Loverboy... loserboy?
Yup! It seems like reigning-supreme diva Mariah Carey - whose vocal stylings have been described variously as dog-level screeches or one of the best pop instruments of the 90's by detractors and fans - has lost her Midas touch. Formerly everything that Carey touched (and we don't mean with her mile-long legs) turned to gold - or platinum, and multi-platinum at that... however, Carey's latest offering, a single off her up-coming soundtrack "Glitter", which will accompany the Columbia film of the same name, has bombed. What's wrong Mariah?
If there was ever a time when Carey desperately needed a number one song, it is right now. Carey is at a new record label and she is carrying a movie. Previously, songbird Carey was perched on a golden swing at Sony Music, headed by her former husband Tommy Mottola. Eventhough Carey's complaint that a sample that she was planning to use in one of her songs ended up on another Sony diva's CD (guesses are it ended up on J.Lo's "Play" song, which is now topping the charts) helped her out of her Columbia Records contract, she was assured success at Columbia. It was under their wing - if under Carey's writing and production - that she had obtained 15 number one singles, amassed 62 weeks at the top slot of the Hot 100, broke a number of Billboard records for longevity and quantity of number ones, and became the bestselling female artist of the decade - trumping the irrepressible Madonna - with 140 million records sold worldwide.
Carey proved that even if Madonna was the stronger pop culture force and even if she was rarely given credit as a song-writer and producer, her own instincts were a more accurate gauge of the public pulse. She had a number one each year of the 1990's, starting with her debut smash shit Vision of Love. But was it Carey's writing - or Carey's marketing campaigns - that propeled one single after another to number one?
At her new record company, Carey appears to be at a zero-sum standing point. After Vision of Love entered the charts at numer 79 in 1990 (a stunning position for the new girl on the block) all of her singles entered the Hot 100 in the top 50, or arrived there after the second week at radio. Loverboy, however, her first single for Virgin, jumped in at 79 (as did her first single - period) and rose, in a painfully slow manner, to number 55, after which it dropped off to number 61 again.
Though secure at Columbia Records, Carey certainly has a lot to prove at Virgin, where record execs signed her to contract without listening to a note of her album. The fact that Carey has transitioned from over-produced pop confections and hallmark-card ballads to laid-bare R&B stylings, certainly has not helped her case.
But the problem is that Carey is at an incredibly important cross-road. After she broke up with Mottola there were many rumors that it was he, in fact, who had orchestrated her entire career. A columnist for Fox 411 pointed out that Columbia employed what appeared to be a "game plan" to propel Carey's singles to number one. They would release a single to radio and wait for the song to crack the top 15 based on airplay alone. As soon as the song reached what the company assumed would be its airplay-only peak, they would release a drastically underpriced commercial single and watch the song magically rise to number one. Now that Carey has left Columbia, her first single has bombed... Coincidence? Self-fulfilling prophecy on the part of radio programmers? Or the work of a scorned husband?
Maybe all of the latter elements have come into play, but Carey is in quite a precarious position. Virgin signed her on for a 5-record committment, paying her $25M per album, without hearing one note form them. They did so based on Carey's track record... they failed to note that ever since Carey broke it up with Mottola her sales, undeniably, had declined precipitously. The numbers speak for themselves. Rainbow, her latest effort, fell short of reaching the so-desired top album spot - and although it sold a respectable 3 million copies, it certainly did not achieve Carey's previous monster sales (neither did "Butterfly" which also sold 5 million copies): 10 million copies for Daydream and Music Box.
Perhaps Virgin is already reconsidering Carey's contract. Janet Jackson was paid $5 million less per album than Carey, yet her first album, "All For You", did make it to number one, a couple of weeks after the single had managed the feat as well - based on airplay alone.
Although Loverboy has only been released commercially this week and Carey is known to enjoy consistently large single sales, the possibility that it could somehow rise from 61 to number one is highly unlikely - a long shot, and in a career blessed with hits and certainty, a long shot at this point in time seems like a sure failure. (It is important to note, though, that R&B star Usher managed to rise from 21 to number one based on sales, and has kept the position for three straight weeks).
Carey's fans watched hungrily as Britney Spears' "Oops...I did It Again" hogged the top album spot and reached diamond status. Then J.Lo topped both the album charts and the top box office list, in the midst of rumors that she was the newest "it-diva". Then came Janet - with a multi platinum number one album and single. What will happen to Mariah?
Although the poor airplay of the single and the negative press reviews, with Billboard calling the single "self-sabotage" on Carey's part - are both quite abnormal, it is not airplay that will sell Carey's album. She will not depend on a single to promote what will probably the most touted and highly anticipated soundtrack in years... And although fans will swallow hard as they see the breaking of Carey's tradition of obtaining a number one with the first single from her upcoming album, the future may bring better... or worse things... If she could not get airplay for a single without Columbia's help, will she be able to "Carey" a movie? Is Mariah's mother's fear - that Tommy Mottola could break a career as easily as he could make it - materializing? Or will Carey regain her throne as the female pop/r&b diva of the decade?
Whatever the outcome, it is clear that for the first time in ten years Mariah Carey once again has something to prove; and yet ironically, she seems to be more at peace with herself than ever before. (Daily Variety) Many thanks to Foiramee.
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