Monday 30 January 2006

Mariah Carey: "The queen of pop"

2005 was the year of Mariah Carey. On December 31, 2004, if anyone had written the previous statement, they would have been ridiculed. Mariah had been placed in the "career over" section of the music industry alongside the likes of Whitney, Bobby and Lauryn Hill. How she got there and how she overcame that stigma is the real story.

The music world is one of young, hot and upcoming artists. It's hard to get on top and it's even harder to stay there. Every year there is a new artist that rises out of the woodwork. Back in 1990, that artist was Mariah Carey. Through her work as a background vocalist, Mariah's music came in contact with Sony head Tommy Motolla (remember him?), who promptly signed her to Columbia Records. Her very first single, "Vision of Love", shot to the top of the charts and multiple number one songs would follow. Mariah owned the 1990s.

During this time, Motolla married his protege. Is it even ethical for a record head to have a romantic relationship with one of his artists? (Berry Gordy and Diana Ross' relationship ultimately broke up the biggest female group ever, The Supremes.) The eventual end of Mariah's marriage to Motolla (which was displayed in her "We Belong Together video) was the beginning of a strange and peculiar downward spiral for Mariah.

Once Mariah left Motolla and Sony for Virgin Records for a record $80 million contract, the attack was on. It's been reported that Motolla took songs intended for Carey's first release on Virgin and gave them to Jennifer "I'm Real" Lopez. Whether it's true or not is the subject of much debate; however, record companies have been known to do whatever it takes to artists they know are leaving their label.

Leading up to the release of her first movie, Mariah began to act irratically. Combined business and personal matters began to take their toll and Mariah took a "break" in the middle of the massive promotion for the debut of her movie and new Virgin CD. With no Mariah to promote them, both projects failed and the doubters began to write Mariah as a lost cause.

Virgin even got in on the act, quickly buying her contract out by giving Mariah $28 million just to leave their label. Although she made out in the deal, it's considered a public relations disaster to be paid to leave your record company to "cut their losses". Critics had a field day with the downfall of Mariah Carey. Was it because she could no longer sing or that she was close to breaking records of the highly acclaimed Elvis and the Beatles?

Now a free agent, Mariah was signed to Def Jam by new head LA Reid (the mastermind behind the chart success of Usher and OutKast). Even though her first release on Def Jam, "Charmbracelet" eventually went platinum, it was widely considered that Mariah's days as a top selling artist were long gone. To prepare for her second release on Def Jam, Mariah took her time and went to the islands to regroup. After clearing her head of all the pressures of life, she hooked up with her old producer/friend Jermaine Dupri and created "The Emancipation of Mimi". (Mimi is the name Mariah is called by her close friends.)

A ultra smash, "Mimi" walked down 50 Cent's "The Massacre" to become the number one selling cd of 2005 by selling over 5 million copies and counting. (At press time, "Mimi" is still firmly lodged in the top ten.) Even more impressively, she scored 2 more number one songs from the CD, giving her a total of 17. Now she is tied with Elvis Presley for the most number one songs of all time behind only the Beatles with 20. Does anyone think Virgin jumped the gun? In other words, Mariah Carey is walking ground no other woman has ever achieved. She's had more number ones than Whitney, Janet Jackson and Madonna. She has earned the official title of "The Queen of Pop". More importantly, she's approaching the holy grail of the Beatles. Does anyone doubt she won't get there?

(EURweb)



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