Pop star Mariah Carey wants her fans to know one thing. She's very happy, and it shows.
Wearing sweatpants with sequins, a cropped T-shirt and a large gold necklace with the title of her new film and soundtrack, Glitter, Carey snuggles into a large armchair at a posh New York hotel to begin our 25 minutes together to talk about her new life, her new movie and her new album.
The last four years have been somewhat of a roller coaster for this number one selling artist. She divorced her husband, Sony Music Chairman/CEO Tommy Mottola, and, most recently, ended her 10-year association with Sony Music. She has signed an unprecedented deal with Virgin Records that makes her the highest paid female recording artist in history.
With the arrival of Glitter. Carey is sporting a refreshing new sense of freedom. “You know, my last album, Rainbow, symbolized a new outlook for me but with Glitter I really feel so free, almost re-born,” she says with tears forming in her eyes. “I'm definitely more confident and happy.”
Carey has sold more than 3 million records in Canada and 150 million albums and singles worldwide. Her amazing career began with the release of her first album. the self-titled Mariah Carey, in 1990, which produced four Number One singles, and she has continued to make history with each release.
In 1999, Billboard named Carey their Artist of the Decade, and the World Music Awards titled her the Best Selling Female Artist of the Millennium at the 2000 ceremonies.
Even after 10 years in the spotlight Carey is busier than ever and loves it. Along with the release of the new album and her first starring role, she recently finished shooting her second film, a gritty independent feature called Wisegirls opposite Mira Sorvino.
“I love singing, writing and producing but making a movie is something I've wanted to do for a very long time. We have been working on Glitter (the movie) for more than three years and I am really proud of the work that I have done in it,” says Carey.
Set in the '80s, the film focuses on a young singer named Billie who wants to be a big star. She hooks up with a DJ who helps her achieve her dream but in the process winds up falling in love.
“My character, Billie, grows up at a foster home; she is taken away at a very young age from her mother who is an addict. A lot of people are calling this movie autobiographical and I am here to say it's NOT!!! I don't expect people to know my life experiences but — hello — I did not grow up in a foster home. But once a person says its autobiographical it's there forever and everyone just believes this stuff. My mom is not an addict and I talk to her a million times a day. We are very close; she is my best friend. The only real similarity that I have with Billie is that we both wanted to grow up and be singers.”
The pop superstar has been taking serious acting lessons to prepare for her major big screen debut. (She had a bit part in The Bachelor opposite Chris O'Donnell.) In the end she hopes her performance in Glitter will lake her to a new heights but, at the same time, she remains levelheaded about her career.
“I can't think that making movies is going to catapult me into superstardom. I really have to remain calm and rational and just take things as they come.”
On the music end, Carey has nothing to worry about. The star-studded Glitter soundtrack album features a half-dozen songs produced by legendary R&B team Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Carey said she wrote the songs for the album as companion pieces to the film, with many of them helping to move along the plot and set the tone for the action. The first single, an up-tempo dance number called “Loverboy,” features cameos from rappers Da Brat, Ludacris, 22 and Shawna. Funk legends Cameo, who also appear on the track, went into the studio to re-record the chorus of their 1986 hit “Candy,” one of Carey's all-time favourite songs.
As if Carey doesn't have enough on her plate she is always conscious of her look and the latest trends. You might remember a certain pair of jeans with the waistband cut off that she wore in the video for her hit single, “Heartbreaker.” As soon as it hit the airwaves thousands of teens were imitating the look.
“The funniest thing recently happened,” says Carey. “Someone stopped me in New York and asked me for an autograph. No problem, but what they wanted me to sign was a pair of jeans with the waist cut off. I looked at them and they were even called Mariah jeans. It really shocked me, because I never even thought you could copyright a look.”
Now Carey has a new look to copy. In her new video for “Loverboy” she wears a bandana tied around her chest that looks like a skimpy bikini top. “Now if I can patent that, I'll have it made,” she says.
Carey takes her fans quite seriously and visits her website often and enjoys chatting to get their input and opinions. “My fans are like an extended family, they are truly the people who have made me feel like I am accepted.”
As confident as Carey is feeling these days she hasn't always been this way. “My whole drive and struggle as a human being was for acceptance. I never felt normal. I didn't feel like I looked like a normal person. I felt like this ambiguous, racially-mixed person that didn't quite fit into any category. It's taken a long time to accept myself the way I am. So when I talk to my fans I try to tell them, first and foremost, accept yourself for who you are and don't let anyone tell you anything different.”
That's why Carey is wary of reality shows trying to make stars out of young performers. “Record companies really like to have groups like this because they perpetuate the cycle of control and they need a tax write-off. They need artists that are easy to control, who will do anything that they tell them to do. If you are insecure and young enough it's easy to prey on that. So groups that are created by producers and record companies, they give people jobs, they get an A&R person to find a song, they let someone else choose a look they keep people employed. But, ultimately, what happens to the band? I can assure you the ride won't last forever.”
When her career began, many of her own insecurities were played upon. “It was like, don't be yourself in an interview, always have your guard up. Wear this, do more ballads, show off that high octave range, don't go out in public. That was isolating, but I allowed myself to be controlled and manipulated. I was unhappy far longer than I should have been.”
So, what advice does Mariah have to give to girls who have a dream like hers?
“Do it if you really want to do it, but remember there is a lot that comes along with it, which is actually one of the things we wanted to get across in Glitter. You have to be easy on yourself and nothing else really makes you a whole person unless you get to where you want to be because of what's in you, not because of the money, the fame and anything else that comes along with it.”