Mariah losing her Virgin-ity?
Like they say, all that glitters isn't always gold - especially when you're looking to make money off Mariah Carey. British music conglomerate EMI is seeking to buy out the pop superstar's record-setting multimillion-dollar contract just three months after she released her first album for the company's Virgin Records, the Los Angeles Times reports.
In April, the 31-year-old Grammy-winning diva inked the blockbuster deal - reportedly worth between $80 million for four albums and $118 million for five albums. As part of the contract, the music giant reportedly agreed to shell out to Carey an unprecedented $20 million advance for each of the albums, in addition to $6 million for music video production and another $1.5 million to promote four singles.
The first album under the deal was Glitter, which unfortunately came out on September 11 and tanked both commercially and critically - flopping to the tune of a $10 million loss for EMI. Now, the record company is looking for a way out. The Times reports EMI honhcos are looking to cut their losses and are offering to pay Carey a large, one-time lump settlement to extricate themselves from the deal. Reps for both EMI-Virgin and Carey refused to comment on the report.
Carey's dismissal would cap an abysmal year for the octave-shattering songbird. After Virgin wooed her away from her original label, Sony's Columbia Records, Carey quickly disintegrated. After a series of high-profile public gaffes, she was admitted to a Connecticut hospital in July for what was called a "mental and physical breakdown". Her hospitalization delayed the release of the Glitter album and the movie of the same name, her acting debut.
Both album and movie were eventually released to near-universal pans. The movie quickly disappeared from theaters after only grossing $4.3 million and the album moved only 2 million copies worldwide - a fraction of the sales of her previous Columbia hits like Daydream, Butterfly and Music Box.
There were also reports (later denied) that Carey and Mira Sorvino didn't get along during the making of the film Wisegirls, which is slated for release next year. Carey has resurfaced in recent months, performing at the "America: A Tribute to Heroes" and "United We Stand: What More Can I Give?" benefits, as well as at VH1's Vogue Fashion Awards. She'll also be flexing those acting chops again in an upcoming Ally McBeal episode titled "Playing with Matches", set to air January 7. (E! Online)
|
