Wednesday 1 January 2003

Divas risking a dive in luck

Whitney Houston is running late. She is supposed to begin a rare public appearance on the plaza at Lincoln Center at 3 p.m. At 3:20 p.m., a spokesperson takes the stage to some boos and catcalls when he says Houston is stuck in traffic. In the music business, launching anything within an hour of the scheduled time, especially when you throw in a diva of Houston's stature and a TV production, is usually seen as a success. However, Houston's fans aren't having it. "She's crazy, but we will always love her," fans shout, huddling together to beat back the chill of a December afternoon. Some start yelling, "Is she coming or not?" Others start taking odds on whether she will show at all.

For those of you keeping score at home, Whitney "I Am the Devil" Houston is now way ahead in the Troubled Diva Sweepstakes, with Mariah "I Just Needed Sleep" Carey slipping into third place behind Lauryn "The Lecturer" Hill. In recent weeks, Houston and Carey, who have each topped 50 million in U.S. sales and 100 million more apiece around the world, released high-profile "comeback" albums, to middling success. Their singles are getting far less attention than their splashy tell-all chats.

Yes, Houston has copped to using cocaine, marijuana and pills, but what about her new single? Carey's tales of exhaustion and feeling like an outsider are less explosive, as is the rare flop of her "Through the Rain" single. These are dark days for The Divas, that class of big-voice, big-personality female singers so famous they're known by one name. Sure, they have those personal issues, documented quite extensively these days, as Houston and Carey descend from Mount Diva to mix among the commoners to sell some albums. However, bigger storms are brewing, as parched-for-profits record companies pressure their rainmakers to produce a torrential downpour of hits.

"Record companies are willing to put up with a lot from artists - paying for the entourages, the stylists, the makeup people - as long as they sell records," says one major-label exec. "Once those sales stop, look out." The shake-up already has started. When EMI opted to negotiate Carey's exit from her contract last year, it was, in part, because of the large overhead that comes with keeping a diva-centric corporation like Mariah Inc. in working order. "Record companies don't see any value in having marquee artists on their roster anymore," says Chrissie Hynde, a rocker diva who led the legendary Pretenders to the independent Artemis Records this year, after two decades with Warner Bros. "The money people don't care about prestige."

The reason is the music industry's unique method of operation: Call it the "Lotto Theory of Economics". Nine of 10 albums released lose money, so the record companies count on that one hit to generate enough profits to cover losses from the other nine. But that strategy is faltering, since profits from money-maker albums are now being drained by competition from pirated copies, Internet file-swapping and a decline in interest in buying mega-hits. Industry insiders say they're increasingly relying on building newcomers into stars because their generally lopsided contracts favour the bottom line substantially more than the star's does. While The Divas continue to make money, their hefty signing bonuses and demands, such as videos and guaranteed promotional spending, don't allow for the same profit margin that a newcomer like Avril Lavigne does.

"Sometimes the drama just isn't worth it," says another exec who has handled campaigns for several younger divas. This belief has helped foster the trend of the "anti-divas", such as Lavigne, Vanessa Carlton and Michelle Branch, whose debuts sold well but didn't cost much. It sets up an odd hierarchy at some labels, where building newcomers becomes a higher priority than maintaining superstar sales, even if those superstars may be stronger in the long run because of catalogue sales.

If one of The Divas, say Celine Dion or Faith Hill, sells 4 million copies of a new album, it's seen as a nice addition to her catalogue but little cause for celebration. If a newcomer sells 4 million copies, as Ashanti and Lavigne did this year, it touches off a frenzy to find more newcomers to fill that niche. For a Diva to get some label love these days, she has to pull out a smash like Shania Twain seems to have with Up! which sold nearly 900,000 its first week.

Piling expectations on the spaghetti-strapped shoulders of The Divas is nothing new. Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross have survived decades of Divadom relatively unscathed. The load does continue to grow, however. Jennifer Lopez has revealed that the demands of divadom drove her to the brink of physical collapse, while Carey was hospitalized for exhaustion. Carey seems to have recovered physically from last year's problems, yet they dog her career. Carey's song "Through the Rain", the lead-off single from her new Charmbracelet album, has become the first lead single in her career not to reach No. 1.

Houston faces similar problems with her Just Whitney album. The first single, "Whatchulookinat", disappeared so quickly her company had to push back the album's release and find a second single to build interest. But "One of Those Days" is struggling, too. The thing about The Divas is you can never count them out. Few artists can match their ability to cross boundaries and pull together an across-the-board smash - whether it is Franklin's "Respect" or Ross' "Endless Love". When Houston delivered "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the 1991 Super Bowl, just after the start of the Gulf War, it was as if she was leading the troops herself.

Houston didn't muster anywhere near that fervour when she finally took the stage, 50 minutes late, at Lincoln Plaza a couple of weeks ago. Yet, the moment she appeared, all her fans' apprehensions seemed forgotten. Houston arrived, blowing kisses. No apologies, only thanks for staying. After years of taking fan support for granted, she needs to work to generate sales. She may want to follow Carey's lead. Carey has been pushing Charmbracelet for weeks with a stunningly non-diva tour of radio stations and fan-club listening parties. That resulted in a strong opening sales week for the album.

Maybe the troubled divas need to consult with others like Twain and Hill, who manage to look as if they are still having fun when they do promotional appearances, and to project a love of music despite the pressures. If they don't, their odds of being ushered from the Troubled Diva Sweepstakes will only get worse.

(The Star)

Many thanks to Mariah Buzz.



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