Italy helped Mariah Carey work on album
After being hospitalized for an emotional breakdown last year, Mariah Carey flew to the tiny Italian island of Capri for a much-needed break. It was hardly an idle vacation. Within five months, the 32-year-old multi-platinum diva had nursed herself back to health - and recorded all 15 songs for her new disc, "Charm Bracelet". The experience, she said, was therapeutic. "I put all the things I had gone through into my music," Carey told reporters Tuesday in Tokyo. "In general, in my life, I'm in a really good, happy place."
If the disc's first-week sales in Japan are any indication, Carey's career may on the rebound, too. Despite her poor-selling "Glitter" album last year, Carey's 12th album has been at No. 1 on Oricon Entertainment's pop charts in Japan since its debut last week. Her appearances in Tokyo have been mobbed by thousands of screaming Japanese. Carey, who arrived in Japan on Monday to film her second video, "The One", appeared relaxed and smiled broadly as she spoke about the sudden turn of fortune that led to her hospitalization in August, last year.
"I had worked myself very very hard for many many years and I never took a break," she said. "And last year, I had just become very very exhausted and ended up just not really in a good place physically and emotionally." Carey didn't say what caused her breakdown, though it came months after she left Sony Music following her divorce from Sony Music president, Tommy Mottola. As president of Columbia, Mottola had guided her career.
Last year, she signed with Virgin in a much-hyped multi-album deal reported to be worth as much as $100 million. But with the commercial failure of her disc "Glitter" and the movie of the same name last year, EMI, Virgin's parent company, paid $28 million in January to void her contract. In May, she signed with the Island/Def Jam label. The move, she said, gave her the chance to draw on her experiences and work with other singers. Mostly, though, she discovered how to relax. "I learned a little more about how to work hard but also how to be healthy and take care of myself," she said. (Herald Tribune) Many thanks to MariahDownunder.com.
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