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Re: Blake from Italy (42,209) by nikki from usa You wake up laughing? Is this a chuckle or maniacal laughter? Because that sounds a bit hysterical, but ok. I don't know why you're comparing a fan site to CNN. Are you aware this isn't a Mariah publication, but done by a fan in his own spare time with his own money as a hobby? He doesn't have to have a messageboard or let us have any of this. He can run it however he pleases. And yes, CNN is censored. Most shows, especially the news, is completely nothing more than a parrot at this point. Right down to the same exact punchlines and word-for-word cheesy jokes. (Tuesday 18 March 2014; 23:56)

Extra news tid bits MC (42,208) by nikki from usa I don't know how much truth there is to this, so take it with a grain of salt. A few weeks a go I heard a rumor on radio claiming NBC had such high ratings with Jimmy Fallon that they're making celebrities sign an agreement to only promo on their network and not anyone else's otherwise they'll be banned from their lineup as well as Jimmy's show. That means no GMA or Oprah, etc. If there's any kind of truth to that then maybe that's why MC was told to just finish her album and come back when they have things figured out. Also, it could just be me, but MC does appear to be slimming down a bit. Perhaps she's not just finishing her album and hanging with the kids, maybe she's losing weight before she continues promo. Also, I need to comment on "relatability". Which I think is hogwash, an artist doesn't get hot until their music does. I don't know anyone who can relate to Lady Gaga or Miley swinging naked from a wrecking ball. Public perception is fickle and can change at any time. The only thing I think sucks concerning MC is back in the day she always had "behind the scenes" and "specials" we don't have now. Mariah hasn't had a live tv special since Blueprint. If people got to see how MC is when she's just scewing around or hanging out with her friends and just singing, it would become pretty obvious her "diva act" is just that. Critics are always cruel, but back then we got to see how she really is to counter it and we don't have that today. (Tuesday 18 March 2014; 23:37)

Re: Kelly hateration is back up vs. backtrack (42,164) by nikki from usa From what I've heard Kelly say, it sounds like she abruptly tried to leave when Mariah needed her. Kelly makes it sound as if Mariah was intimidated by her, threatened by her talent, and wanted her to stay buried in the kick line. She wanted to leave in the '95-'96 during MC's huge Daydream period. Mariah wasn't having it. I could definitely see MC freaking out when she has promotional touring and then live touring to do, and one of her backup singers wants to bow out in the middle of that. Mariah doesn't allow just anyone to be her backup. They have to be as talented as she is and I'd imagine that would be hard to replace on short notice. Trey Lorenz has been her backup forever and she had no problem with him getting a record deal, she even wrote a song for him to sing. And what of Kelly's sister? If MC wanted her in the background so bad, then why on earth would she display the Price sisters (taking them by the hand to the front of the stage, no less) on her concert specials? I'm wondering if that's why Mariah prefers to use vocals from a backtrack instead of live back up singers these days. It's cheaper and you can count on it to be there. I've seen MC live many times and use a backtrack for background vocals while she sings live lead pretty frequently. Just as often, I've seen folks confuse this with "lipsyncing" and assuming it's a pre-recorded track. (Monday 17 March 2014; 1:06)

Lambs forget then exaggerate (42,089) by nikki from usa Quite frankly, this song is amazing and is still rising. Fans on this messageboard are fairweather when it comes to hits. Remember how everyone thought E=MC2 sucked until they listened to it for a few years and now it's most of your favorites? Most people on here will mention what great song Hero, Butterfly, or Vanishing is. But, you know what they all have in common? None is an over the top vocal or the most genius lyrics ever written. They were straight forward songs with a simple melody that told a story with it's own "mood". So is You're Mine. If this song was blasting up the charts no one would be saying anything. What lambs forget is most of MC's hit songs took time, they didn't all debut at #1. You're Mine is still climbing at radio and why is everyone's panties in a bind? There's still 2 freaking months left before her album drops. That's plenty of time for this song to climb. Mariah hasn't begun tv promotions yet. Has she ever released an album without doing that? Do you really think she's not going to be singing this live while promoting her album? She starts singing this live and you'll see the song jolt. (Thursday 13 March 2014; 18:02)

Complete and total BS (42,074) by nikki from usa Mariah turned down a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame because she didn't feel she was out long enough to deserve one, after nearly a decade of pure record breaking success. Remember Leona Lewis? She was supposed to be the next Mariah and she disappeared after a year, just like so many others. Mariah has never "thrown shade" at new artists. The type of music Mariah listens to is R&B and anything under the "urban" category. She's not a teeny bopper so it's perfectly understandable if she hasn't heard the flavor of the week. As far as Ariana goes, I've only heard one song of hers and that's because my 9 year old showed it to me. I haven't heard anything else from her, so why would anyone assume MC has? Considering the high standards MC holds for herself, it makes sense that she would expect a "new" artist to have a few years of success under their belt before she forms an opinion. Mariah embraced Bey with open arms in just that fashion. (Thursday 13 March 2014; 3:56)

Radio is still climbing, not flopping (41,944) by nikki from usa I hate to break it to those of you crapping on this song, but it's not flopping, it's too soon to tell for that. MC has been releasing this in sections. Focused on the East coast one week, and the West the next. I wrote a post earlier upset that her label hasn't begun it's "push", they were supposed to do, and being in week 3 with MC "MIA". The record has been steadily climbing at radio so far - not declining. I wish she'd keep going. The only reason it charted week 1 is because lambs came out full force with downloads getting it to #11 on iTunes the first day. The rest of the world hasn't caught up yet. The Vevo views are steady at 1 million/week so far ("adds" is most added). You're Mine is #7 Top 40 Mainstream adds, #6 most spin increase at Top 40 Rhythmic, and #2 at Urban AC adds, Urban adds and Top 40 Rhythmic adds. Let's not count our chickens before they're hatched. Keep in mind, WBT took 7 weeks to get to its peak, #Beautiful took 9. February 12 - May 6 is 12 weeks. Perhaps there's a reason for a snail's pace? You'll notice she hasn't hit live tv shows yet. (Monday 3 March 2014; 2:04)

What "management" is and isn't (41,876) by nikki from usa A manager's job is to oversee your project, set up a schedule to get you seen, and create/close deals for you. They have no control over your choreography, artistic direction, or what you look like. Benny Medina is a shady character who has a hard time keeping an artist for more than a few years because he creates a lot of bad blood and does some backstabby things. He can get things shaking and moving, no doubt. But, it comes at a price. Chris Lighty died rather suddenly and MC has been scrambling to find a proper replacement since. Randy was alright, but he still had AI duty and MC's injury cost her in that regard. JD has no experience, is still an artist himself, as well as an active producer for others so I think his attention is divided. Mariah needs a manager full time with experience who is innovative, not friends with other career obligations. I don't see Mariah being interested in "handling" her own schedule or having a problem "listening" to someone else. She is after all the queen of collabos. She doesn't entirely trust herself and is looking for everyone else's approval. Just look at her decision for AI. She didn't want to do it, but Randy, Nick, and even Prince told her to it so she did it. I think Mariah has trust issues and maybe someone screwed her over in the past. That would explain why she keeps hiring friends. (Friday 28 February 2014; 17:40)

Where's Mariah? (41,875) by nikki from usa Instead of taking the Beautiful approach and having every station in the land play the song at once, this was released in sections instead. OK, so she does the east coast radio shows the first week and debuts the music video at the end of the week. She introduces it to Ryan Seacrest, debuts the remix video on BET, and does west coast interviews in week 2. Then ends with the BET Honors show. Nice. Now, we're in week 3 when Def Jam is supposed to begin their media blitz and are nowhere to be found. Mariah's done 1 interview this week and fell off the face of the earth. This is the time to be hitting hard, to be singing live, and to be seen. Where did she go? The radio interviews are paying off as this song has been steadily climbing radio and continues to be a major gainer this week. Due to MC's lambs, she charted in the first week, when she really shouldn't have. The lambs got her to #11 on iTunes that first day and continued to buy throughout the week. That's why she charted. But now it's up to the public, but this song hasn't been out long enough with enough people to hear it regularly to want to take the next step to buy it. That usually takes a few more weeks or a few live shows to make that impact. So again I ask, where's MC? (Friday 28 February 2014; 17:17)

No creativity is dense fans (41,366) by nikki from usa I finally got Mariah as a Little Mermaid. I've been waiting for MC to be in a music video as a mermaid. Now, for those of you who are unaware of the original story before Disney came around: a mermaid fell in love with a boy and traded her fins to be with him. In the end, he didn't want her, she was heartbroken naturally, but this came at a price. She lost her life and turned into sea foam. In this music video, instead of foam, Mariah turns to gold glitter. You can see it starts off subtle on her and gains toward the end. At the last scene, you see him tossing and turning in bed, the sheets are covered in gold glitter. If ever there was proof that Mariah has a lot of intelligence, creativity, and an understanding of symbolism this is it. It also goes to show how very shallow people can be who are so obsessed with what she is or isn't wearing that they completely miss the point and subject matter altogether. (Sunday 16 February 2014; 0:41)

This is a #1 hit (41,159) by nikki from usa Enough said. These two versions are going to soar. R&B, pop, dance, even a/c can play this song. Just in time for V-Day. Mariah's premiering the video on MTV tonight and you can ask MC a question via MTV tweets #AskMariah. (Wednesday 12 February 2014; 16:13)

Trolls and environmental nutjobs already (41,138) by nikki from usa I was wondering why Jonny had an article on MCArchives about Mariah Journal shutting down with no announcement actually on the Mariah Journal website and now there's a crapload of news updated. Color me confused. Now we got environmentalist nutjobs on here complaining that Mariah shouldn't endorse something she's done since '99 with Nickelodeon's Big Help-A-Thon because she lives in her house and travels for her job. Riveting. Unless you live in a hut and have never been on an airplane get off your high horse. Supporting the rain forest is a great message. After all the years of supporting kids, PETA, and research foundations, it's wonderful that she's making the rain forest a goal. I can't wait for the new single, this stuff is finally starting now. (Wednesday 12 February 2014; 4:49)

My money is on R.Kelly (40,601) by nikki from usa They've worked together a few times, but nothing was ever released. We know she worked with him on this album and sounds like it's going to be a big ballad which would be fitting for V. Day. I hope to God she never does anything more with Justin Timberlake - his label refused to release the duet version of Yours because they "didn't think it would be good for his career". Then, she got big with TEOM and all of a sudden Justin and his label thought it would be a good idea to release Yours. Thank goodness Mariah refused. R. Kelly did a remix with MC for TMB that wasn't ever officially released and there's Betcha Gon' Know. If it is their duet then it's going to be a real release and we'll all know for sure because critics are going to hear it, rate it, and buzz it before anyone else gets to. Then, the label announces a radio release date before a drop date. If all we get is a drop date then it will be another straight to Itunes release. But, I got a feeling this is going to be a big deal and I see another top 10 hit in the making. (Thursday 16 January 2014; 23:23)

Mariah needs to fire her label (40,495) by nikki from usa For real. I can see it's nice to have an "advance" and a support system. Just to get that, you have to compromise a lot of your artistic integrity for commercial appeal. But, if your label won't promote you, chooses lousy singles costing you album sales, and you have to pay your advance back anyway; what's the point of having a label? If she doesn't go out on her own, than she should have her own label. No longer would she have to adhere to what anyone thinks is the "Mariah Carey" brand. She could try new things and branch out. She once spent $3 million on a music video which probably cost more than the making of the album. If she were to drop an LP on her own, she'd earn 2-3x as much. That would also open up a lot of doors to other possible promotions her current label might limit her to. I nearly fell on the floor when MC said she wanted to release Migrate, but her label didn't think it sounded "Mariah". Even her die hard vocal-balladeer fans were all over that track like shit on Velcro. Then, releasing "Know" to follow up "Obsessed"? "Standing O" or "Just Friends" would've been better choices. Mariah knows her fans, her label doesn't. C'mon woman. You write, produce, sing, direct, promote on your own already. You might as well own/release too. (Friday 10 January 2014; 6:00)

New album - yay! (40,399) by nikki from usa Ok, something's irking me. MC2Y came out at the end of 2010, we just ended 2013; that's 3 years 2 months, not 4. Mariah really used to spoil us, didn't she? I'm happy to have all these singles out already. Mariah might be able to release more commercial singles from this album than any album before. From the way Mariah had been talking about this album over the years, it would appear she thinks she's got some hits on her hands. I can't wait to hear the duet with R.Kelly. I think too many people are getting up in arms over nothing though. Mariah released both "Triumphant" and "Art" as pacifiers for this album taking so long. They were straight to web downloads, only Beautiful had been a commercial single and given a proper release. She's only had one official single from this album and it's a seller, so the album will come no matter what. The rest were simply released which means MC didn't think they were strong enough for radio, but wanted the lambs to hear them. The reason why that's a good thing is because it could mean we'll get more tracks on this album instead of the traditional 10-12. The hip hop community went nuts for Triumphant and so did the clubbers: #1 dance track. Art is a great vocal and Beautiful was universally well received. She covered every major MC demographic. I think Mariah is promoting this album the best way she can solo. (Saturday 4 January 2014; 3:45)

Radaronline needs to be tied to a tree (40,398) by nikki from usa And then shot. Stick a fork in it, it's done. The number of inaccuracies in a single article is nothing short of embarrassing, if not flat out slander. Mariah never performed for the president in Angola, she sang for a retiring banker at the Bank's bash for 1.3 million because it was being sponsored by Unitel, a telephone company. She then sang for a charity sponsored by the Red Cross and even donated one of her dresses for the event. The Sultan of Brunei isn't a "dictator" as he inherited the country through hereditary succession as he is a part of the monarchy. A traditional monarchy does have that kind of control, like it or not. His policies may be brutal, but I bet the theft rates drop overnight. Brunei gives free education through university and has other benefits as well. There are pros and cons to everything. (Saturday 4 January 2014; 2:59)

Innovation not immitation (40,231) by nikki from usa Shakira's using her toothpaste commercial as a springboard, Beyonce is releasing her album straight to iTunes. Mariah released her single straight to Facebook (to iTunes). I'm not sure how the latter worked out for her, as we weren't given any numbers, but it was innovative. All I want to see is Mariah on talk shows, on magazine covers, and radio interviews. Personally, I think it would be awesome if she kicked off her album release by singing the songs off her new album at a concert in Camp Mariah televised on Oprah. We could turn it into a donation even. Like: Mariah will sing 10 additional songs from her catalog based off of which songs get the most dollar votes. Pledge a dollar amount with which song you want to hear from her and the most money making songs get heard. I think that's the only way I'll get to hear Inside live. That would be innovative. (Sunday 15 December 2013; 6:10)

RE: Jaker (40,196) by nikki from usa I have to disagree with you. That's very accurate advertising. The whole point of Soundscan is to track actual sales. Not so called shipments and certificates which are paid for, and numbers declared, from the record companies. The RIAA gets its numbers straight from the record company which is why there was never a way to gauge accuracy. There was severe number gouging which is why Soundscan was invented. Even if you add up all of Madonna's material from beginning to '91, she's around 100 million shipments. Since '91 to present day Madonna has only sold 27 million albums (US), which means she would've had to sell over 170 million worldwide to equal the number her PR is claiming. Her Immaculate album came out in November of 1990 and before Soundscan began counting actual sales in March '91 (3 months and 3 weeks later) her label claimed it already sold 5 million copies in the US. A few months after March her label claimed she sold another 5 million, even though Soundscan showed she was in hundreds of thousands with sales. No where near 5 million. This is where they got their hands caught in the cookie jar. This is an example of number gouging. The reason both MC and Celine Dion have awards recognizing over 100 million albums sold and Madonna doesn't is because they can prove it. If Madonna's sales were true, she would've won that award 3x's by now. Her actual sales have yet to prove she's hit 100 million even once. (Thursday 12 December 2013; 20:56)

My time with Mariah (40,132) by nikki from usa I remember the first time I met Mariah at a signing in 2002. She sang live for the Today Show and sounded great. She showed up later in the evening wearing a black evening gown. She sat down and actually took time to talk to each individual fan. The bodyguards were trying to toss people through the line to the point of man handling them. The second a fan said, "hi" to her they damn near yanked them out. Each time a guard did that Mariah called a halt and made the guard bring the fan back so she could have one on one time with each fan for a full minute. She got up a few times to give some of them hugs. I'm talking full on bear hugs too. I never pegged Mariah for a bear hugger. In the late 90's people were saying she lost her voice, but I went to her Rainbow tour and her vocals were great. Then, people complained in the early 2000's again. Until, her 2002 CB tour where everyone and their sister gushed over her vocals. Then, her voice was "shot" again. In spite of a cold, she went on with her first show in Cali for The Adventures tour and again the "horror of her voice". The following week I saw her live in Tampa and there wasn't anything wrong with her voice. It was phenomenal. She ad-libbed, talked with the fans, and sang up a storm. They should've taped it. I've seen the performances on the net, read everyone's comments, and I've heard her live in person myself enough over the years to know people will always be shocked by the resurrection of "the voice". (Monday 9 December 2013; 3:45)

Re: Marc Charles (40,131) by nikki from usa Very detailed. The only question I have is, you mentioned the deterioration over the years through MOAIA, but Merry Christmas II You had some of the best MC vocals ever. Her live performances were off the hook. Not to mention, she was pregnant. I didn't hear this last performance, but I heard the ones she did at Rockefeller and they were awesome. I loved those vocals. So, why does yet again, another performance, a couple days later change everything so drastically? Mariah's an insomniac who's a workaholic. Add kids and mix. I think it's insane to expect her to sound like she's 20. It's normal to expect some wear and tear, but the point is "some". Everyone obsesses over her less stellar performances, but ignore the good ones while they drama queen (no, I'm not referring to you here). The Carlyle performance was only last year. Her 4th of July performances was just 6 months ago and she did great at Rockefeller Center a few days ago. (Monday 9 December 2013; 3:14)

What? (40,098) by nikki from usa What does Sony ATV Publishing has to do with Mariah's performance? I'm mad I didn't get to see it. (Saturday 7 December 2013; 23:45)

Update / re: Mimi / managers (39,993) by nikki from usa Almost Home is now at the end of The Great And Powerful Oz, Mariah's voice now starts when the credits roll. And Mimi yes, actually we do know it was for the fans as Mariah said so a million times. In every interview, and even on the Fallon show, that was the whole point. She was promoting her Q&A and wanted fans opinions on this. Brad is onto something there. Mariah had an injury and we were left without any new music. Yet the album isn't done and the Christmas season is upon us. This is the title track, so clearly it's on the album, but this isn't exactly a radio cut. At least Mariah doesn't think so, or she would have released it to radio. The fact is, due to injury, Mariah wasn't able to follow up #Beautiful and she still wants the fans to keep talking about this album. So she threw us a bone. She's not going to do a release this close to Christmas as that would compete with her season material. Evident by the fact she's performing at Rockefeller on the 4th and already recorded something for Micheal Buble's Christmas special. I don't blame MC for switching up managers for her new album. If it was Randy's idea to have radios spin #Beautiful for a full day, it was brilliant. But, with Mariah's injury putting her project on hold it makes sense that he would have to move on because he's still connected to AI. I'd like to see what JD has in store. I think it's impressive that TAOLG is bubbling under off sales alone. (Monday 25 November 2013; 17:23)

Facts before Fiction/ commercial release vs. release (39,921) by nikki from usa The only person who promoted TAOLG was Mariah. She never mentioned a radio release, music video, or any promotion afterward. Any column that talked about this only repeated what was written on MC's personal websites, there was no new information. Mariah did a few mini interviews that centralized around her "fans" hearing this and her Q&A upon release, she's releasing it on Facebook for "the fans" to hear, she was on Jimmy Fallon to see the fans reactions to this song. She released it and allowed download. The same thing with Triumphant. It wasn't released to radio either. People are going ahead as if this is the next "commercial" single. MC never backed that. Now take Beautiful. There was a media listen 2 weeks before release and it was reviewed, it was on radio for a full day before they played it at will. The next day it was played at will and allowed for download. We already knew about the video which was released at the end of the week. She went out and promoted it, recreated different versions, along with music videos, and continued to sing it. That's a commercial release. This was not. Music Box was also a song named for an album, it may have been one of Mariah's favorites, but back then a company's not going to release it if it's not going to be a hit on radio. She'd never be able to share it with the fans back then like she can now. The next facts are: there's no news of promoting this further, Mariah will be on Micheal Buble's Christmas Special, Nick Cannon said that after this song, Mariah has something else coming up. If this is a "commercial single", why would she have something else ready for release? Mariah may love this song and want to have a moment with her fans, but it doesn't mean she thinks this will be a radio hit. However, according to the people she worked with and MC's own comments on this album, she does believe she has some great hits on her album. The fact that we don't have an album release date yet, only goes to show this is not her next commercial single. Mariah's crazy like a fox. She's clearly gearing up for Christmas and may want to promote her hit album like she does almost every year now. That may be the new "jump off" to start promoting a commercial single after the new year, fresh off the Christmas high. That's one advantage Mariah has over her competition. Every year her Christmas material comes out and gets played, she can be seen, promote old favorites, before promoting her new work. Something that will do well on radio, and be promoted beforehand. When it's a true commercial release, you'll know. There will be real buzz, real media interaction, and not just repeating what she has written on her websites. (Wednesday 20 November 2013; 17:41)

Single or song (39,902) by nikki from usa Mariah was excited to release this, but there was never mention of a music video or talk about releasing this to radio. Over a week ago, Nick said she was all about releasing this song, but then she might have something else to release. Didn't MC say JD won because she wanted to release this around Valentines? Perhaps this was solely for the fans. I don't know how this could "flop" when it wasn't released to radio to begin with. It would have to be rejected to flop, instead her Facebook release got it to #1 in 8 countries. (Tuesday 19 November 2013; 17:07)

Mariah's at her best when she's "hanging out" (39,888) by nikki from usa Listening to her talk about writing some of her hits (WBT, I Know What You Want, AIWFCIY, Fantasy, etc.) the one thing they all have in common is she was having fun. She wasn't trying to do anything. Reliving childhood fun with Fantasy, she was goofing off with Busta for "I Know" and made him sing, Christmas was on a whim. This turns into some of her biggest and most memorable hits. It translates over into her videos too. I was watching the video for Loving You Long Time and it reminded me of Always Be My Baby. She sings to the camera, but at the same time she acts like she's narrating. She'll dance a little, look off to the side, almost as if she's daydreaming. It appears like she's hanging out with that laid back vibe and just having fun. In both she's dancing with a group of people at camp or a house party. This is what makes them interesting to watch. The other video hits are when she actually re-enacts a story like the Bondgirl for Honey or storyline of Heartbreaker. If she hangs out or becomes enveloped in playing a part she shines. When she doesn't try and just has fun is when she's at her finest. (Monday 18 November 2013; 19:04)

Re: Tony from Ireland, Badr, Clueey23, and RadChad (39,871) by nikki from usa You guys have some of the most refreshing comments I've seen in awhile. I thank you for them. As far as I know, TAOLG hasn't been released to radio or advertised as such. The Facebook thing was so all fans around the world would get to hear the song together for the first time. I don't know where people are getting that #Beautiful wasn't a hit, because it sold over a million copies in the US alone while The Emancipation just passed the 6 million mark. I'm hoping this is one of those "preview" things where Mariah winds up releasing this within the next couple weeks to the public at large now that the lambs got "first peak". Or maybe, all she's going for is sales, and wants to see if she can get around the politics of radio? (Sunday 17 November 2013; 7:47)

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