Poor Mariah Carey. She is the hardest working woman in the industry, and people give her such shit! Image is such a double-edged, catch-22, ying-yang crappy mega-ego institution. The reason why I'm discussing her, beside the fact that I've been uncontrollably obsessed with her since November 1990 (7th grade), is the fact that Jaime Foxx was mocking her crisis and other celebs going through their own personal crisis. I love humor just like everyone else, but that was quite offensive. I've never been too keen on slamming celebrities on their problems, like Ben Affleck's recent bouts with alcoholism.

Mariah's new single "Never To Far" is going to be a smash! Of course she is known for her ballads, but if anyone has listened to her albums, you know she has a penchant for sluring/whispering her lyrics and for those sometimes overwhelming vocal gymnastics, i.e. oversinging. Not on this song: Mariah sings powerfully from the soul, and the accompaning video is classic staged! Her makeup is beautiful, hair styled perfect for her face, and dress is tan and fits her fabulously without being trashy. I get chills every time I see/hear it. Mariah even has tears in her eyes at the very end of the video, very moving.

I was so disappointed that "Loverboy" only made it to Number Two on Billboard's Top 100 Singles chart, though it was Number One on the Top 100 R&B chart. Transverely, Destiny's Child's "Bootylicious" was Number One on the Top 100 Singles chart and Number Two on the Top 100 R&B chart. It would have been Mariah's 16th Number One song, but it does make it her 9th Number One on the Top 100 R&B chart...9th or 10th. What makes me so upset is that the first song released from a new Mariah album has always been a Number One - in fact, 3 of them debuted at Number One: Fantasy, One Sweet Day (which also holds the record of most consecutive weeks at Number One - 16 weeks), and Honey. No other artist can say that. Oh well... it went to Number Two, and was certified gold it's 2nd or 3rd week on the chart. She's proven it wasn't only Tommy Mottola's pioneering work at Columbia Records that made Mariah the success she is.

[21-9-2001] I'm starting to suspect that Mottola is sabatoging Mariah's career and combined with Virgin Records, Mariah's new label, not promoting her new album, I don't think "Glitter" is going to be a success.

[17/10/2001] Okay, I haven't been that paranoid about Mottola sabatoging anything. But there has been news that Mariah's new contract with Virgin is in trouble. I'm no longer worried about her career; she will be fine. She'll recover from this slump and prove herself once again in the eyes of all hypocritical pundits. It took 11 years before her career faltered....