Thursday 27 March 2008

A new Mariah

Dressed casually in a lilac lowcut top and skinny jeans, Mariah Carey arranges herself into a comfortable position in a New York recording studio. Despite it being 2am, four hours later than our scheduled meeting, she is still lively and energised.

The self-confessed night owl explains that she's used to the late hours, and is often known to work right through until seven or eight o'clock in the morning. The New York native has been trying to complete her latest record, her 11th studio album, for the past year, and is thrilled with the results.

"This album, 'E=MC2', is a fun record," Mariah says, flicking her hair. "There are a lot of cute, up-tempo songs that really make me happy, and also, some nice ballads that really touch your heart. I put a lot of myself into this, and I worked on it for over eight, almost nine months, so it's a new baby and I'm ready to put it out there for the fans. Hopefully, fans around the world will love it as much as I do."

Smiling, she adds: "This album is twice as potent as (last album) 'The Emancipation Of Mimi' in a lot of ways for me, so I'm just very excited about the new songs."

With a less than favourable reputation as a self-obsessed diva, Mariah is keen to show the world another side to her personality, so she teamed up with Brett Ratner of "Rush Hour" fame to create a comedy video to accompany the track, "Touch My Body".

"I love working with Brett because he gets me," says the star. "He knows I make jokes and like to have fun. He really likes the comedic side of me and because he's great at comedy, he sees the comedienne in me. I think that's why he really likes to let other people understand that I don't take myself too seriously. We enjoyed making the video so much. It was fun, and Jack McBrayer from the show '30 Rock', who's in it, is hilarious."

Since her debut in 1990 with "Vision Of Love", Mariah and her multi-octave voice have consistently conquered the charts with hits such as "We Belong Together" and "Without You", despite professional and personal struggles a few years ago - when her film debut "Glitter" and its accompanying disco album were universally panned and she is believed to have suffered a breakdown.

Now, after 18 years in the industry, the five-time Grammy winner insists that she hasn't changed from the girl who grew up on Long Island, New York. "Honestly, I feel like the same person I was when I was starting out. I just feel I have more experience and now, at this point in my life, I have been able to say what I really like and what I don't like. And I'm fortunate to work with people who are very experienced and help me be the best that I can be."

The singer, who was formerly married to her mentor, music boss Tommy Mottola, gets quite emotional when the subject turns to her mum, Patricia, also one her closest friends. The former opera singer divorced from Mariah's father when the star-to-be was three years old. "She inspired me to do what I do, so I'm very thankful to God," she says. "And I'm just very grateful to my mother for always supporting me."

As my time with Mariah comes to an end, it's almost half past two in the morning. "Everything keeps me up at night. That's why I have insomnia!" she admits. "But the good thing is that I ultimately go to sleep, wake up the next day and keep making music."

(Independent.ie)



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