Tuesday 16 September 2014

8 Questions with Mariah Carey

Mariah Carey has received many awards and accolades in recognition of her worldwide success during her long, distinguished career including 5 Grammy Awards. But what sets her apart from her other artists of her era is probably her ability to resonate with fans through her music.

In this interview to promote her upcoming Asia leg of her world tour Me, I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse, the humble songbird revealed that she would never proclaim her music is the soundtrack to people's lives. Instead she is happy to write songs to help her fans get through the most difficult times of their lives.

Mariah's influence on many of today's younger pop/soul divas is apparent - she set the template for fresh, young big-voiced pop star with the likes of Christina Aguilera and Kelly Clarkson. So what's the secret to Mariah's longevity in the music industry? The Elusive Chanteuse shares with us in this intimate interview below.

1. Is your talent the reason for your longevity and success in the music industry?

Longevity is something that is very difficult to obtain in this business because a lot of the music business, particularly now, is about trends. And a trend is a trend because it lasts for a moment and then it's gone. You're like "You remember when was that. Oh yeah! I remember. That was so much fun." There are people who transcend trends, and typically they are the people who do have a catalogue of songs that people love or a voice that people have learnt to love over the years. That's just like embedded in people's ears, brains and hearts like a soundtrack to people's lives. To have a career, be successful and maintain success, it is very difficult. It's just about what you want to achieve and how long you want to keep doing it.

2. Do you agree that your music has created the soundtrack to people's lives?

I would never be the one to say that. I could never say that. People have said thank you to me for writing the songs because it has helped them get through the most difficult time of their lives. As a songwriter, there's really nothing better than that type of statement.

3. Were you born with an innate ability to create and produce music?

I believe that we inherit a lot of things and my mum was an opera singer and did sing jazz. She also did instill a belief in me that this was possible. She named me Mariah Carey as a stage name. I don't have a middle name and I don't think I had a choice. I definitely haven't accomplished everything that I want to accomplish. There are different facets of the entertainment world and I really want to explore all of them. I just need the right team to be around to make sure that I can just be the creative person and have that vision.

4. What is your advice for upcoming artists?

I really think that we never know who's going to have what type of longevity. It's really about your commitment to the music and your commitment to your fans and yourself, and how much you are willing to give up of your life to do this because you're giving up yourself, you're giving a certain amount of yourself away and that was just inevitable and that's what I wish and hope to bring forward. There are really a lot of talented people out there... it just depends on how hard and how much they want it.

5. You were one of the first artists to feature rap artists in mainstream music. How do you choose your collaborations?

I'm definitely not the first artist to work with rap artists or to work within that genre. I guess because I was known as an artist, I had this cross over appeal where I was on the R&B charts. "Vision of Love" was the number one record on the R&B charts first and then the pop charts, so my base and my heart was always in the R&B world although the hip hop community's something totally different and as a kid, I grew up loving hip hop and living in New York and feeling the music because it's some of the most real music that there is as it comes from a place that is the most real in a lot of ways. It was inevitable that I would end up working with rap artists because it's the music that I love and if you are referring to the record with O.D.B., "Fantasy", was my dream from the minute I thought about using the Tom Tom Club loop of "Genius of Love", and that was one of my favourite songs as a child, so when I wrote the song, "Fantasy", on top of it, I wrote the pop version. The record company, the executives, not all of them were aware and they really didn't understand like my need to do what I wanted to do and I kind of snuck that in. They never really heard O.D.B.'s solo project, and I'm laughing and anyone who has heard it would know why I'm laughing but the topics that he got into were "little... look to the left... to the centre..." and nobody really envision this very kind of innocent girl that I think I know that I actually was (and sort of still am). But they didn't see that collaboration coming and for me it will always be one of my favourites and what it did though was it proved the point to the executives like "Look! You have got to listen to me because I'm the demographic. I'm the person that really listens to the radio, grew up listening to music, to this genre of music and so I still keep up with different artists that I'm intrigued by their music or how they represented themselves and I'm fortunate enough to be able to work with people that I love."

6. To what extend are you involved in the business side of your career?

The business is important because when you put so much of yourself into making an album, you want people to hear it. When you put so much of yourself into making an album, and so it's something where I try to get creative and try to get involved, and try to work with social media as much as possible because that's a great connection to the fans and I'm very involved in the business of it all but I think it's a learning experience for all of us in the music business everyday.

7. What is the theme behind your new album, "Me. I Am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse"?

There isn't necessarily one theme and that's why I want people to hear this album as a whole, as an entity, as something that I put every bit of myself into, and each song is a different side of who I am. Some of them there's a lot of truths that I'm talking about, and some of them are kind of sad or almost too sad, like I call it the misery and we love it and we have to have it. But in a way, I added three new songs that I felt were necessary to complete the journey of this album.

8. Do you want to make more films in the future?

Definitely want to make more films. I love working in the independent film world. I have been so blessed to work with Lee Daniels. He is someone who just believed in me and didn't try to categorise me, and so I'm really grateful to him for that, and looking forward to another very exciting project on the horizon that is coming soon.

(Spin or Bin Music)



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