by Carey at her wedding to music mogul Tommy Mottola in 1993. Its 27ft train needed six bridesmaids to lift it.

17 The number of American Number 1 hits she has had. Only The Beatles (20) and Elvis Presley (18) have managed more.

6 The number of kittens Carey reportedly demands, as company in her dressing-room before a gig.

2000 The alleged daily wage, in pounds sterling, of Carey's 'lighting consultant'. (He ensures the lightbulbs, wherever she visits, are of the requisite colour, shape and brightness.)

105,000,000 The total outlay, in pounds, by EMI Records on Carey in one nine-month period: £70 million to sign her up, on a five-album contract, in April 2001; and £35 million to terminate that contract, one album in, in January 2002.

Alastair Smart

'Touch My Body' is released on 31 March;'E=MC2' on 15 April
Source: Telegraph (All rights reserved)
Posted on March the 17th.

The Fragrance Foundation Announces Finalists for 2008 Fragrance of the Year FiFi® Award
The Fragrance Foundation is pleased to announce the top ten finalists in each distribution category for the 2008 Fragrance of the Year FiFi® Award. These finalists were determined by the initial ballot, which was mailed in early February. The Fragrance Foundation releases this FiFi finalist information in anticipation of the exclusive FiFi Finalists Breakfast to be held for Fragrance Foundation members on Friday, April 25th, 2008 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. The FiFi Finalists Breakfast is the kick off event of the FiFi Awards season when the beauty industry learns who will be recognized as the top five finalists of each of the award categories at the 36th Annual FiFi® Awards & Celebration. The FiFi Awards is an annual event to honor the fragrance industry’s creative achievements and is considered the “Oscars” of the global fragrance industry.

During the breakfast event, finalists competing for the twenty-one FiFi awards will be announced including the Fragrance of the Year, Best Packaging (Men’s and Women’s Popular and Prestige), Best National Advertising Campaign (Print and Television), Bath & Body Line, Interior Scent Collection and Fragrance Hall of Fame awards. 

The FiFi Finalists Breakfast will include the presentation of FiFi® Awards in the categories for Editorial Excellence in Fragrance Coverage for Men’s Scent Feature, Editorial Excellence in Fragrance Coverage for Women’s Scent Feature and Scent Bite and Technological Breakthrough of the Year. These winners will also be introduced and recognized for their achievements during the 36th Annual FiFi Awards & Celebration held on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City.

The top ten finalists for Fragrance of the Year Award in each distribution category (in alphabetical order):

WOMEN’S LUXE: (11 finalists due to a tie)
• Chanel Chance Eau Fraiche - Chanel
• Coach - BeautyBank
• Daisy Marc Jacobs – Coty Prestige
• DKNY Delicious Night Eau de Parfum – Donna Karan Cosmetics
• Dolce & Gabbana the one – P&G Prestige Products, Inc.
• Emporio Armani Diamonds – Giorgio Armani Parfums
• Kelly Calèche - Hermès
• M by Mariah Carey – Elizabeth Arden
• Nina by Nina Ricci – Puig Beauty & Fashion Group
• Ralph Rocks by Ralph Lauren – Ralph Lauren Fragrances
• Usher She – Liz Claiborne Cosmetics

Source: NY Daily Mag - The Fragrance Foundation (All rights reserved)
Posted on March the 13th.

March 28 will really be THE Mariah day in Germany, as like I previously reported, 3 other Mariah shows will be broadcast that day!
Source: Universal Germany's special Mariah page - Cat on our forum
Posted on March the 13th.

The last-minute notice might prevent Mariah from taking part in a skit, but we’ve got our fingers crossed, because secretly we think she's got a pretty good sense of humor about herself! 
Source: PageSix (All rights reserved)
posted on March the 12th.

"I don't know what business Mariah Carey has on St. Patrick's Day. She just came into the bar and got everybody singing and dancing," Boyle said, "I guess she just wanted to get her Irish on."
Source: am New York (extract)
Posted on March the 11th.

RANDY: We're going to switch it up a little bit this year. We've got some of the older ones coming back, and we've got Mariah Carey coming in. We got some flavas for ya!

REALITY ROCKS: It's interesting you have Mariah coming in, because so many of the contestants blow it when they try to do their songs!

RANDY: Yeah, in my mind Mariah, Celine, and Whitney are three of the greatest singers ever. 
Click here to read the full interview.
Source: Yahoo! Reality Rocks blog (extract)
Posted on March the 10th.

"She looks amazing," Carey's "Touch My Body" co-star Jack McBrayer raved to MTV News recently. "Apparently she's just been working with this trainer for a while. I mean, she looks like a living Barbie doll. A beautiful, caramel-colored Barbie." 

So if Carey is Barbie, would that make McBrayer — who plays an overeager NBC page named Kenneth on Tina Fey's hit TV show "30 Rock" — her Ken? 

"Maybe in an alternate universe," he quipped. "But Ken all the same." 

The unlikely onscreen pairing of Carey and McBrayer in "Touch My Body" has raised eyebrows and busted guts. According to McBrayer, Carey is a huge fan of "30 Rock" and of comedy in general. But when he got the call requesting him for the video, he wondered whether it was a gag. 

"I got a phone call on a Thursday night saying, 'Would you be available to get on a plane tomorrow morning and come be in Mariah Carey's video?' " McBrayer recalled. "I'm always worried now that somebody is pranking me, so at first I was very leery. But when I heard it was legit, and then later on we got a phone call from Brett Ratner, who directed it. I was like, 'This is either a very elaborate prank, or this is the real deal.' " 

Obviously, it turned out to be the real deal. 

In the fish-out-of water plot, McBrayer's character is a computer tech visiting Carey's home for a service visit. When the singer answers the door in a revealing outfit, McBrayer's character starts daydreaming about being with the superstar. 

In one of the more memorable — and odd — scenes, he and Carey walk side by side with, of all things, a unicorn trailing behind them. "I have no idea [what that scene was about]," McBrayer said. "I guess part of this geek's fantasy would involve dressing up like medieval people walking a unicorn. Which, I mean, duh, that makes no sense." 

Another scene, which could have been just as memorable, unfortunately didn't make the final cut, he said. "We're out in the backyard playing ultimate Frisbee and stuff, and we're given very loose directions: 'Play around!' 'Go fetch!' " McBrayer remembered. "So I go to throw the Frisbee to Mariah Carey, and she's lip-syncing and she's spinning around. And she spins around right around the time it leaves my hands. So by the time she spins back around — bonk, right in her face. I threw a Frisbee in Mariah Carey's face!" 

For McBrayer, who was just as overwhelmed being around the real-life Carey as his character was, that was when his fantasy ended. 

"Her bodyguard came over and set me straight," he said, joking. "In fact, if you notice, from there on out for most of the video, we're just kind of handing the Frisbee back and forth to each other." 
Source: MTV (All rights reserved)
Heroes note: Please go on MTV's site to watch the video of McBrayer talking about this, someone should maybe tell him why they used an unicorn 
Posted on March the 10th.

Mariah to perform live at "The Hills" premiere event (I'm gonna add a "?" just in case )

With so many surprises and new stories, we had to kick it off with a glamorous night to remember and who better to do that than the one and only Mariah Carey. Lauren, Whitney and Audrina will join Mariah and MTV VJ Lyndsey Rodrigues along with all their fans at the ultimate premiere event live from Gotham Hall in New York City to watch the anticipated return of "The Hills." Starting at 9pm ET/PT, fans will have an opportunity to get up close and personal with the cast like never before, while giving viewers a chance to catch up on the latest drama of the last two episodes. With the world watching, Mariah will take the stage immediately following the show for an unforgettable performance. And just in case you hadnt had enough stay tuned by going to MTV.com the following day to see bonus performances from Mariah, along with all the inside dirt on "The Hills" cast.
Source: The Futon Critic - Jonas - Moony - Adrian
Posted on March the 10th.

One music insider told Page Six, "Every morning show wanted Mariah on for her new album, so Benny started negotiating. He demanded that 'Today' promote her fragrance and also give her a guest-star role on 'My Name is Earl.' They agreed."

But her "My Name Is Earl" part, which was to coincide with the album release, was put off when it was decided the album needed work. "It was supposed to come out in November, then it was pushed back until February, and now the release date is April 15," said our source.

"The entire time, Benny told 'Today' it would get Mariah for its concert series on Rockefeller Plaza. But then he stopped returning calls. Turns out, he had done a side deal behind everyone's back with 'Good Morning America' - after NBC had agreed to all of his demands.

Medina, the inspiration for "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air," told us: "We want to do something really spectacular for Mariah's album debut. I don't want 'Today' to feel disrespected by me trying to do right by my client. But when we went on 'GMA' [two years ago], they closed down Times Square. It got great ratings and was a big success."

And Medina denies he ever promised "Today" that Carey would give a concert on Rockefeller Plaza. "If they can show me an e-mail from anyone committing to the concert, I will personally pay for the entire production myself," he said.

Laura Swanson, Carey's rep at Def Jam, said the outdoor plaza wasn't big enough for a concert, "thus, they're unable to meet our needs for a spectacular launch event." No one would divulge where Carey's mid-April concert for "GMA" would be held.

Megan Kopf, a rep for "Today," said, "Mariah has been a guest on 'Today' several times since the start of her career. We would certainly like to have her back on 'Today.' " 
Source: NY Post's Page Six (All rights reserved)
Posted on March the 9th.

It was fun during Touch My Body  she held the mic to the crowd and we roared the 'I Will Hunt You Down!' 

Every song has such a sexy beat and is very catchy! They will keep you definately tuned in and singing along. I still can't believe she gave away her 1 of a kind Roberto Cavalli sunglasses to that girl in the audience! That was so effin awesome but it did end up causing alot of drama. Some fans need to seriously control themselves..wow! For your information, crying and screaming when Mariah touches your hand = not cool and it freaks Mariah out. But wow... and there were several technical difficulties during the show and so we got to see her perform Migrate.. like 3 times. And she was soo hilarious cause she was like "...Okay for the 9 millionth, 800,000th time.." haha or something of that nature... wow soooo much fun! And she was so personal with this crowd and wow... such an amazing show for free! I felt bad when she was unable to hit her high note in "Love Story" which is a beautiful ballad (I still don't know if I'd refer to it as a ballad) but yeah it was due to her cold she just got over but her vocals were still incredible!
Source: Moonstar - brenmac - whenisawyou on HBF
Posted on March the 8th.

She started it off with Migrate, which was really cool. First she came out, and her singers weren't out so she was like STOP THIS WHERE ARE MY SINGERS! So she came back out and did it again. T-Pain was there but I couldn't understand a word he said. Then they had to reshoot the whole song. I think she started and stopped like 5 times. I could barely hear it because the bass was so loud, but I think that if you're a fan of that club music, you'll like this song. It's pretty catchy too.

Then she did Touch My Body, which was nice.

Then she did Love Story, which was really nice. She had Rachels daughter do the beginning oooh ooh stuff whcih was nice. JD is talking at the beginning of the track.  But it sounded like it could be a nice ballad....that is if you like the Mimi ballads.

Then she did SIO. 

Then she did THAT CHICK. Which was SO awesome. I couldnt believe what I was hearing....I mean this is like pure disco mixed with Michael Jackson. So awesome. I cant wait to hear that song again. VERY uptempo, maybe even moreso than Fantasy.

Then she had to do some introductions to the songs AFTER she had sang them. Like say what she was about to sing. Then she ended the show with We Belong Together. 

Vocally, she was good. There were no WOW moments like on Blueprint...but she is defintiely not strained, and I think in a better vocal state than TAOM. She did mention that she still had a cold too.

All in all it was a fun show. 

The set was very 70s looking with flowers and disco balls. Pink and purple lights and stuff. And the very same ILT silhouette was all around the set. 
Thanks to Danny on HBF
Posted on March the 8th.

BET's 106 & Park - "Top Ten Live" 106 & Park airs Monday-Friday, 6:00pm ET/PT, and on Saturdays at 11:00am & 6:00pm ET/PT.
Vote here or call 1-800-617-LIVE (5483) between 5:30 and 6:00pm ET. 

VH1 - Top 20 Video Countdown The Top 20 Countdown airs every Saturday at 9:00am ET.
Vote here

Make sure to keep on watching the video on Yahoo! and AOL Music. Billboard has expanded its Hot 100 formula to include weekly streamed and on-demand music data from Yahoo! and AOL Music. 

Make sure to Vote for Mariah every day. She's counting on you!
Source: MariahCarey.com
Posted on March the 7th.

Be one of the first 150 customers to purchase the M by Mariah Carey Gold Deluxe Edition Parfum at Macy’s Herald Square and receive a custom charm necklace by jewelry designer Lisa Levine as a gift with purchase.

M by Mariah Carey Gold Deluxe Edition Parfum
Macy's Herald Square
Friday, March 28th
12:00pm-2:00pm
Source: Inside Vogue - mceternity - Lola by e-mail
Posted on March the 7th.

During the promotion of her new album E = MC², Carey said one of her projects is to make a record of duets which would include some tracks in Spanish including some tracks with Luis Miguel alongside other artists.

"It could be great ... I love Latin music, because in my veins is also Latino blood.  Lucho Gatica, Luis Miguel, Julio Iglesias, why not"  said the artist.

Mariah and Luis Miguel were an item during most than 3 years and it seems it was one of her most important romances. 
Source in Spanish: LaOreja.tv
Translation: Heroes of Mariah
Posted on March the 6th.

Italian single release
The single will be released on March 21th (Only in Digital Format)

Source: Universal Music Italy  - Ila & Dan from GlitteringMariah by e-mail
Posted on March the 6th.

Another info caught my attention, the site announced the following in the "Media Dates" section:
28.03., 17:00h - Pro7, Taff
28.03., 17:45h - ZDF, Leute heute
28.03., 18:30h - RTL, Exclusiv
Let's cross the fingers for the German fans!!!!
Source for the info: Universal Germany webteam by newsletter
Posted on March the 4th.

The platinum-selling producer underwent elective eye surgery two weeks ago. And since then -we're hearing from sources close to him - he's having major problems with his vision.

Right now the exact details on Jermaine's eye problems are sketchy. But one person familiar with the details told MediaTakeOut.com, "[Jermaine's] virtually blind."
Posted on March the 4th.

1)Loving You Long Time :
We were told that the track was not the final mix yet.  The track is really good, it's a midtempo with old school influences.  A nice use of strings (violins) and a very catchy chorus.  To me this track is nothing like the ones on the last album.

2)Touch My Body :
You already know this one, you discovered it on Ado a few weeks ago. Even if the track has made the best start of Mimi in the US since 1997, a smash hit for a track which is for me not the best of the album.

3)That Chick :
‘Ooh We eeh’, remember these lyrics, they are really repetitive in this track produced by Stargate.  The track is really fresh and brings positive vibes.

4)For the record :
I was plaisantly surprised while discovering this track, 'cause the instrumental is the one we can hear in Mariah's commercial for her fragrance "M".  Produced by Bryan Michael Cox, it's a future hit. 

5)Migrate :
This track, produced by Danja, is really Hip-Hop with a heavy beat. T-Pain really adds his touch to the track and lends his vocoder to Mariah who uses it perfectly when she says "Migrate".  It sounds a lil' "Buy You a drank" style, but more pushed.  Be ready for this track made for the clubs and another potential single.

6)Side effects :
This one is also in mixing process (work in progress like they said). The track is Dirty South style and Young Jeezy is featured and gives the vibe of the track since the start with a "Yeahhhhh" which brings us in the mood.   If I remember correctly, the chorus is very catchy "To walk away don 't regret it, but I still live with side effects".  I didn't really like this title, but I think you need to listen several times.

7)Love Story :
Jermaine Dupri  produced it and fans will like this track for sure as it's a Mimi track like the ones on her earlier albums.  The slow music makes me think to the one in "Until The End Of Time" due to the fact of the great presence of a piano.

8)Cruise Control :
Another JD production in wich Mariah collaborates with Damian Marley and sings a few lines in Jamaïcan "pon de gals on the block" which didn't shoked me.  It fitted well and it sounds original and surprising.  She spells "C.R.U.I.S.E Control" in the chorus.

9)Thanks For Nothing :
Mimi's voice is great on this other JD production.  It's Mariah who says JD's famous "So So Def".  We hear keyboards "Always Be My Baby" style and Mariah sings "Oh Oh Oh Oh ", which we will remember easily.  Another track like the ones on TEOM.

10)OOC :
Produced by Swizz Beats, this track is fresh, original and old school and the same time. It's a lil' nostalgic and it's nice to hear Mariah's voice on this kind of beat and especially when she says the famous "O.O.C." which means "Out Of Control".  It's the first time I hear Mariah singing a sentence in French "Je ne sais pas mais c'est la vie" preceded by another one in Spanish, if I remember correctly. I love it!

11)Bye bye :
Produced by Stargate for a slow jam track it's way more smooth than "That Chick", it's a Mimi style which is close of "We Belong Together", the track is moving, it's about losing close ones.  It sounds like a hit with a great final.

12)Last kiss :
Produced by JD, it's a classic midtempo.

Mariah successfully tested new stuffs with new producers. Inconditional fans of the Mariah and JD productions will be happy, but to me there's not enough evolution since the last album.  To me, there's a lack of Soul/gospel title, but there still can be changes.
Source in French: Emeric d'Ado FM - clownette on our forum
Traduction: Heroes of Mariah
Posted on March the 4th.

For now, that doesn't appear to include babies, though the singer didn't rule out the possibility.
"Obviously having a kid is a commitment for life," she told Yo.  "I really would have to be very, very positive that I was in a place where I could completely focus and put everything into the job of being someone's mommy cause it's hard enough to have a puppy."

When asked about a deadline for kids, Carey was philosophical.
"To me whatever is meant to be is meant to be. Whatever is in God’s plan is going to happen," said the songstress.

On life after the bomb that was 2001's Glitter album and movie and her subsequent comeback, Carey pointed to her faith as a source of strength.
"You know what, I never lost my faith in God and that’s the main thing," she noted.  "For me its about my personal relationship with God and just feeling centered and just not letting anything really penetrate that. That’s something that’s sacred for me that I have for myself no matter what."

Considering the personal crisis Carey faced in the wake of Glitter's failure when she checked herself into a hospital to be treated for an emotional and physical breakdown, Yo also got her take on the Britster's current travails and whether or not the pop tart can recover (typically her answer was all about Maria).
Commented the singer: "I think anybody who loves music and is committed to the game can do whatever. I never count people out, that’s just not in my nature but that is a part of human nature, people like to do that but with me especially with making this new record, its all about the music."

Carey also laughed off concerns about what the public might think about her from reading the very same gossip zines that are making a bundle reporting on Spears' struggles.
"If people ever said things that are not in my character like doing serious drugs or anything of that nature that’s just not me and that’s never been me and it never will be," she said.  "Things like, 'oh she was going to commit suicide'--that’s never ever, nobody could get me to that point because I have too much respect for God and for life. One of the rumors I just heard about was that $150,000 in plastic surgery.  What in the ham sandwich do they think I did?  It’s very annoying."

The subject eventually switched to politics, something Carey confessed isn't exactly her strong suit.
"Are you watching the debates?" asked Yo.
"Clearly I’m no political analyst. We all know that my album is called E=MC2 but I’m not exactly friggin Einstein," joked the "Love Takes Time" singer.  "So basically I like to leave that to people who know what they are talking about, but I am very much more focused on this moment in our history."

When Yo pressed Carey on whether or not she had settled on a presidential candidate, he eventually had to drag it out of her.

"Have you picked anyone?" queried Yo.
"Yes, clearly," she answered.
"Can you say?"
"That's personal but it's pretty obvious," the entertainer replied.
"Come on Mariah, 'Yes we can' Mr. Barack Obama?'
Laughing, Carey came clean: "Yes we can!"

E=MC2 is scheduled to hit stores on April 15.  The first single, "Touch My Body," was streamed digitally to radio stations on Feb. 12 and hard copies went out a week later.
Source: E! News (All rights reserved)
Posted on March the 2nd.