SoulAlive said:

lezama said:

I didn't even know she had an album out.. not that Im a fan, but I feel like Im a pretty informed music head... This hasn't been promoted very well at all.

This has been one of the biggest under-promoted albums by a major artist in recent years.They really screwed things up big time.Constant delays,early "buzz" singles that went nowhere,and fans are saying they didn't even see the album advertised anywhere in those Sunday newspaper ads.What a mess.

And in an industry where a formidable number of units are still sold, sales matter if you're a global superstar , despite cries to the contrary. That aside, she has delivered a pretty good album, although I could do without the guest rappers and R. Kelly.

[Edited 6/12/14 10:01am]

kitbradley said:

Mimi has almost 25 years in the business, sold hundreds of millions of records and has more bread than all of the people combined on this board. Something tells me she's not losing sleep because this album didn't go Platinum in 3 days. Name me some veteran R&B singers, who are still alive, who can manage a #3 debut on the Pop chart and a #1 debut on the R&B chart???

I finished listening to the CD and I was surprised because originally, I wasn't expecting much. There are some damn fine songs on it. She should be proud. Sales don't equal quality. And, for the most part, this is a quality album.


I'm just happy that Mimi is still alive and with us. With all the pressures of the industry and all that she has had to live up to, she never got involved in drugs and let it ruin her career or put her in an early grave. God bless you, Mimi.

I think another challenge is that the average listener has a short attention span. Back in the day, there could be a song that's at the top of the charts for months because of the way things were at that time. Now, you can have a hit that might last you a few weeks at the most because after that, there's another song or whatever that has become viral, even if it's not from a recording artist. I think that's an issue as well because you have random people who post their music on Youtube and can get an enormous amount of media attention for a short while. I think this is why certain artists always put "new" music out because they are afraid of being overshadowed by new artists.

In some ways, I also blame hip-hop for the breakdown of R&B music as well. Hip-hop has turned into an unrecognizable mess from what it was years past. Why in the world is someone like Juicy J doing songs with Katy Perry? Pop music and hip-hop are a bit of an unholy alliance it seems. So, this is probably why Mariah still does her duets with rappers....it's what she's been doing all along anyway.

Maybe it's because I'm only 22, but I was bored listening to the album...and I'm a hardcore lamb. I have every one of Mariah's albums/remixes/singles, except for this album. The tracklisting seemed off with all the radio-friendly songs being sandwiched in between long dramatic ballads. Emotions (the album she says she was inspired by) was one of her slowest albums, but the arrangements and production of all those ballads made them iconic. Also, her team back then decided on the definite singles beforehand, put them at the beginning of the album, and pushed them relentlessly. There were so many "buzz singles" for this current album that after a while, I just got tired and started to lose interest. And this album was talked about since 2012 with "Triumphant"...here it is 2014.

-

I think her team should have shut up about the album until they had everything in place, released it at the beginning of last year, and then used her Good Morning America performance, BET Honors appearance, etc to push the album. She could have used that interview with Barbara Walters on Nightline to discuss the making of the album and tie her family into it if she wanted to discuss them. She also shouldn't have done American Idol as a judge. Maybe a mentor on The Voice (not American Idol, because AI is cheesy) for one week, but not a real judge. And most importantly, just because Jermaine Dupri is an okay producer and he's known Mariah since the 90s doesn't mean that he should manage her career.

RoseDuchess12 said:

Maybe it's because I'm only 22, but I was bored listening to the album...and I'm a hardcore lamb. I have every one of Mariah's albums/remixes/singles, except for this album. The tracklisting seemed off with all the radio-friendly songs being sandwiched in between long dramatic ballads. Emotions (the album she says she was inspired by) was one of her slowest albums, but the arrangements and production of all those ballads made them iconic. Also, her team back then decided on the definite singles beforehand, put them at the beginning of the album, and pushed them relentlessly. There were so many "buzz singles" for this current album that after a while, I just got tired and started to lose interest. And this album was talked about since 2012 with "Triumphant"...here it is 2014.

-

I think her team should have shut up about the album until they had everything in place, released it at the beginning of last year, and then used her Good Morning America performance, BET Honors appearance, etc to push the album. She could have used that interview with Barbara Walters on Nightline to discuss the making of the album and tie her family into it if she wanted to discuss them. She also shouldn't have done American Idol as a judge. Maybe a mentor on The Voice (not American Idol, because AI is cheesy) for one week, but not a real judge. And most importantly, just because Jermaine Dupri is an okay producer and he's known Mariah since the 90s doesn't mean that he should manage her career.

You make some good points here, especially about American Idol being a career killer on some level for her. I still think it's odd that every since she got with Nick Cannon that he's really stepped his game up and is making tons of money. I'm not under the impression that she's benefiting as much since she married him. Don't get me wrong, I like both of them but I can't help but notice that inconsistency.

I never knew that she did a Barbara Walters interview! Not sure how I missed that since I keep up with stuff like that. I have only heard the songs that MC did on the NBC special and I think the music video that they showed with her sitting in one place the whole time and just tossing her hair bored me to death. It gave me the impression that she hadn't really pushed herself in any new directions. I think there are some singers that are paint by numbers and MC is no exception. I think when her album dropped, it was at the beginning of the Donald Sterling scandal. Perhaps it was just bad timing....

RoseDuchess12 said:

And this album was talked about since 2012 with "Triumphant"

Lurkers and haters note: "Triumphant" (featuring Rick Ro$$) does not appear on the new album.

Everyone complaining about R.Kelly: He only appears on the deluxe edition, so go get the standard edition.

She's such a full of herself little bitch every interview nowadays she has to talk about her achievements. Her albums deserve to fail she needs to learn to humble herself... and she has a kid

PS talk into the mic! GEEBUS

[Edited 6/12/14 18:54pm]

Cinny said:

Everyone complaining about R.Kelly: He only appears on the deluxe edition, so go get the standard edition.

Are my eyes deceiving me or are more people LESS offended by Rick Ross compared to R. Kelly? One thing that seems a bit confusing is that for a very long time, she's done collaborations with R&B and Hip-Hop artists, but maybe it's time for her to give the hip-hop collaborations a rest for a bit. I dunno, maybe it would be different if she weren't always in the diva/fancy ballroom gown and actually changed up her look to match the person she's doing the collaboration with perhaps it wouldn't look so out-of-place. Or, maybe the hip-hop artists should wear the fancy threads themselves? Who knows No matter what, her place in music history is solid.

SeventeenDayze said:

SoulAlive said:

This has been one of the biggest under-promoted albums by a major artist in recent years.They really screwed things up big time.Constant delays,early "buzz" singles that went nowhere,and fans are saying they didn't even see the album advertised anywhere in those Sunday newspaper ads.What a mess.

I really wonder what goes on behind the scenes that leads to some of this bad decisions that seem to be coming out of her camp. I think you're right, an artist on her level should have better management coming her way, that's for sure. Another thing that's puzzling is that NBC has decided not to air the World Music Awards. MC got a lifetime achievement award at that show but millions of people on this side of the pond will never see it! That would have been great publicity (afterall that's what awards are for) but it fell flat. If I were here, I would be furious about the apparent stupidity that is making a mockery out of her career.

I agree that her album release was severely underpromoted. However, she did make an appearance on the Today show and Good Morning America just prior to its release, but it seemed like she was just going through the motions instead of really pushing it. I think she thought being on the World Music Awards was going to give her album a push, but the apparent problems with the telecast and NBC subsequently scrapping it really hurt her promotion. I beleive the plan was to be on the World Music Awards and follow that with that special with Matt Lauer right afterward, but then NBC got a beat on Edward Snowden, so they went with a more newsworthy special. So they eventually buried it on the following Saturday night.

It remnded me how they treated the Coldplay special. Coldplay was promotiing their...what? You didn't know about the Coldplay special that was on a few weeks ago? Don't feel bad, because NBC buried it on the Sunday a week before Memorial Day at 7:00 pm EST, and I saw absolutely no promotion of it on the network, but then again I wasn't watching The Voice. The only reason I heard about it was because VH1 mentioned it on their Top 20 Video Countdown.

Having said that, maybe a huge publicity blitz wouldn't have made a difference. The buzz singles she released in the two years prior to the album release all tanked, and a lot of younger listeners probably weren't into her very much anyway. And I'm sure many of her older fans who rememeber her glory days from the 1990's and The Emancipation of Mimi heard thsoe singles with Rick Ross and other hip hop and R&B flavors of the moment and thought her album was going to suck. Whatever the reasons were, it was promoted very badly and probably will go down as a huge flop.

728huey said:

SeventeenDayze said:

I really wonder what goes on behind the scenes that leads to some of this bad decisions that seem to be coming out of her camp. I think you're right, an artist on her level should have better management coming her way, that's for sure. Another thing that's puzzling is that NBC has decided not to air the World Music Awards. MC got a lifetime achievement award at that show but millions of people on this side of the pond will never see it! That would have been great publicity (afterall that's what awards are for) but it fell flat. If I were here, I would be furious about the apparent stupidity that is making a mockery out of her career.

I agree that her album release was severely underpromoted. However, she did make an appearance on the Today show and Good Morning America just prior to its release, but it seemed like she was just going through the motions instead of really pushing it. I think she thought being on the World Music Awards was going to give her album a push, but the apparent problems with the telecast and NBC subsequently scrapping it really hurt her promotion. I beleive the plan was to be on the World Music Awards and follow that with that special with Matt Lauer right afterward, but then NBC got a beat on Edward Snowden, so they went with a more newsworthy special. So they eventually buried it on the following Saturday night.

It remnded me how they treated the Coldplay special. Coldplay was promotiing their...what? You didn't know about the Coldplay special that was on a few weeks ago? Don't feel bad, because NBC buried it on the Sunday a week before Memorial Day at 7:00 pm EST, and I saw absolutely no promotion of it on the network, but then again I wasn't watching The Voice. The only reason I heard about it was because VH1 mentioned it on their Top 20 Video Countdown.

Having said that, maybe a huge publicity blitz wouldn't have made a difference. The buzz singles she released in the two years prior to the album release all tanked, and a lot of younger listeners probably weren't into her very much anyway. And I'm sure many of her older fans who rememeber her glory days from the 1990's and The Emancipation of Mimi heard thsoe singles with Rick Ross and other hip hop and R&B flavors of the moment and thought her album was going to suck. Whatever the reasons were, it was promoted very badly and probably will go down as a huge flop.

To me it seems like when an artist is promoting an album, they go on a number of TV shows and they don't stop making those appearances until a few weeks after the album dropped. Maybe her mistake was only going to a handful of shows and not doing others. She wasn't on Arsenio which seemed like it would have been the right demographic that her music resonates the most with.

As you said, the buzz singles being released was probably a mistake. But, these days it seems like singles are more popular than the entire album. I hope this doesn't mean the end of albums but it seems like some "artists" are getting away with just dropping singles and not doing an album.

So the album was 5 years in the making ? Really ? How do you stay relevant when you need 5 years for your album ? Because, in 5 years the musical landscape, music trends, genres etc. change so much it means the song you wrote (and recorded) 5 years ago is probably totally out of date 5 years later.Not a clever way to keep your music contemporary.

[Edited 6/12/14 22:38pm]

At this point,the best thing for Def Jam to do is to strictly focus on "You Don't Know What To Do".Promote it aggressively and try to turn it into a summer hit.Mariah needs to make an excellent video for it (NOT a typical,predictable Mariah Carey video where the only message is "look at me.....I'm so sexy,don't you agree!!").Then,she should plan a mini-tour...get out there and create some excitement about the new album! She's gotta get out there and *work* this album.

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Mariah?
Former Record Executives Chime in With Suggestions
The Hollywood Reporter

June 13, 2014



Mariah Carey's latest album, Me. I Am Mariah… the Elusive Chanteuse, entered the Billboard 200 chart at No. 3 with 58,000 sold, her lowest total for a non-holiday album since 1991's Emotions entered at No. 4 with 156,000, when SoundScan first started tracking sales.


Not even in her darkest days, being hospitalized for emotional exhaustion and erratic behavior in 2001 after signing a $100 million, five-album deal with EMI's Virgin Records, and starring in the universally panned Glitter, has an album done so poorly. Even the soundtrack to that disaster sold more, debuting at No. 7 with 116,000 copies.

Island Def Jam's Antonio "L.A." Reid famously came to Carey's rescue in 2005, guiding Mariah to her comeback with the multiplatinum The Emancipation of Mimi, which returned her to the top of the charts, proving it's still possible she can regain her commercial footing.

Still, these days it's a lot tougher to get traction in the marketplace. So we turned to a trio of veteran, one-time record label executives to ask what they'd do to jump-start the Elusive Chanteuse's career, and came away with some constructive suggestions.

Ed Eckstine, son of the legendary crooner Billy Eckstine and a former President of Mercury Records, where he guided Vanessa Williams to a successful singing career, approached the dilemma as a music man. He is currently producing a documentary on his father, My Dad was a Singer.

"As Mariah Carey enters her mid-40s, she must adjust to 'ever-shrinking' radio opportunities," he says. "She has to downsize her commercial expectations, but that could allow her to take some chances artistically."

Eckstine says Mariah should explore taking the Celine Dion route of a Las Vegas or Atlantic City residency, "a big show with bells and whistles, an over-the-top diva-ready extravaganza" might be the answer, where she can perform her hits and not worry about new material.

The veteran record man also suggests Carey might tone down the "va-va-voom" imagery, record an EDM-dance-Europop album or reunite with Clive Davis to provide her with some quality material.

"Dial up Pharrell and tell him to bring Nile Rodgers with him," he concludes.

Tom Vickers, a former A&R and music publishing executive at A&M, Capitol, Mercury and Almo Irving, thinks the 44-year-old Mariah has a disconnect with what was once her core audience: 14 to 18-year-old girls. "The biggest issue is she's a mother with two children of her own trying to appeal to teenagers."

His recommendation? Collaborate with hit songwriter-producers like Dr. Luke,Max Martin or "this year's model."

"Don't compete with women 20 years younger, but come with more mature versions of what they're doing that could hit a slightly older demographic," he says. "Unfortunately, Mariah is no longer perceived as a role model by females nor a sex object by men. She's caught in between, which undercuts her relevance."

He also counsels Mariah to seek out duet partners that could broaden her audience, such as John Mayer or even an international star like Pitbull, create an "event" record based on a theme (a period songbook, an unplugged album, etc.) or set her sights on international territories where she has shown strength in the past. "It was not a smart career move getting into bitchy cat fights with Nicki Minaj on American Idol," says Vickers. "She's bound to suffer in comparison."

Publicity guru Bob Merlis, quipped, "She should do a country record and a Howard Stern interview, where she has the time to explain herself that she doesn't get in those tabloid sound bites."

What he failed to mention was how a sit down with the King of All Media in the late '90s surfaced again during her 2001 breakdown.

She went on a rant against Stern during an in-store appearance at Tower Records, saying his form of humor greatly upset her, during her period of "erratic behavior," which included an infamous drop-in on MTV's TRL, where she handed out ice cream bars and began a modified striptease to the astonishment of host Carson Daly.

Nearly 13 years later, Carey is seemingly content in her personal life, the mother of two and the by all accounts contented wife of the ubiquitous Nick Cannon. Her professional happiness is another story. Perhaps nothing short of a reunion with ex-husband Tommy Mottola can help Mariah regain her career mojo. She's seemingly tried everything else.

beatz01 said:

So the album was 5 years in the making ? Really ? How do you stay relevant when you need 5 years for your album ? Because, in 5 years the musical landscape, music trends, genres etc. change so much it means the song you wrote (and recorded) 5 years ago is probably totally out of date 5 years later.Not a clever way to keep your music contemporary.

[Edited 6/12/14 22:38pm]

Five years? Try five days I agree that things do change quickly. This may be why certain artists never take a break for fear of not being relevant anymore (Re: Jay-Z)

I really like this album...it's a shame that the promotion seems off. Radio has not embraced it either but I think it's really good.

She's also been plagued with rumors of not singing live during recent performances and that hasn't helped.

Frederick96 said:

She's also been plagued with rumors of not singing live during recent performances and that hasn't helped.

Really? I hadn't heard that but come to think of it, I remember being surprised she lip synched on the NBC special. I couldn't believe she didn't sing live on that! I was shocked.

Identity said:

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Mariah?
Former Record Executives Chime in With Suggestions
The Hollywood Reporter

June 13, 2014



Mariah Carey's latest album, Me. I Am Mariah… the Elusive Chanteuse, entered the Billboard 200 chart at No. 3 with 58,000 sold, her lowest total for a non-holiday album since 1991's Emotions entered at No. 4 with 156,000, when SoundScan first started tracking sales.


Not even in her darkest days, being hospitalized for emotional exhaustion and erratic behavior in 2001 after signing a $100 million, five-album deal with EMI's Virgin Records, and starring in the universally panned Glitter, has an album done so poorly. Even the soundtrack to that disaster sold more, debuting at No. 7 with 116,000 copies.

Island Def Jam's Antonio "L.A." Reid famously came to Carey's rescue in 2005, guiding Mariah to her comeback with the multiplatinum The Emancipation of Mimi, which returned her to the top of the charts, proving it's still possible she can regain her commercial footing.

Still, these days it's a lot tougher to get traction in the marketplace. So we turned to a trio of veteran, one-time record label executives to ask what they'd do to jump-start the Elusive Chanteuse's career, and came away with some constructive suggestions.

Ed Eckstine, son of the legendary crooner Billy Eckstine and a former President of Mercury Records, where he guided Vanessa Williams to a successful singing career, approached the dilemma as a music man. He is currently producing a documentary on his father, My Dad was a Singer.

"As Mariah Carey enters her mid-40s, she must adjust to 'ever-shrinking' radio opportunities," he says. "She has to downsize her commercial expectations, but that could allow her to take some chances artistically."

Eckstine says Mariah should explore taking the Celine Dion route of a Las Vegas or Atlantic City residency, "a big show with bells and whistles, an over-the-top diva-ready extravaganza" might be the answer, where she can perform her hits and not worry about new material.

The veteran record man also suggests Carey might tone down the "va-va-voom" imagery, record an EDM-dance-Europop album or reunite with Clive Davis to provide her with some quality material.

"Dial up Pharrell and tell him to bring Nile Rodgers with him," he concludes.

Tom Vickers, a former A&R and music publishing executive at A&M, Capitol, Mercury and Almo Irving, thinks the 44-year-old Mariah has a disconnect with what was once her core audience: 14 to 18-year-old girls. "The biggest issue is she's a mother with two children of her own trying to appeal to teenagers."

His recommendation? Collaborate with hit songwriter-producers like Dr. Luke,Max Martin or "this year's model."

"Don't compete with women 20 years younger, but come with more mature versions of what they're doing that could hit a slightly older demographic," he says. "Unfortunately, Mariah is no longer perceived as a role model by females nor a sex object by men. She's caught in between, which undercuts her relevance."

He also counsels Mariah to seek out duet partners that could broaden her audience, such as John Mayer or even an international star like Pitbull, create an "event" record based on a theme (a period songbook, an unplugged album, etc.) or set her sights on international territories where she has shown strength in the past. "It was not a smart career move getting into bitchy cat fights with Nicki Minaj on American Idol," says Vickers. "She's bound to suffer in comparison."

Publicity guru Bob Merlis, quipped, "She should do a country record and a Howard Stern interview, where she has the time to explain herself that she doesn't get in those tabloid sound bites."

What he failed to mention was how a sit down with the King of All Media in the late '90s surfaced again during her 2001 breakdown.

She went on a rant against Stern during an in-store appearance at Tower Records, saying his form of humor greatly upset her, during her period of "erratic behavior," which included an infamous drop-in on MTV's TRL, where she handed out ice cream bars and began a modified striptease to the astonishment of host Carson Daly.

Nearly 13 years later, Carey is seemingly content in her personal life, the mother of two and the by all accounts contented wife of the ubiquitous Nick Cannon. Her professional happiness is another story. Perhaps nothing short of a reunion with ex-husband Tommy Mottola can help Mariah regain her career mojo. She's seemingly tried everything else.

some of those suggestions are crazy a country album?! A collaboration with Pitbull??!

SeventeenDayze said:

RoseDuchess12 said:

Maybe it's because I'm only 22, but I was bored listening to the album...and I'm a hardcore lamb. I have every one of Mariah's albums/remixes/singles, except for this album. The tracklisting seemed off with all the radio-friendly songs being sandwiched in between long dramatic ballads. Emotions (the album she says she was inspired by) was one of her slowest albums, but the arrangements and production of all those ballads made them iconic. Also, her team back then decided on the definite singles beforehand, put them at the beginning of the album, and pushed them relentlessly. There were so many "buzz singles" for this current album that after a while, I just got tired and started to lose interest. And this album was talked about since 2012 with "Triumphant"...here it is 2014.

-

I think her team should have shut up about the album until they had everything in place, released it at the beginning of last year, and then used her Good Morning America performance, BET Honors appearance, etc to push the album. She could have used that interview with Barbara Walters on Nightline to discuss the making of the album and tie her family into it if she wanted to discuss them. She also shouldn't have done American Idol as a judge. Maybe a mentor on The Voice (not American Idol, because AI is cheesy) for one week, but not a real judge. And most importantly, just because Jermaine Dupri is an okay producer and he's known Mariah since the 90s doesn't mean that he should manage her career.

You make some good points here, especially about American Idol being a career killer on some level for her. I still think it's odd that every since she got with Nick Cannon that he's really stepped his game up and is making tons of money. I'm not under the impression that she's benefiting as much since she married him. Don't get me wrong, I like both of them but I can't help but notice that inconsistency.

I never knew that she did a Barbara Walters interview! Not sure how I missed that since I keep up with stuff like that. I have only heard the songs that MC did on the NBC special and I think the music video that they showed with her sitting in one place the whole time and just tossing her hair bored me to death. It gave me the impression that she hadn't really pushed herself in any new directions. I think there are some singers that are paint by numbers and MC is no exception. I think when her album dropped, it was at the beginning of the Donald Sterling scandal. Perhaps it was just bad timing....

I agree, the timing was totally off. And yeah, the Barbara Walters interview wasn't really advertised and it was kind of slapped on the end of Nightline. Everything about this era kind of seemed randomly slapped on with no planning.

Identity said:

The veteran record man also suggests Carey might tone down the "va-va-voom" imagery, record an EDM-dance-Europop album or reunite with Clive Davis to provide her with some quality material.

Oh hell nah!!!!! Ed Eckstine clearly had the best, most reasonable advice.

Its amazing how dumb some writers are, sorry but they are. devoting articles to this album plunging down the chart or not selling like she did 15 years ago, shows HOW DUMB all journalists are now, bloggers whatever you wanna call them.

Looking at that article and citing the comparisons to GLITTER? Really that was 2001, and a week when everyone else was kinda tied into the 9/11 thing, not saying thats why she struggled then but that was 13 years ago, comparing those sales to now its just FUCKING dumb, sorry but it is. And then comparing a debut of her second album in 1991 to this. OK lets ananlyze that for a moment this album sold 63,000 right week one, that one sold 194,000 week one, and then the album actually stayed pretty dead on with sales, albums now drop off the face of the earth a week or two in regardless if they sell or not, i mean take a BIG seller like that Beyonce thing that came out, is anyone still talking about that album? sorry times have changed big time. That is what the article misses, yes she isnt selling what she sold, NO ONE on the earth in music is. Also she is 43 not 21, and she isnt riding off number one hits and constant airplay. PLUS what this article misses as all of them do, the industry since the beginning of soundscan, well since even the BOOM of the 1998-2000 era, the industry has slid almost 90% in sales overall, probably even more than that.

SoulAlive said:

Identity said:

How Do You Solve a Problem Like Mariah?
Former Record Executives Chime in With Suggestions
The Hollywood Reporter

June 13, 2014



Mariah Carey's latest album, Me. I Am Mariah… the Elusive Chanteuse, entered the Billboard 200 chart at No. 3 with 58,000 sold, her lowest total for a non-holiday album since 1991's Emotions entered at No. 4 with 156,000, when SoundScan first started tracking sales.


Not even in her darkest days, being hospitalized for emotional exhaustion and erratic behavior in 2001 after signing a $100 million, five-album deal with EMI's Virgin Records, and starring in the universally panned Glitter, has an album done so poorly. Even the soundtrack to that disaster sold more, debuting at No. 7 with 116,000 copies.

Island Def Jam's Antonio "L.A." Reid famously came to Carey's rescue in 2005, guiding Mariah to her comeback with the multiplatinum The Emancipation of Mimi, which returned her to the top of the charts, proving it's still possible she can regain her commercial footing.

Still, these days it's a lot tougher to get traction in the marketplace. So we turned to a trio of veteran, one-time record label executives to ask what they'd do to jump-start the Elusive Chanteuse's career, and came away with some constructive suggestions.

Ed Eckstine, son of the legendary crooner Billy Eckstine and a former President of Mercury Records, where he guided Vanessa Williams to a successful singing career, approached the dilemma as a music man. He is currently producing a documentary on his father, My Dad was a Singer.

"As Mariah Carey enters her mid-40s, she must adjust to 'ever-shrinking' radio opportunities," he says. "She has to downsize her commercial expectations, but that could allow her to take some chances artistically."

Eckstine says Mariah should explore taking the Celine Dion route of a Las Vegas or Atlantic City residency, "a big show with bells and whistles, an over-the-top diva-ready extravaganza" might be the answer, where she can perform her hits and not worry about new material.

The veteran record man also suggests Carey might tone down the "va-va-voom" imagery, record an EDM-dance-Europop album or reunite with Clive Davis to provide her with some quality material.

"Dial up Pharrell and tell him to bring Nile Rodgers with him," he concludes.

Tom Vickers, a former A&R and music publishing executive at A&M, Capitol, Mercury and Almo Irving, thinks the 44-year-old Mariah has a disconnect with what was once her core audience: 14 to 18-year-old girls. "The biggest issue is she's a mother with two children of her own trying to appeal to teenagers."

His recommendation? Collaborate with hit songwriter-producers like Dr. Luke,Max Martin or "this year's model."

"Don't compete with women 20 years younger, but come with more mature versions of what they're doing that could hit a slightly older demographic," he says. "Unfortunately, Mariah is no longer perceived as a role model by females nor a sex object by men. She's caught in between, which undercuts her relevance."

He also counsels Mariah to seek out duet partners that could broaden her audience, such as John Mayer or even an international star like Pitbull, create an "event" record based on a theme (a period songbook, an unplugged album, etc.) or set her sights on international territories where she has shown strength in the past. "It was not a smart career move getting into bitchy cat fights with Nicki Minaj on American Idol," says Vickers. "She's bound to suffer in comparison."

Publicity guru Bob Merlis, quipped, "She should do a country record and a Howard Stern interview, where she has the time to explain herself that she doesn't get in those tabloid sound bites."

What he failed to mention was how a sit down with the King of All Media in the late '90s surfaced again during her 2001 breakdown.

She went on a rant against Stern during an in-store appearance at Tower Records, saying his form of humor greatly upset her, during her period of "erratic behavior," which included an infamous drop-in on MTV's TRL, where she handed out ice cream bars and began a modified striptease to the astonishment of host Carson Daly.

Nearly 13 years later, Carey is seemingly content in her personal life, the mother of two and the by all accounts contented wife of the ubiquitous Nick Cannon. Her professional happiness is another story. Perhaps nothing short of a reunion with ex-husband Tommy Mottola can help Mariah regain her career mojo. She's seemingly tried everything else.

some of those suggestions are crazy a country album?! A collaboration with Pitbull??!

.

This is a prime example of why the pop music landscape has turned into shit.

Those fuckers don't know what the fuck they're on about. Generally moronic suggestions and even the casual Mariah fan could make better ones!

nd33 said:

SoulAlive said:

some of those suggestions are crazy a country album?! A collaboration with Pitbull??!

.

This is a prime example of why the pop music landscape has turned into shit.

Those fuckers don't know what the fuck they're on about. Generally moronic suggestions and even the casual Mariah fan could make better ones!

This is one case where the much abused would be an appropriate response to dingbat ideas...

re: their suggestion that she should collaborate with Pitbull...

That's exactly the kinda stuff that she should NOT be doing.Hasn't she done enough hip-hop collabs to last a lifetime? Does anyone still get excited at the idea of Mariah doing a track with a "hot" rapper? Surely,even she must be bored with that tired routine.

Somehow, Jennifer Lopez has managed to stay "relevant" (please note that's not the same as saying she's a fantastic singer, because we know she's not) Does anyone have any guesses why someone like Mariah, who is a unique talent, isn't the one doing the opening performance of the World Cup right about now?

SeventeenDayze said:

Somehow, Jennifer Lopez has managed to stay "relevant" (please note that's not the same as saying she's a fantastic singer, because we know she's not) Does anyone have any guesses why someone like Mariah, who is a unique talent, isn't the one doing the opening performance of the World Cup right about now?

I think J-Lo has a better team behind her.She seems to be a really smart woman,too (businesswise).She has branched out into television...she's the executive producer of some TV show.Like Madonna,she's been really good at building her "brand".I'm not sure who J-Lo's manager is,but it's obviously someone who's very skilled and effective at getting things done.

SeventeenDayze said:

Somehow, Jennifer Lopez has managed to stay "relevant" (please note that's not the same as saying she's a fantastic singer, because we know she's not) Does anyone have any guesses why someone like Mariah, who is a unique talent, isn't the one doing the opening performance of the World Cup right about now?

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J-Lo debuted in '99. Mariah almost a decade earlier, in 1990.

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Besides that, J-Lo has the whole latin sound/influence which easily adapts to suit a world cup in Brasil. Mariah would not be suitable at all in that setting.

SoulAlive said:

SeventeenDayze said:

Somehow, Jennifer Lopez has managed to stay "relevant" (please note that's not the same as saying she's a fantastic singer, because we know she's not) Does anyone have any guesses why someone like Mariah, who is a unique talent, isn't the one doing the opening performance of the World Cup right about now?

I think J-Lo has a better team behind her.She seems to be a really smart woman,too (businesswise).She has branched out into television...she's the executive producer of some TV show.Like Madonna,she's been really good at building her "brand".I'm not sure who J-Lo's manager is,but it's obviously someone who's very skilled and effective at getting things done.

Yeah I think what was a huge benefit for J-LO is that she started in dance/TV (In Living Color) and eventually got into movies and music. So, she was doing a lot of things at once. I think she still has a clothing line through Kohl's and other endorsements. I don't think I've seen Mariah in a commercial in a long time, if ever. I guess it really does boil down to management. JLo is a better dancer than she is a singer, no doubt about that but she seems to stay relevant after all this time it seems.

nd33 said:

SeventeenDayze said:

Somehow, Jennifer Lopez has managed to stay "relevant" (please note that's not the same as saying she's a fantastic singer, because we know she's not) Does anyone have any guesses why someone like Mariah, who is a unique talent, isn't the one doing the opening performance of the World Cup right about now?

.

J-Lo debuted in '99. Mariah almost a decade earlier, in 1990.

.

Besides that, J-Lo has the whole latin sound/influence which easily adapts to suit a world cup in Brasil. Mariah would not be suitable at all in that setting.

I haven't looked up the album sales numbers yet but it seems that JLO's album is dong fairly well, compared to Mariah's. Even though JLO and Mariah are the same age, perhaps the fact that Mariah was a decade ahead of JLO ages her more, even though she was really young when she started.

But, don't you think Mariah could blend into the World Cup atmosphere somehow? I don't know if she is very popular in South America or not.

It's just amazing how a subpar singer like JLO can have a singing career that, at the moment, is outshining Mariah's.