Mariah doesn't want to be a diva

MC: Ok, I know, it's just that I'm interested you know? She says giggling.

The interview can start. I presumed. Just as I was preparing to ask my first question her assistent Jackie walks into the room and asks if we want to have champagne. While Jackie is pouring up champagne I start asking my first question. Which is interrupted when Mariah asks me to wait until we have "skåled"(cheers in Swedish). Our glasses touch each other's and she says SKÅÅLL but pulls back and says with a terrified voice:

MC: You smoke, don't you?

When I tell her that I don't smoke but that some of the journalists in the hallway have, she relaxes and starts to tell me about her smoking days.

MC: I had an ice tea in one hand and a ciggarette in the other and lots of lipgloss, haha, that's probably how people remember me. I was infamous in school.

Information like this might not be interesting. But when these words come out of the mouth of someone who has been dead silent for two days straight after being interviewed to save her voice, who doesn't go on tour because that would restrain her voice, well, then it's quite interesting.

The legend says that he smoked until he had his signature raspy voice, but who would believe that Mariah Carey has, with her five-octave voice and the ability to hit pure notes?

MC: It's true, the two lowest octaves are probably there because of the smoking. But of course it's not good to smoke. I always had a cold and had constant throatache. One day I promised God that if he would give me my voice back I would never smoke again. I got three octaves back after quitting.

Mats: You haven't smoked since?

MC: First of all I take care of my voice, second of all I wouldn't promise God something that I wouldn't be able to keep.

She grumbles a little and takes a sip of her champagne.

Mats: But you drink alcohol?

MC: What do you mean?

Mats: Doesn't alcohol dry out your vocal chords?

MC: Well, what dries the chords out isn't the... do you sing? I have a feeling that you are a singer.

Mats: What? No.

MC: Ok, let's stop the tape and rewind.

The Emacipation of Mimi has been dubbed as Carey's comeback album. It's the second one she released via Universal after Charmbracelet which in comparison with Mariah's standard is seen as a flop (it "only" sold three million copies).

We all know about her star career (the best selling female artist-ever), her marriage with and divorce from Tommy Mottola, the flop movie Glitter, her breakdown, supposed suicide thoughts and her stripping in public.

Of course, with that in retrospective, the new album must feel like a revenge. Since its release it hasn't left the top five in the States and her latest single, "We Belong Together", garnered her sixteenth US number one, only the Beatles and Elvis have more number ones than her.

And of course, these are facts that the label happily points out by giving us statistics and numbers. With all the figures in my hand, it seems like I'm going to a boardmeeting rather than interviewing a music artist.

MC: I actually don't care about how much the album sells or don't sell, that is for the label to worry about, I do music!

Mariah Carey greets me at the fancy Hyatt Regency Hotel that has a magnificent view of Cologne. She's doing her interviews in the Händelsuite and in the room next door journalists are eating from the Sweet Sixteen cake that's part of the celebration for "We Belong Together". And they wait.

Three and half hours after our appointed time, I finally get to meet Mariah who's sitting surrounded by candles in a black skirt and top with butterfly shaped diamond necklace and earrings. Back to where we started.

Determined not to speak about scandals, but about her music, songwriting and producing skills, I enter the room. But then we got into the whole smoking thing which led to her brother and then to his girlfriend and so and so on. That's how Mariah Carey answers questions, by giving long evasive answers that touches others subjects.

"The Emancipation of Mimi" differs from her last album since it contains more party records, more hip-hop and is more straight-on than what her "divorce album" Charmbracelet was. The new album starts with "It's like that", a Missy-influenced song that invites you to a party, "I'm came to have a party/Open off the bacardi", she sings.

MC: Yes, to "open off" actually means that you have already come, haha. I didn't want to be that serious this time around. I wanted to do a party record and I succeeded. I've gone to some clubs in the Bronx and Brooklyn, not fancy ones but more the underground clubs for hip-hop lovers, after the album was released. It was good to hear the DJ play 50 Cent, then "It's Like That" and then a cut from Mobb Deep. The energy on the dancefloor was constant and cool. My song fit there.

It's obvious that Mariah's trying to be more "urban" and "black" than ever before. Just like she tried to chit-chat with me early on to show that she's not a diva. These two things are recurrent throughout the interview.

Mats: Was there a good party mood during the recording process?

MC: Yes, I got to be so free. At first there were rumours that my ex-husband was going to be involved in this album and i totally freaked out. It was because of him that I left Sony in the first place, because I didn't want to work with him. I actually don't want to talk about it, but it seems that I just did haha.

Mats: Yes, tell us why you felt so free in the studio then?

MC: My ex-husband didn't get involved and Antoni "LA" Reid was hired as a producer. I love all of his earlier work from TLC to Boys II Men and some other great stuff. LA is a very good drummer and an excellent producer. I played "Stay the Night" for him and LA nodded his head and said: "Ok,I get what you want to do, now let's do it!" When he came along,the album just got a new life.

Mats: In what way?

MC: He believed so much in the project and that inspired me. He discovers things that other producers don't. In "Stay the Night" for example I experiment with my voice in the background. I build a wall of sound with my voice- with some notes that are high, low and in between. He noticed that and that made me relax and trust him.

"The Emancipation of Mimi" has been recorded in seven different studios. The Nelly track "To The Floor" and "Say Something" feat. Snoop Dog was recorded in the Neptunes studio in Hollywood.

MC: It was so much fun to record with those guys. The whole gang was in the studio and it was like during the heydays of the Motown gang; everybody singing and having a blast.

Mats: But your record isn't solely party, "Fly Like a Bird" sounds more like a religious song.

MC: I'm glad that you mention it cuz it's the most personal song on the entire album. When I finished it, I called my reverend in Brooklyn from the church I use to go to. I live in Manhattan but I go to church in Brooklyn. It's not a celebrity church where you go to meet celebrities, you meet real people there.

There we are again. Mariah starts to explain how good it feels to be among "real" people but she soon notices that I'm more interested in her recording skills.

MC: Anyway, when reverend Keaton came to the studio, he suggested a couple of quotes from the bible that would suit the song and then he chose psalm 30:5 "weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning". And I put some special effects on his voice that made it sound like old school radio.

Mats: You are the executive producer on the album. Do you do alot of the technical stuff in the studio?

MC: I tell my producers to "use more compressors", "make the sound more dry" and those type of stuff. Then they do the sound work according to my wishes. I know how I want it to sound but I don't press the buttons myself. But I really live in the studio and don't like the whole diva thing where you come into the studio and sing and then leave. The songs are my babies and I want to have control over them.

Mats: How do you write your sings?

MC: Usually I sing a part for the guitar, then one for the trumpet and so on and so on and the person I work with plays the instrument after hearing me sing. Sometimes I write it down on the piano immediately but I don't usually like it.

Mats: Why not?

MC: The music comes to me so suddenly and the arrangements can be so difficult that I don't know how to play them on the piano. I need some really good musicians that can pull that off or the idea disappears. But "Mine Again" the track that I wrote with James Poyser... you know about his work with Jill Scott and The Roots?

Mats: Yes.

MC: Good, we did it old school. We sat by the piano and he played the keys in which I sang. He's so skilled that he can pull it off fast. He has his roots in church music and jazz which really are my styles. And hip-hop and R'n'B of course. I've written alot of songs on the piano by myself, songs like "Vision of Love" and "All I Want For Christmas Is You" which I wrote by using a small Casio-keyboard.

Mats: Is it different with the Neptunes?

MC: Yes, they are responsible for making the song, but I want to be in the studio and choose how the chords follow after each other and that it's in the right key. I decide the different necessary switches that we have to make. With Jermaine Dupri it's usually the same thing, I sing a loop and he creates a beat and we take it from there.

Mats: Do you write your lyrics yourself?

MC: I used to do it cuz those that I used to work with got on my nerves. When I would write serious lyrics they would try to joke with it. The fact is, I only started writing with other people when I started to do more hip-hop oriented stuff. Rappers come up with lines that I wouldn't think of or dare to say myself haha. On the new album there are some serious songs that I've written myself.

Jackie walks in and lets me know that the half hour has passed. Mariah looks at me with her big deer-like eyes and asks me if I've gotten what I need for the article. Then she adds that I seem to be a nice person. A last attempt to try and rub off the diva rumours? I almost expect hip-hop slang from her as well. But she senses that the message has been received.

(Groove Magazine - Mariah Connection)