Z100 interview transcript

SW: Hi Mariah.

MC: How are you?

SW: I'm okay. How ya doing?

MC: I'm doing great, thank you.

SW: Cubby came to me and he was like, "Mariah was listening to your high-noon countdown and she heard her song was #1." I was like, "Yes!"

MC: I did. I was really excited and somebody told me about what you said yesterday.

SW: Yeah, I was like, "Mariah, if you're listening again, you're #1 again."

MC: I know. That was so sweet. Thank you.

SW: So are you still hanging out in the studio right now?

MC: Yeah, I'm here.

SW: So Mariah, growing up on Long Island, did you always listen to Z100?

MC: Yeah, I did. I listened to all the stations really, but Z100 is a classic.

SW: You've been in the business - I can say you're a veteran in the business now and you're still listening to Z100. We appreciate it.

MC: Well I appreciate Z100.

SW: You have some of the most loyal fans ever.

MC: I really do. I'm so grateful for my fans, seriously.

SW: I check my e-mail daily and we go through the Z-Lines daily. They are calling and requesting Mariah's "It Like That" like crazy.

MC: Oh really? Well to everyone out there who's doing that, I love ya much! Thank you.

SW: So, "It's Like That". That's the new single.

MC: That's my single.

SW: Several of your singles, actually several of your songs were leaked on the internet that I heard.

MC: Yeah, it was really weird, but you know what happened? The first one was leaked and it had a whole bunch of talking through it and noise and all that kind of stuff, and I'm like, "How can anybody even play that or hear that?"

SW: Or even enjoy it right?

MC: Exactly. Then another one got leaked. A piece of another one got leaked. Then this got leaked and it was clean and people started playing it and it helped us say, "Okay, this is the single to go with." So I was really, really happy because of the response and everything like that.

SW: So how did you choose to work with Jermaine Dupri and Fatman Scoop on this one?

MC: I went to Atlanta and Jermaine and I, you know the first song we wrote together was "Always Be My Baby".

SW: Exactly, huge hit.

MC: Yeah, and we've been friends forever. So LA Reid, who is the CEO of the company, he and Jermaine have had great success with Usher and everything. So he was like, "I love what you and Jermaine do together. You guys should work together on this project," even though I already had eighteen songs. So I went down there and we did two songs that I loved and then he was like, "Maybe you want to even try one more time just to see. You never know." So we went down there and we did "It's Like That" and another song called "We Belong Together," which is a ballad. It's kind of like in between "Breakdown" - I don't know if you remember that song with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.

SW: [sings] "Break break down..."

MC: [sings] "Steady breakin' me on down..."

SW: Yeah, I love that song. You know, I was listening to that the other day. I was like, "I want to hear some Bone and Mariah."

MC: Oh really? It's kind of like a combo of that and a "One Sweet Day"-ish type of a thing. It's really hard to explain, but that's one of my favorites on the album. So we did both of those songs in a day and a half down in Atlanta. Then I came back to New York to do the vocals, because I always hide away with the engineer and do my vocals alone and I was trying to figure out what to do on the outro of the song because I always try to do something that people can sing along to at the end. Jermaine was like, "You know, Fatman Scoop might have some ideas," because he's always doing those club chants. So he called him, I called him, and it came together and he just did his thing. Then I just sang along with it.

SW: Yeah, I was saying when I first heard the song with Fatman Scoop and JD on it? That is definitely going to be a club hit.

MC: Yeah, it's very that. It's just about, you know when you just want to hear a song? You want to go out and have a good time? That's what this song is all about for me.

SW: So Mariah, when you moved to Def Jam, they were saying that they were going to totally take your image back to how it was when you first came out and have you doing a little more singing as opposed to focusing more on the image. Has any of that taken place? How do you feel about all those comments?

MC: I understand why people said that. I understand why that would be a corporate response and I have nothing negative to say about that. It's just that that's a little bit, I don't want to say controlling, but it's a little bit not what it's supposed to be. It's supposed to be the music first. I think that with this project, it's all about the music being first. Last time around we had to deal with so much, "Oh, let's deal with the rumors and what was this and what was that," and everybody wanted me to have curly hair and stand there and say nothing and none of that really matters. All it is is make good music that we want to hear and have fun and sing along to or music that we can cry to or music that moves us in some way, and that's what this album is to me. That's why it's called The Emancipation of Mimi. It's not that deep. It's not "I'm changing my name." It's not anything like that. It's just the spirit of who I am. A lot of people call me Mimi that really know me, that are my really close friends or family, and it was like, "Oh, that would be a cool thing because your spirit is really shining through on this record," and so that's basically the whole thing.

SW: Yeah, but you can understand where they're coming from. I know when you first came out. I remember singing on the talent show circuit and stuff. Mariah Carey, you were the one that you covered. It was like, "Let's do a Mariah Carey song." You sang more of the ballads.

MC: I still do.

SW: You displayed more of your octave.

MC: So I think people that want to hear that are going to be really excited when they hear this album because the main thing is, I started out with, "Okay, let me sing a lot of songs in my belting register because it's going to make people happy" but then I was like, "You know what? That's not even the approach that I want to take." I want to do it if I like the song in that register. I ended up like, the song I did with Kanye West, "Stay The Night".

SW: Oh, Mariah and Kanye.

MC: Yeah. It's a cool collaboration because it's like an old school type of vibe and the register I'm singing in, a lot of people like, because it's that belting, heartfelt moment. Then, the ballads. There are so many ballads that I did with live musicians, that are like what the demo of "Vision Of Love" was type of a deal. You can tell from the singing on the end of this song is where my voice is on this record. So there's a lot of the vocalization stuff, but it's really what was right for each song. It's not about proving something. I think everybody knows I'm a singer.

SW: Yeah, everybody knows that beautiful voice and yeah, I guess so. People want you to prove to them that you can still sing like that, but from an artist's point of view, you're like, "Hey, this is something I want to do."

MC: Right, and I think they can hear that singing on this single and they can definitely hear it on the record. Also people would say, "Enough with the high notes. Calm down a little bit." So you've got to balance it. Some people want to tell you to tone it down. Some people want to tell you to crank it up. But my thing was, this is my record. I'm going to make the record that makes me happy and I know that my fans are going to be happy with this record because it really covers the gamut.

SW: Everybody pick it up. The Emancipation of Mimi, Mariah Carey. I'm really excited about your return.

MC: Oh, thank you. Well, it's always fun to talk to you and I totally appreciate your sweet message the other day over the airwaves. People were two-waying me, paging me, saying, "Shelly played this on the radio" so, it was really sweet.

SW: Yeah, well listen Mariah. Have you been taking it easy? Everything's been going cool with you?

MC: Oh, everything's been great. How about you?

SW: Everything's fine with me. Everybody wants to know. Do you have a new man in your life? Any other marriage plans in the works or anything?

MC: Marriage plans in the works. Well darling, how do I answer that? Look at the paneling on the side of the wall in the studio. It's so beautiful, isn't it?

SW: Mariah's like, "I'm not going there right now." Well listen, do you ever get back to Long Island?

MC: When was the last time? I think over the summer, I was there for a minute. I was in the Hamptons for a minute. It was nice.

SW: What about now? Like when you go and hang out, when you're not in the studio and stuff? When you go and hang out in the city, where do you like to go and what are your favorite places?

MC: You know what? It really depends. What I've been doing lately is having people over my apartment. I have this big apartment and people never get a chance to come over because I was always like, "I don't want to mess it up."

SW: "It's all pretty. I don't want to mess it up."

MC: Then I was like, "Let's just make this spot the hang-out spot."

SW: That's nice. Kind of like have a Super Bowl party possibly?

MC: Well, I'm not the biggest sports fan, but you know. I can let everybody watch the Super Bowl in one room and we can watch Mean Girls or something in the other room.

SW: What are you liking on TV now? Do you watch anything on TV?

MC: You know what? I do when I get a chance. I was watching American Idol a little bit last night.

SW: Uh oh. What did you think?

MC: I was just watching my friend Randy Jackson because he makes me laugh. He's so funny.

SW: Yeah. You think Simon's too nasty?

MC: You know what? If I start commenting, then they'll comment on it. The only thing I can say is, we love Randy.

SW: You were just talking about Mean Girls. Have you seen any movies lately?

MC: I'm obsessed with Mean Girls.

SW: Yeah, that's the old school.

MC: The way I'll sit there and like me and my friends will just watch that movie over and over. Did you see it yet?

SW: You know what? I haven't seen it yet.

MC: You have to see that movie.

SW: That's the one with Lindsay Lohan right?

MC: Yes.

SW: I'll have to make sure I check it out.

MC: And Rachel McAdams. It's hot tamale. You have to see it.

SW: Okay, cool. Well Mariah, it's so nice talking to you. You sound great.

MC: Thanks, and so do you.

SW: Your CD, The Emancipation of Mimi was originally supposed to hit stores March 22, but you guys have pushed back the date to April 12. You guys go out and support Long Island's own Mariah Carey. So Mariah, go ahead and introduce your song.

MC: Okay. This is Mariah Carey on Z100 and you are listening to my new single, "It's Like That".

SW: On your favorite station.

MC: Z100.

(The Rebirth Experience - Heroes of Mariah)