I'm daydreaming, about to meet the biggest-selling female artist of the '90s in a plush central London hotel. This is to be our second sitting, the first was over two years ago, celebrating the release of Music Box, her fourth album for Sony. The stream of journalists and TV reporters came as no surprise, some had been waiting at least two hours. Most preoccupied themselves with constant deliveries from room service whilst awaiting an audience with Mariah Carey.
A lot has happened since 1990, tell us about it.
I've put out six albums in five years — I don't know other people that have done that. I'm not quite sure how I did actually, but I remember that after completing the first album I had so many ideas I didn't want to just shelve; I figured I would accumulate stuff and just carry on recording.
Were these songs you had penned at high school?
Yes. I wrote most of the first album when I was in high school, shopping for a record deal in the hope of fulfilling my dream. My whole life I've always wanted to sing. I've been singing since I was four years old and started writing at 12.
What were the things that excited you the most in your early childhood?
I had a crazy childhood. I moved a lot with my mother and had a lot of hectic things happen in my life. The constant thing for me was my love of singing, music got me through anything I was going through — which further confirmed my desire to become a professional singer.
Was the lifestyle associated with the music business an attraction?
I think growing up and not having a lot motivated me, because I never felt stable. I always felt like the rug could be pulled out from under me. I didn't really have any stability in my life and I guess that was a driving force.
As the records go by you're doing more duets. you teamed up with Luther (Vandross) on Songs and Boyz II Men make an appearance on the current album, a very different collaboration.
I had a great time working with Wayne, Shawn, Nate and Michael, it was a unique experience. I had the idea for this song, “One Sweet Day,” I did half the melody and lyrics and then stopped because when I wrote the chorus I thought, “This is a Boyz II Men chorus.” I could hear their voices on this song and I thought it would be the ultimate if I could get them to sing on it.
Why “if I could get them?” One would think that at your level in the business it was easy to get together with such stars.
Well, I hadn't met them before, we had only waved at each other at award shows, you know. I don't take that kind of thing for granted, so we got together and I played them the idea and sang my few lyrics, I had the hook already. The theme is about losing a loved one, Nate had written a very similar song for their road manager who was killed few years ago. Lyrically it was almost identical to mine and melodically he could sing it over my track, which created an incredible feeling in the room. It was an amazing moment, so we put the two songs together.
You've managed to tap into the pulse of society across the world. What is it that your are communicating through your songwriting that is so consistently successful?
I live for the radio. Everywhere I go I have to have it with me, I feel that it keeps me in touch with what's going on in music today. On Daydream I really enjoyed working with new young producers like Jermaine Dupri, Puffy Combs and ODB.
Was there a “back to the roots” directive for this album as apposed to your regular mainstream/crossover appeal?
MC: I would have loved to have been doing this the whole time, but I also love to sing ballads and express myself in that way; I think once that happened and it hit, people though “we've got to have those ballads and push it in that direction.” That's great too because those songs make a great impact on people, which is important to me. I love doing stuff where I can stretch vocally, for example on remixes, people really respond to them because they're exciting records. I feel that if the track reflects something that people are feeling then it's going to work, that's how new artists become popular. It's not necessarily true that, because I have a big name now, anything I do is going to blow up and be the biggest thing and connect with people.
If it all stopped tomorrow, how would you deal with the change?
I would sit back and try to understand what happened and why, look at the situation and everything I've accomplished. Be thankful for it, hang out at home and play with my dogs, do whatever I feel like doing and maybe record an album that's not commercial — go in a different direction.
What do you think that you represent to the women of the world?
Some women identify, some probably don't.
And for those that don't?
I really don't know, it's very hard for me to analyse and understand other people's views of me because I'm the person living inside myself. I think that the danger that you get into when you're a public person is that everybody forms opinions about you, good, bad or indifferent. When your sit down to an interview you're not going to say the things you would say to your closest friend. When I first meet somebody I'm kind of shy, as I get to know them I loosen up and when they really get to know me I become a total freak! I think the same thing has happened with my career in general; my comfortability level — just talking about stuff and relaxing — has risen, when I started everybody made me feel so paranoid, being a young girl surrounded by powerful people who are pushing you in different directions and taking you through the motions. Not that they're trying to, but they end up moulding and controlling you — I knew nothing other than writing songs and being a kid, dreaming of being a singer.
Does your marriage to the head of Sony, Tommy Mottola, have any influence on your career?
I didn't enter the record business being his wife, you know. I had a demo that he happened to hear, a lot of songs on that demo ended up being very successful.
You directed the “Fantasy” video yourself, why?
It was a very interesting experience directing my own video, a learning experience too. I've done a lot of videos and never felt 100% happy with them. Some things I like, but when you communicate something to a director they can only do it from their point of view, they're not inside my head seeing what Ii'm visualising. So I got a great production team who helped me through it and explained things to me. I worked with a great director of photography, his name is Max and he's young and cool and didn't have an ego problem dealing with me. I just wanted to get my vision across and they helped me to do that.
Why did you decide to start your own label?
I love music, and I think that working with new artists will be really exciting — I kinda know how it feels to be the artist dealing with the record company people and stuff. I've been in contact with a number of artists who don't have deals and are very talented. It'll be fun, another creative outlet for me and a chance to spread out and do a bunch of other things.
Thanks for the daydream!