She's used to receiving lavish gifts from besotted admirers, but even Mariah Carey didn't expect £3million of diamonds to arrive before her sell-out concert in New York. The chart beauty was preparing to greet 20,000 fans in Madison Square Garden last Wednesday when a special envoy arrived, dispatched by Prince Azim, the son of the Sultan of Brunei, who's worth £25billion.

"We were sent by private jet to deliver this gift," a representative of the 24-year-old, who's third in line to the Sultanate, announced - as he presented an eight-carat flawless diamond and platinum necklace and matching ring. It sure beats a bunch of wilting roses from a garage forecourt.

Overjoyed by the gift, the singer, who has sold more than 100 million records, channelled her pleasure into a fabulous show. Her amazing set featured 18 hits and guest appearances from rap moguls Diddy and Jay-Z, who was so impressed by the diva's glassshattering vocals that he bowed down to Mariah on stage.

Highlights included Fly Like A Bird, featuring a full gospel choir, and Dream Lover, which was dedicated to rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard who died following a drugs overdose in 2004. Fan Jake Wheelan from New Jersey, told us: "I came to see Madonna a few weeks ago and paid $360 (£190) for my ticket. Here, I've got the best seats for less than half the price - and the show's 100 times more fun."

The generous superstar was so thrilled to be back in her home city she splashed out £30,000 on Cristal champagne for her family and friends - including 3am - at an exclusive aftershow bash. More than 150 revellers, including her brother Morgan and former opera singer mum Patricia, helped Mariah celebrate her triumph.

Sipping a glass of Pinot Grigio wine - "Champagne's bad for my voice so I can't have any on tour. Make sure you have some, though!" - Mariah told us she's sleeping for 15 hours a day in a humidification chamber. It is to ensure her eight-octave voice can survive the rigours of her Adventures Of Mimi tour.

Breaking doctor's orders to speak exclusively to us as we partied till 4am at New York's 77 bar, she said: "I sleep in a room full of humidifiers and am on total voice rest between shows - I'm not even supposed to speak. It's very hard but this tour means a lot to me and I want everyone who comes to have an amazing time."

Reflecting on her astonishing comeback - her Emancipation Of Mimi album was the biggest-selling record of 2005, just three years after she was paid £15 million to quit Virgin Records - she said: "Before I go on stage I try not to think about the dark times or it can all get too much. I know I'm blessed and I'm grateful to every person that stuck by me."

She went on: "I wish I could take this tour to the UK - I love that place, but the timing just didn't work. I've got to start filming a movie called Tennessee later this year, then I start work on a new album. The UK fans are some of my favourites, though, and I want to get back there as soon as I can." You and us both, Mimi!
(Mirror)

Singer Mariah Carey’s fans felt cheated after they paid a packet for tickets, but ended up see her perform for less than an hour.

The pop diva gave a show that lasted just 75 minutes and, more unbelievably, she was off stage for about 15 of those minutes. Fans had paid up to 160 dollars to see the concert, at the Mohegan Sun Arena, with the lowest price seats going for 90 dollars.

During the show Carey delivered a run-through of songs from her latest multi-platinum album, ‘The Emancipation of Mimi’, and a few of her older hits. But after performing ‘We Belong Together’, Carey said her goodbyes to the crowd and left the stage to get ready for what fans thought would be an encore, but she never re-appeared.

"Mariah barely played for an hour. We are demanding a refund! Everyone in the audience was so mad. She cut songs out of the show and was just not into it at all," Contactmusic quoted a concertgoer as saying. "I don't even think she was on for more than 45 minutes. I've never seen anyone suck as bad in concert and just not care," another miffed fan added.

An apparently cranky Carey even snapped at one of the crew members during her set saying, "Get that light off me you dummy" before realising her microphone was on. She quickly tried to cover by adding, "Oops, just kidding!"
(NewKerala)

Mariah Carey has a new admirer - Prince Azim, the son of the Sultan of Brunei. The royal heir took the opportunity to present Carey with a diamond set worth over £3m last week before her sell-out concert at New York City's Madison Square Garden - sending the rocks by private jet.

However, after a well-received performance in her hometown, which saw her joined on stage by P. Diddy and Jay-Z, Carey revealed her biggest concern is saving her voice during the "Adventures of Mimi" American tour.

"I sleep in a room full of humidifiers and am on total voice rest between shows - I'm not even supposed to speak," Carey told the Daily Mirror. "It's very hard but this tour means a lot to me and I want everyone who comes to have an amazing time. I wish I could take this tour to the UK - I love that place, but the timing just didn't work. I've got to start filming a movie called Tennessee later this year, then I start work on a new album. The UK fans are some of my favourites, though, and I want to get back there as soon as I can."
(Sound Generator)

All Mariah is a magazine entirely dedicated to Mariah Carey, with many articles and of course high-quality pictures. The magazine is in full colour on glossy paper and will be released 4 times a year.

All Mariah magazine no. 3 is 60% thicker than normal. In the center of the magazine, you will find 12 pages on the tour, including reviews, backstage stories, many pictures and a poster. Furthermore, Anita Braaksma wrote an article about Mariah and remixes, Benjamin Szumskyj wrote an article about Glitter, and Can Özdilek wrote an article about Mariah and samples.

There is more, the magazine starts with 16 pictures of Mariah at birthday parties, openings, guest appearances, dinners, etc. If you order a copy, or take a subscription, you get a 10x15cm photograph of the picture on the right for free. Visit The Mariah Carey Archives to order your copy!
(The Mariah Carey Archives)

VH1 Europe is dedicating this entire weekend (Saturday, September 2nd and Sunday, September 3rd) to Mariah. During the weekend, fans will be able to enjoy many Mariah shows including her "MTV Unplugged" performance, MTV Cribs episode and Making the Video specials for "It's Like That", "Get Your Number", "Say Something" and "Boy (I Need You)"
(Mariah Carey.com)

Mariah Carey performed in Connecticut. Unlike her former performances, this time Mariah received merely negative reviews from local press and even fans. Although most fans try to understand Carey’s tight agenda, others simply complain.

It’s not a secret that during that night Mariah disappointed many devoted fans who supported her by buying concert tickets, costing up to $150 dollars. The set list only included 11 songs; she has been performing an average of 17 songs every night. Besides, some people from the audience felt offended because Mariah was almost two hours late and had several distractions during the “short” concert. Just like in most concerts in other cities, the main concern was regarding Carey’s multiple breaks to change clothes, leaving a D.J playing songs, which was a disturbance for many.

One of the most open critics from a local journal claims that “everyone in that audience deserves a refund.” They continue saying that Mariah owes Connecticut an apology. The Connecticut Post clearly stated that the concert was “disappointing.” This local journal published an article in which they describe the confusion and frustration experienced by some attendants: “Could that really have been the end of the concert? Did I really pay $150 for that?” Things seem to be critical now since many attendants are already asking for a money refund.

We're not judging Mariah Carey, and it's not fair to offend her since we understand she is a human being; it’s been 16 years of ongoing proofs of gratitude that Mariah has shown toward her fans. There must be a logical explanation, and most fans are willing to hear it. Mariah is well aware of the devotion that her fans have given her throughout her “ups” and “downs” as the opening of her show states. If Mariah ignores this discontent, she might lose several devoted fans, those who made her the top female singer.
(Mariah Hero)

"Ever get the feeling that you've been cheated?" Johnny Rotten asked that of the audience at a particularly disastrous Sex Pistols concert in 1978 shortly before that group imploded. Had the same question been posed to the fans as they filed out of the Mohegan Sun Arena Friday night after Mariah Carey's concert, the answer would have been a resounding, "Yes."

The pop diva gave a show that lasted just 75 minutes and, more unbelievably, she was off stage for about 15 of those minutes. And this for an event with a top ticket price of $150 and "cheap" seats going for $90. It's a shame, too, because it was quite the spectacle while it lasted. Although I can't claim to be a big fan of the singer, I was interested in checking out a big-time pop concert where I wouldn't leave wondering whether the singer was actually singing.

When she was on stage, Carey delivered a nice run-through of songs from her latest multi-platinum album, The Emancipation of Mimi, and a few of her older hits. Obviously, a lot of money was spent on the stage, which, dare I say it, glittered. There also was a full band and a handful of dancers with her and a large screen so she could sing along to the videos of the hip-hop stars (Jermaine Dupri, Jay-Z, Missy Elliott, etc.) that appeared on her songs.

The concert itself was great fun and Carey almost had me forgetting the traffic nightmares on the way to the casino and the fact that the show started a half-hour late. I even thought her giving the spotlight to singer Trey Lorenz for three songs was just a minor annoyance. But the major annoyance was yet to come.

After she performed "We Belong Together," she said her goodbyes to the crowd and left the stage to get ready for an encore that would send everybody home feeling thoroughly entertained.

It was an encore that would not happen. There was a feeling of confusion throughout the arena when the house lights went up. Could that really have been the end of the concert? Did I really pay $150 for that? Again, the answers were "Yes" and "Yes."

It's just too bad that Carey decided to shortchange her audience in this way. It took what was shaping up to be a perfectly fine evening and left her fans feeling a bit cheated. What a rotten thing to do.
(Connecticut Post)

The people at Mohegan Sun got robbed Friday night. It wasn't the people at the gaming tables or those in front of the blinking slot machines, but everyone sitting in the arena for Mariah Carey's concert.

Oh, where does one begin? How about she was a half hour late coming to the stage? Or that she did three costume changes in a matter of minutes? Or maybe that her deejay played more songs than she performed. No, I think you really want to know that many of Ms. Carey's fans shelled out $150, that's ONE HUNDRED FIFTY smackers, for a show that lasted barely an hour. Don't believe it? Here's how it went down:

8:34 p.m., the curtain comes up and the audience is treated to a two-minute video about how Ms. Carey's life is similar to a roller coaster. She performs "It's Like That," "Heartbreaker," and "Dream Lover," the last with a hot Biggie Smalls remix to "Juicy" before she leaves the stage. While she's gone, no music is played and the audience just sits and waits.

Ms. Carey returns wearing the same outfit, but has added a pair of dark shades to the ensemble. What was the point in leaving? One more song, and then she leaves again. Her deejay plays nine or 10 old school cuts, then she returns and performs two more songs, including a duet with Trey Lorenz. Then, by this time I could barely contain myself, Ms. Carey had the audacity to leave the stage. Again.

Lorenz takes over and performs three songs. Ms. Carey returns to perform four more songs, then there's another deejay interlude. The Diva reemerges to sing the last verse and chorus of "How I Love You, Baby" along with "Hero" and "We Belong Together." At 9:45 p.m., the chorus of "Butterfly" comes on, Ms. Carey tells the crowd how much she loves us and exits. She should have just rolled her eyes, snapped her fingers and said, "Don't even think about asking me to sing another song!" Then, we really couldn't have been mad at her because she warned us.

But she didn't. Not only did her backup singers and band walk off the stage, but the house lights came on. No chance for an encore or for the fans to chant or shout her name. All you saw were mouths hanging open and heads shaking in disbelief. A sampling of the exit polls:

"I spent $300," said the couple sitting behind us. "I could have lost that on the table, brother." "We came for Mary J. Blige. She did two hours and barely left the stage," said another lady.

Ms. Carey, you did a disservice to your fans. The next time you think about coming back to the Constitution State, think about the sour taste you left in our mouths. Everyone in that audience deserves a refund. And you owe Connecticut an apology.
(The Day)

Before singing a single note at the Mohegan Sun Arena on Friday night, Mariah Carey addressed fans with a prerecorded message, explaining that life is like a roller coaster, full of thrilling climbs and terrifying dips.

However true that sentiment, Carey's prologue felt like a warning, or at least an advance justification for whatever bizarre antics the singer - known in recent years for her erratic behavior - might unleash. As it happened, though, it was a relatively poised and with-it Carey who turned up for the show. Her brief greatest-hits set, which centered on her more hip-hop-oriented material, was lacking in the kind of meltdown moments and diva freakouts that train-wreck spotters might have been hoping for.

Even so, Carey was off in her own world - a pink, glittery place where black underwear and stilettos constitute an outfit. Throughout the show, she held fast to a desire to be sexy in an over-the-top way, prancing around in costumes that didn't always flatter her sturdy figure. Exhibitionism notwithstanding, Carey was on her game. She could make her voice go low, then high, then really high, occasionally reaching up into the canine-whistle register that, before near nudity, was her trademark.

On tunes such as "Dreamlover" and "Always Be My Baby," she conjured images of sweet summers gone by, paying more attention to the songs' melodies than any vocal feats of strength. It was these airy pop songs from early in her career that translated best, even if the harder-edged, rap-collaboration stuff - Ol' Dirty Bastard spitting garbled rhymes on "Fantasy," Mase mumbling on "Honey" - is closer to who Carey has really been all along.

Since none of the rappers she's worked with were at the show, their verses were piped in via video, robbing the show of spontaneity. More problematic, though, was Carey's insistence on ducking offstage after almost every song, typically to change clothes. Her DJ did his best to keep the party going in her absence, but there's only so long an audience will go along with hearing Bell Biv Devoe hits and being told to "make some noise for MC."

Plus, for all its noisemaking, the crowd couldn't get Carey to come back for an encore. She did 11 songs total, and when she got to the end of "Hero," she disappeared behind the curtains, the houselights flicking on almost immediately. Only a roller coaster ride could have ended more abruptly.
(The Republican)

My name is Alyssa, and I have been a fan of Mariah Carey’s for 16 years, and I have always dream about seeing her in concert! I would always watch her concerts on TV, and I would always wish I could be there and feel what the fans have always felt about her music. Well, that dream has come true for me, and you are the first person I am telling this cause I have too. So here it goes.

When she entered the stage, it was so amazing she has this roller coaster thing and she was telling how a roller coaster it’s like her life, some people go though things in life and she said its like a roller coaster you have ups and downs in life. I think she even said she was afraid of rollers coasters at one time in her life. Here are the Songs she sang, sorry they’re not in order; my brain is still there lol.... Its Like That, Fly Like a Bird, Hero, Make It Happen, Always Be Baby, Don’t Forget About Us, I Wish U Knew, One Sweet Day With Mario, I’ll Be There, We Belong Together, My All, and Butterfly at the end. I seem to always remember the songs she did, but I’m sorry I should have put them in order and how she sang it sorry about that.

They did not allow cameras in there for some reason. They said that she did not want her picture taken; I was so mad at first because I called them and ask them if they allow cameras and they said yes. So I had to put it back in the car; I was like on my god I have waited 16 years for this moment and no pictures so sad…. So anyway I just sang every song, and she had Sean Paul; I don’t think that guy can sing for his life, and I think he can’t move a crowd too well. I can’t even understand what he is saying, so I was like “I came to see Mariah Carey not him” lol. Sorry, I just don’t like him, and I don’t think I would pay to seem him in concert.

Mariah knows how to put on a show. Her voice was amazing; she was really good!! Her outfits where so cool. The stage was amazing too; it was one day I would never forget. So that is my story. The first fan in her life got to see her all-time singer!! I even got a Mariah Carey Shirt; its black, and it has her wearing her purple dress with a butterfly. I got a Mimi pen that lights up, it’s cute. So anyway that is my story. This is one day I will never forget! One day in my life I would have to tell my kids all about it, that i got to see my all time favorite singer Mariah Carey.

I will have to talk about this for the rest of my life. I would go see her in a heart beat again! I had such a good time; I even lost my voice. If you could hear me talk, you would know I sang “my butt off” and I dance like no tomorrow!!
(Alyssa)

Most people get the keys to their new car handed to them by the dealer, but Melanie Anderson got hers from a celebrity. After winning free tickets to the Mariah Carey concert in Boston on Monday, Melanie Anderson, 28, learned she'd won a drawing for a new car. The singer handed her the keys to a new Mazda Miata at the concert.

Carey gave both Anderson and her fiance, Tony Neve, 32, hugs before posing for photos. "She was bigger and taller than I thought she would be," Anderson said. During the picture-taking, Anderson said Carey kept running over to look at the digital camera to see how the snapshots came out. "She didn't like a couple of the pictures, so she had us erase stuff," Anderson said. "She straightened out my hair and fixed Tony's collar and made sure we looked OK."

Anderson said she had a ball meeting the diva, as did her fiance. But they're not going to keep the car. The dealer agreed to buy back the vehicle for $18,500. Anderson and Neve say they will use the money to pay for their wedding on Sept. 30.
(Boston.com)

Go to your darkest fear, the cold-sweat stuff you awake to in the night, like being thrust onto the stage of Madison Square Garden in front of 20,000 people wearing only your underwear and 6-inch stiletto heels, to sing impossibly high notes.

Welcome to a night in the life of Mariah Carey. The voluptuous singer - who, despite being a hometown girl, rarely plays the city - spun a greatest-hits set for fans at the Garden Wednesday night that featured soaring vocals, questionable fashion decisions and a little help from her rap mogul friends - Jay-Z and Sean Combs.

Besides her abilities to overcome personal adversity and hit glass-breaking notes so high only bats and dogs can hear her, Carey has the skill to make people smile. No, really. One just had to look at the fans sitting nearby. All had this non-New York goofy grin that made them appear as if they just got to go to Camp Mariah for vacation.

It wasn't just the women in the house, many of whom have actually benefited from Carey's long-established summer camp program for girls, or the guys who ogled the singer's boudoir booty display. Stone-faced Jay-Z, a guy who only shows his teeth to clench a Cuban, was grinning the biggest, dopiest schoolboy smile as he worked an early-show duet of "Heartbreaker" with Carey.

At the close of the tune, the rapper, who bows to no one, kowtowed to Carey with outstretched arms and a crooked smile - their chemistry was terrific. Minus the terrific chemistry, much the same could be said of Combs, who ran out of the wings to join Carey in the final throes of her hit "Honey." Combs popped a few "yo yos," gave a shout-out to the greater metropolitan area, folded his arms and eyeballed Carey over the tops of his shades. Carey was thrilled that he joined her, but he added little to the performance beyond the puffiness of his ego.

Part of the charm of Carey's show was the general looseness of the concert. The two-level stage looked used, as if it had been picked up cheap in the Czech Republic. The between-song DJ-ing lent the affair the air of a bad bridge and tunnel club. Carey even had to stop the show at one point because a clergyman she invited to do the spoken-word part of "Fly Like a Bird" missed his cue and had to be found backstage and ushered into the spotlight.

But M.C.'s deal isn't about cheesy sets, weird fashion or even celebrity guest stars. It's about the voice. And for the first five songs, including her duet with Jay-Z, Carey didn't blow anyone away. Where she finally found her groove was when she reprised her first No. 1 single, "Vision of Love." She warbled through the lows and used all of her five octaves to reach the song's summit. Who knew the word "love" could be stretched and contorted into an opus unto itself? She managed to repeat that performance passion during her late show rendition of "Hero."

At 36, Carey seems to be very comfortable in her own skin. She was relaxed throughout her 20-song set, which featured a good but not great cover of the Jackson 5's "I'll Be There." Other fan favorites included "Fantasy," "Don't Forget About Me" and "Always Be My Baby," which Carey performed from a secondary stage set up on the floor at the center of the Garden.

Carey did make a mistake by giving up a chunk of the middle of her set to backup singer Trey Lorenz. Despite his ability to carry a tune, Lorenz was unable to command the audience, and his mid-show mini-set just put sand in the concert's gears.

Still, this was a very successful, fan-pleasing concert that made you wonder why Carey doesn't play her hometown more often.
(New York Post | Mariah Daily)

The lights at Madison Square Garden were dim on Wednesday night. Mariah Carey wasn't onstage yet. But her recorded voice was booming through the speakers, dispensing clichés to the cheering crowd. For instance: "Sometimes life can be kind of like a roller coaster." And, from time to time we all get "a moment of peace." Also, our lives are "part of God's bigger plan." And finally, inevitably, "Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

At the time it seemed as if Ms. Carey was talking about the ups and downs or her life and career. Her recent years in the music-industry wilderness are by now a big part of the Myth of Mariah, even though in retrospect they don’t seem all that dire. "Glitter," the movie and the album, were absolute bombs, but the semi-successful follow-up album, "Charmbracelet," was pretty good, and it demonstrated that there would probably always be a million or so people willing to buy a pretty-good Mariah Carey album. Still, it was last year's "Emancipation of Mimi" (Island Def Jam) that really put her back on top, and she's clearly relieved. During Wednesday's concert two of the most effusive dedications went to L. A. Reid and Doug Morris, the executives who helped make "Mimi" last year's best-selling CD.

How could we have known, at the beginning of a totally entertaining and slightly weird night, that Ms. Carey's clichés would come true, right there onstage? The show included a few guest appearances (Jay-Z and Da Brat during "Heartbreaker"; Diddy during "Honey"), lots of ovations and all the costume changes you'd expect. But it also gave Ms. Carey a chance to demonstrate her singular talent for embellishment, vocal and otherwise. Give her a molehill, she'll make you a mountain. Give her a chance for a concert that should be a victory lap, she'll make it feel more like - yes - a roller coaster. There were plenty of not-quite-life-threatening ordeals that must have made Ms. Carey stronger.

She chided DJ Clue, who had his own podium next to her band, when she mentioned his name and he didn't respond with an appreciative scratch or shout-out. She saw an expression she didn't like on the ever-smiling face of Trey Lorenz, her duet partner (for the Jackson 5 hit "I'll Be There"), and wondered aloud whether he was in a bad mood. And before nearly every song, she fretted about the dire threat of throat-parchedness; luckily, her water bottle was usually in exactly the right place.

Her concert, like the great "Mimi" album, emphasized club jams over ballads. Early on, a show-stopping rendition of "My All" came back to life as a thumping house track. And she often emphasized the extremes of her vocal range: the smoky low notes and the smoke-alarmy high ones.

Throughout, she betrayed a charming anxiety about pleasing the crowd. After "Vision of Love," the song that made her a star, she said, "At first I wasn't doing my first single, 'cause I was like, I don't know if people want to hear it, or whatever." And before "Don't Forget About Us," she said, "Thank you for making this my 17th No. 1 single." But who's counting?

In recognition of the importance of following God's plan, perhaps, she sang "Make It Happen," a bombastic disco-gospel inspirational that compresses many of her tendencies into a four-minute song. And she tried her best to stick to the plan during "Fly Like a Bird," which was supposed to begin with a few words from a pastor. Ahem. Pastor? For a few tense, strange minutes he was nowhere to be found.

"I'm not trying to be a diva," Ms. Carey said, adding, ominously, "We went over this." Eventually he showed up: another crisis averted. Near the end, Ms. Carey sang "Hero," and she dedicated it to a friend whose father had recently died. She seemed to tear up, so she made a request: "If you want, sing along with me."

In true Mariah Carey style, she sang that request instead of saying it. And in even truer Mariah Carey style, she added some further instructions: "Just for the first part. So I can get it together." And the crowd followed her instructions to the letter. Surely that qualifies as a moment of peace.
(The New York Times)

Mariah Carey is no longer a punch line. A few years ago, she looked like a diva on the decline, with increasingly disappointing record sales and a growing reputation for strange behavior. But her early 2005 album "The Emancipation of Mimi" became a hit, and she returned from career limbo. Now, at the age of 36, she is once again an A-lister.

At the start of last night's concert at Madison Square Garden, she showed a video of a rollercoaster, and discussed the "ups and downs" and "twists and turns" of her life, concluding: "It's all part of God's bigger plan for me" and that "whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

The show had all the ingredients for a triumphant homecoming. Carey's voice was as strong as ever, and she hit her famous high notes with ease. The house was full, and - reflecting the turn toward hip-hop Carey took with "The Emancipation of Mimi" -- rappers Jay-Z, P. Diddy, Da Brat and Jadakiss made surprise guest appearances. (Other rappers, including the late Ol' Dirty Bastard, "collaborated" with Carey via video.)

Still, it felt like something was missing. Carey doesn't present an overwhelming visual spectacle like Madonna or Janet Jackson. And while there were some exciting musical moments -- usually at a song's climax, where her voice explored a sonic stratosphere her contemporaries simply can't reach -- she often seemed to be going through the motions between them. And the show had too many breaks in the action (dance interludes, DJ mini-sets) to gather much momentum.

The evening peaked with "Fly Like a Bird," where the presence of a 40-member gospel choir seemed to pump Carey up. This number also had an awkward moment, though, when a pastor who was supposed to deliver a spoken intro didn't show up, and Carey, clearly annoyed, had to stop the song and wait until he could be found.

"This is not staged," said Carey, who also mused, "Maybe he didn't like a first outfit." She had worn a black bikini, under a sheer cape, with stiletto heels, at the start of the show, though at this point, she had changed into a more modest gown.

Another highlight was the pop confection "Fantasy," performed on a small stage in the middle of the arena. The moody, understated "My All" was a nice break from Carey's usual bombast, though she repeatedly returned to surging power ballads, including "Hero" and "We Belong Together."

Jay-Z made his appearance early on, rapping on "Heartbreaker," but the crowd cheered so heartily it was almost impossible to hear him. As Carey sang, he graciously bowed and waved his arms, as if to say, "We are not worthy." P. Diddy showed up later in the show, taking the stage for part of "Honey," but didn't do any actual rapping.

Trey Lorenz, who sang with Mariah on her 1992 cover of the Jackson 5's "I'll Be There" and is in Carey's current band as a backing vocalist, stepped out front to help her with this song. He also accompanied her later in the show, on a medley of hits, and performed his own medley during one of her costume changes.

Lorenz, who announced that his next album will be called "Mimi Presents Trey Lorenz," pointed out that Carey's '95 hit "One Sweet Day" still holds the record for most weeks at No. 1, while Carey herself, earlier in the show, had identified "Don't Forget About Us" as her 17th No. 1 hit. This was something that divas really shouldn't do: remind people how mind-bogglingly popular they are.

It seemed as if Carey, despite her success, is still experiencing some nagging insecurity. That's the thing about rollercoasters: there are moments of calms, but you always have to brace for the jolts to come.
(Star-Ledger)

To some music lovers, Mariah Carey's voice sounds like that of a whining dog, whimpering and squealing through four-minute ballads and three-minute peppy dance tunes. But to others, her voice is a stunning instrument.

To say that Mariah Carey has gone through some hard times is an understatement: She spent the late 1990s and the first half of this decade dodging rumors of suicide attempts and mental breakdowns. On top of that, she suffered from mediocre record sales and the seeming lack of a good fashion stylist. She giggled and rambled during live public appearances, and in an episode of MTV's "Cribs," she spent an hour touring her New York penthouse, changing outfits for every scene, dunking herself in a tub of bubbles, and hopping on a fitness machine in plastic high-heels. In short, she didn't seem together. At all. But the public's memory is fickle, and those tough times made it easy to forget that in the 1990s Ms. Carey had broken nearly every important musical record for a solo female artist.

It was easy to think, early in this decade, that Ms. Carey wouldn't bounce back - in fact, it was probably easier to think that the singer and her ballads were dead and gone, relegated to the video cycle on VH1 Classic, than to imagine her gathering the energy to make another comeback. But this is a singer-songwriter who was the first female artist to debut at no. 1 on the singles charts. Not even Whitney Houston did that. And she did it her own way. On the song "Fantasy" she used a Tom Tom Club sample. Now, she could have gone mainstream and used a Talking Heads sample, but instead she went obscure - and she hit gold. Why couldn't she bounce back with pay dirt?

With last year's "The Emancipation of Mimi," she did just that. The songwriting skills of the hip-hop extraordinaire Jermaine Dupri helped Ms. Carey hold her own for the first time in her hip-hop career. Like other vocalists, such as Mary J. Blige, Ms. Carey used Mr. Dupri's uncomplicated lyrics to her vocal advantage, carrying songs like "We Belong Together" to emotional arcs without going overboard. Remixes of "Shake It Off" and "It's Like That" appeared on multiple mix tapes, further legitimizing her return.

Unsurprisingly, this comeback was accompanied by doubts about whether or not she would succeed, as well as by even more than usual criticisms of her appearance. Sure, her dresses are a little too short sometimes, but "Mimi" proved that despite such slip ups, her musical abilities are still as strong as ever.

As she swings through the East Coast on her current tour (appearing at Jones Beach during Labor Day weekend), fans can step back and appreciate the struggles that Ms. Carey went through to get to where she is now. Wearing a black bandeau on stage is probably not the best idea for an outdoor concert, but as long as she can belt out "Vision of Love" and "We Belong Together" in the same set, she is still a musical force to be reckoned with.

September 3 at the Nikon Jones Beach Theater.
(The New York Sun)

'I am not a diva!"

If Mariah Carey said it once, she said it a dozen times during her Madison Square Garden gig the other night. Mariah, honey, we believe you. But guess what, your fanatically devoted fans don't care. They love you as a diva. They love you breaking down. They love you coming back. They love you hitting those stratospheric notes. Mariah, whose hair is pretty stratospheric too, wore her usual selection of bodacious body-revealing get-ups, which can lead one to miss some of those big notes. Questions? Will that bodice burst? Will we see all the junk in the trunk?

Mariah is very laid-back, and talks to her audience as if they are sitting next to her at a table in a restaurant. Some people think that's too casual an approach. But... yes, the fans love her intimate chatting. She is a sweet girl, who had a rough childhood, adolescence and young adulthood, including a tempestuous marriage to Tommy Mottola. Her stardom and those fans mean everything to her, and it's obvious in every breath she takes.
(New York Post)

Appearing on a highly stylized, Art Deco stage set, Mariah Carey kicked off her sold-out concert Wednesday night with "It's Like That", from her blockbuster new album, "The Emancipation of Mimi". Clearly, one thing Carey has been emancipated from is her clothes.

Even by Carey's standards, her outfit was revealing: black, bikini-style lingerie wrapped in a sheer, billowing cape and high heels to match. Carey has been promising spectacle on this tour, and she obviously meant to deliver. The concert marked the first of three area dates for Carey (she's scheduled to play Continental Airlines Arena Sunday and Jones Beach on Sept. 3). It also helped mark a new phase in her career. Once a soft pop singer, Carey has become a full-fledged hip-hop artist.

Carey has long dabbled in R&B and soul, and on past albums she's enlisted the help of Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Ludacris and others from the hip-hop world. But "The Emancipation of Mimi" (Island), featuring production by Jermaine Dupri, The Neptunes and others, is a whole new ball game. Carey sings in rap-inflected cadences, serves as her own breathy chorus crooner and proves she knows how to ride a bass-heavy dance track.

It's no accident that Carey chose another crossover hip-hop artist, the Jamaican dance hall singer Sean Paul, for her opening act. Paul showed up with a live band and ran through a 40-minute set that touched on pretty much all of his hits, from the lilting "I'm Still in Love" to the hard-hitting "Temperature", from his new album "The Trinity". He's not much of a performer, but the strength of his material was all that seemed to matter to the crowd.

Like a true hip-hopper, Carey called in more than a few favors for this show, bringing out Da Brat, Trey Lorenz and Diddy to assist her on songs. Power 105's DJ Clue manned the decks. The biggest surprise of the night was Jay-Z, who showed up to sashay his way through "Heartbreaker". As Carey hit her famous high notes, Jay-Z stretched out his arms and bowed repeatedly.

The second-biggest surprise was who almost didn't show up. After changing into a floor-length gown, Carey brought out a choir from the True Worship Church of East New York to perform on "Fly Like a Bird", but stopped the song short when the Rev. Clarence Keaton failed to walk on stage and deliver a mini-sermon. "I'm not trying to be a diva, but we went over this," Carey called out to her crew. "He's not here? Maybe he didn't like my first outfit."

Carey may not be emancipated from temper tantrums, but with "Mimi" she's found an appealing new way to express herself.
(Newsday)

Mariah Carey played to a sold-out Madison Square Garden last night as part of her "The Adventures of Mimi" tour, which comes to Japan in October. Her latest album, "The Emancipation of Mimi", heralds a shift in her musical influences, and proved her new hip-hop credentials.

Taking to the stage in black lingerie and high heels, she was joined by a high-powered supporting cast of hip-hop stars including Sean Paul, Diddy and Jay-Z. Carey plays her first show in Japan at Nagoya's Rainbow Hall on Oct. 18. An extra show to be held at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo on Oct. 16 was added today.
(Mainichi Daily News)

Many may try to sing like Mariah Carey, but area vocal coaches and instructors recommend against it. Those emulating their favorite star can injure their voices if they force hitting those shrill notes, or even low ones below what comes comfortably, experts advise. Aspiring artists should develop their own, individual sound and skills, they say. People aren't just born with powerful voices and the ability to sing regularly and comfortably in whistle range, the highest register of the human voice, as Carey can.

Carey boldly promotes her instrument in the title of her current, 40-city world sojourn, "The Adventures of Mimi: The Voice, The Hits, The Tour", which makes its only Connecticut stop Friday at Mohegan Sun Arena. Some credit genetics, even destiny, in Carey's fairy tale-like rise to fame. Born to an opera singer mother who named her for Lerner and Loewe's 1951 Broadway song, "They Call the Wind Mariah", Carey later wed, and divorced, Sony Music President Tommy Motolla.

True singing stars like Carey, vocal coaches say, get their chops from a blend of training and their innately pleasing and distinct voices. Carey's deep, sultry, low notes and seemingly superhuman high-end wailing may seem effortless, but her voice has been cultivated over years - beginning with coaching from her mother growing up.

"It's just like an athlete. Were you born able to run the 500-meter dash?" said Marianna Vagnini, a Naugatuck voice instructor who has traveled as a professional soprano and will begin teaching students at Waterbury Arts Magnet School this year. "When Mariah Carey came out, she didn't sound like anyone else, which is what made her."

Echoed Richard Gard, a composer, musician, teacher, producer and conductor who oversees the music department at Naugatuck Valley Community College in Waterbury: "It helps what you're born with. I'd say more than a good voice, you might be born with a distinctive voice."

Both Gard and Vagnini tutor students to find their own voices, rather than emulating Mariah's, Sinatra's - or anyone else's for that matter. Once a singer has found his or her own sound, proper training can expand performers' abilities to span the scale. But not quite to the seven-octave range Carey's publicity handlers have said she can achieve. Several vocal coaches have expressed doubt over the supposed seven-octave voice.

"You'd have to be about 10 feet tall to have that range," said Gard, explaining the capacity for seven octaves as close to a grand piano's capability, from bottom of the keyboard to top. He called a three-octave range both huge and rare.

A website that aims to debunk urban legends even has addressed this topic, with the snopes.com entry granting Carey perhaps six octaves. Others are not as generous, estimating Carey's range at anywhere between three and five octaves. Other artists who have been said to possess extraordinary range in excess of three octaves include Peruvian singer Yma Sumac, whose website claims her as at least once capable of five octaves, and Julie Andrews, whose voice has been categorized by sources as in the four- to five-octave range.

"The human voice is a miraculous instrument," said Vagnini, adding that whatever Carey's range, she ranks undeniably among those with voices that impress. "She definitely raised the bar in what people expect to hear in a pop singer. She's certainly a bright light in pop history."
(Republican American)

It kind of made sense that Mariah Carey opened Monday night's show at the TD Banknorth Garden with, of all things, a rollercoaster. In a voiceover accompanying the onscreen rollercoaster ride, Carey described the ups and downs that have defined her 15-year career-record-breaking hits and massive popularity, massively huge missteps (think "Glitter") and hideaways from the public at large.

But Carey didn't become the best-selling female artist of all time by accident. And if her latest album, the multi-platinum monster "Emancipation of Mimi", wasn't proof enough that she's back at the top of her game, then Monday night's two-hour set was. The newly svelte songstress appeared onstage clad in a fuschia bikini and sheer black pseudo-cape to the tune of "It's Like That", a hip hop-flavored number that signaled her rise from the ashes in 2005.

Video appearances by hip hop icons throughout the performance hinted at Carey's crossover appeal, with Jay-Z mugging onscreen during "Heartbreaker", the late Ol' Dirty Bastard rap-growling on "Fantasy" and Mase getting face time on the heavy funk of "Honey". As good as those songs were, Carey was at her best during slow to midtempo ballads like "Don't Forget About Us", the gospel-tinged "Fly Like a Bird" and "Always Be My Baby", her first song with hitmaker Jermaine Dupri.

Fans who had recently jumped on the Mimi bandwagon-and judging by the age of the audience, there were many-were unfamiliar with the inspirational "Make It Happen", not to mention her first single, "Vision of Love". Thankfully everyone knew the words to the Jackson 5 classic, "I'll Be There" featuring Carey's protégé Trey Lorenz, who hung around to perform a tribute to the late Luther Vandross during one of Carey's four wardrobe changes.

Those wardrobe changes, along with backup dancers, a live backing band, and a winding staircase onstage, certainly didn't hurt the ambiance Monday night. But it was The Voice, five octaves of glass-shattering power, that carried the show, never better than on Carey's final song, "We Belong Together".

Tearing up the ballad in a skin-tight gold gown and stiletto heels, Carey proved she remains one of few female performers with sex appeal and a set of pipes to match.

Sean Paul was a surprisingly impressive opening act. Hits like "We Be Burnin' ", "Give It Up To Me" and "Temperature" bumped as Paul interspersed his borderline corny one-legged hops with hip thrusts that drew manic screams from female audience members. It's hard to say what was more enthralling - his Jamaican accent and suggestive dance moves, or the music itself. Whatever it was, it worked.
(The Sun Chronicle)

She has the most athletic voice of her generation, able to leap octaves in a single bound. But at Mariah Carey's rare Madison Square Garden concert last night, she proved yet again that force and flexibility in no way guarantee emotional depth or connection.

In her usual style, Carey approached each song as a rigorous exercise, bending and stretching notes extravagantly, elaborating each melody with as many ornate phrases and fancy filigrees as she could conceive. Essentially, Carey was doing with her voice what Madonna does with her body.

Carey meant such moves to make up for the fact that, unlike most modern divas, she doesn't dance. She doesn't even move with much grace. But at least she poses with a certain campy charm. Long attuned to modern trends, Carey made sure that last night's show wasn't just about music. She had a passel of backup dancers to shimmy and shake, a deejay to fiddle around between numbers, and enough costume changes to fill a segment on "Project Runway".

Unfortunately, such distractions often wound up harming the show's pace. Seldom did Carey perform more than two or three numbers before vanishing backstage, while DJ Clue, or some video backdrop, carried the day. The deejay motif carried over into the songs. Perhaps nervous about her age (36), Carey put even more youthful hip-hop inflections into her music at this show than on her CDs.

Both Jay-Z and Sean (Diddy) Combs showed up as guests. But the style wasn't always flattering, often slowing the beat and flattening Carey's already narrow melodies. Songs like the opener, "It's Like That", made such severe concessions to the beat, there wasn't much room left for the tune.

By contrast, Carey's vocals certainly showed range. The woman can hit most any note on the scale. The deeper question is, should she. On hit after hit (from "Dreamlover" to "Honey"), Carey threw her voice around with the giddy abandon of a crazed seal leaping through hoops. It's a supremely influential approach. "American Idol" would be unimaginable without it. But for all her physical dynamism, Carey in concert generated no heat.
(New York Daily News)

Mariah Carey's "The Adventures of Mimi Tour" made a stop at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston Monday night and brought with it hits, hotties, and of course, lots of glitter. The crowd of mostly teen girls was warmed up by the sexy voice and suggestive moves of Sean Paul, who performed a string of his hits, beginning with "Like Glue". Along with his four backup dancers, he brought enough energy to the stage to have everyone out of their seats during his entire 45-minute set.

After a long 75-minute intermission, the curtains - adorned with the initials "MC" in pink glitter - opened to reveal a stage fit for a queen: Mariah had arrived. Beginning with her hit "It's Like That", Carey announced her mission for the night -"I came to have a party" - and the crowd's deafening screams showed they were ready for just that. Decked out in skimpy purple-glitter booty shorts and crop top, Carey hit those infamous high notes and delighted the crowd with their favorite songs, old and new.

The elegant two-level stage came complete with four video screens, a star-filled backdrop with a disco beaded curtain and was topped off with "MC" right in the center. It was a perfect fit for the diva who has poise and confidence, as Carey clearly did.

There was a sweet moment when Carey slowed it down and sang the ballad "My All" as she stood on the stairs in a single spotlight. Shadows of a couple dancing behind a screen set the mood for this older hit, as fans sang along with the song about wishing for one more moment with the one you love.

With a quick change back to the upbeat "Shake It Off", lights spelling "Mimi" came down onto the stage. Carey danced in front of them, teasing the audience with a moment of pole-dancing. She took it way back with her first single from 1990, "Vision of Love" and told the audience that second show of her career was in Boston and was the best of her life. She chatted with fans as if they were all good friends and even took a moment to sing "Happy Birthday" to a male fan in the audience.

Carey made a number of diva-style wardrobe changes into sexy-yet-elegant dresses that still didn't stint on glitter. Midway through the show, she moved to a smaller stage in the middle of floor and the audience went wild with the chance to get a better view of their idol.

As the show drew to a close, Carey dedicated "Hero" to anyone who has been through any tough situation and had the audience singing along and waving their hands in the air. For an upbeat ending, a full gospel choir in white robes joined Mariah and her dancers on stage for "Make It Happen".

Carey then graced the stage in a skin-colored, full-length dress for the encore song, "We Belong Together". As she said good night to Boston and walked off the stage to "Butterfly", glitter cannons exploded sending pink and purple butterfly shaped glitter over the audience - a graceful ending for a diva-licious evening.
(The Lowell Sun)

Mariah Carey's Adventures of Mimi tour comes to Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, August 23rd. According to Ticketmaster, the show is almost sold out (According to Mariah's management, the concert is actually sold out). Luckily for fans who miss out, Mimi gets around.

Mariah, with special guest Sean Paul, will be playing Continental Arena in beautiful East Rutherford, New Jersey on Sunday, August 27th. Mariah and Sean Paul will also be live at Nikon at Jones Beach on Sunday, September 3rd.
(The Lowell Sun)

For all her diva posturing, Mariah Carey is just another giddy fan inside that curvaceous body she likes to display at all times.

And the best moments during last night's 95-minute installment of Carey's current tour -- "The Adventures of Mimi: the Voice, the Hits, the Tour" -- at the TD Banknorth Garden were when she let that exuberant music lover out to play alongside the bombshell with the glass-shattering voice.

Whether it was the offhand, almost unconscious, rapping along with video of duet partners like Jay-Z and the late ODB, the teasing of her band and dancers, or the singing of a sincere "Happy Birthday" to a devoted sign-waving fan, Carey was at her most likable when she seemed to be enjoying herself as opposed to counting in her head how many hip shimmies she had to do during "Shake it Off."

Of course those hip shimmies ( Carey's and those of her considerably more rhythmically gifted sextet of dancers), the peek-a-boo costumes, the mammoth silver-and-white stage dotted with a quintet of video screens, and the big hair were all part of the spectacle one expects. And the singer worked the stage with as much grace as a scantily clad woman in towering heels can.

The pageantry was a bit silly at times, including the requisite intro video of Carey comparing her life to a roller coaster and then falling through the clouds. Trey Lorenz made an "entrance" to huge cheers for Carey's lovely cover of the Jackson 5's "I'll Be There," but he had been on stage all night as part of her trio of backing vocalists. (A medley by the genial Lorenz meant to promote his forthcoming album somewhat defeated the purpose by consisting solely of covers of Luther Vandross and Gnarls Barkley, but presented an excellent restroom break for many in the crowd.)

The generous set list drew on her collection of 17 number one hits, with emphasis on her more recent rhythm and blues successes. Mariah and the crowd, 12,232 strong, followed every impressive trill, belt, and canine whistle with rapt devotion and vigorous sing-alongs.

She hit her breakthrough anthem "Vision of Love" early and strong, summoning up a gospel grit that felt earned and would recur on songs like "Fly Like a Bird," the raucous, choir-assisted set-closer "Make it Happen," and, during a medley, an earthy duet of "Thank God I Found You" with Lorenz. That one particular felt like a glimpse at what takes place on the tour bus, two friends harmonizing with easy joy.

The more calculated balladry of "Hero" and up-tempo, breezy numbers like "Heartbreaker," "Fantasy" -- sung on a B-stage near the back of the arena -- and "Honey" lacked that same grit, but the former drew a fervent ovation and the latter trio got the hips moving and the crowd jumping. "We Belong Together " ended the show in a spurt of hitching dance grooves and glittery purple confetti.
(Boston Globe)

Not too many pop singers can finesse massive crowds in their underwear. But Mariah Carey isn't your everyday pop singer.

When Carey's 2001 release, "Glitter," bombed commercially, she probably couldn't have sold out your local Best Buy. Even in her intimates. But with the muscle of her recent Billboard blockbuster, "The Emancipation of Mimi," behind her, Carey had the TD Banknorth Garden packed with her usual fan base: kids, moms, dads, thugs, chicks, players and everyone else in between.

But a spectacle on par with Carey can't be unveiled without a proper intro. Her mere presence calls for a worthy opening act, which last night came from Jamaican dancehall dynamo Sean Paul, who is for many to reggae what Carey is to r & b. He racks up hit singles the way UPS drivers collect parking tickets. Jamming through dancehall hits such as "We Be Burnin'" and "Get It On," Paul energized people who came to hear him as well as Carey die-hards waiting patiently for their hero.

Carey's intro was hysterically dramatic. She emerged to a recording of her waxing poetic about how life is like a roller coaster. When her fans finished wiping their tears, they braced for the show.

In a salute to rappers who have laid verses on her most popular tracks, Carey paid homage to MCs she's collaborated with.During "Heartbreaker," Jay-Z cameos filled the video monitors, and for "Fantasy," deceased rap star Ol' Dirty Bastard's verse was given a full salute.

But Carey's catalog is even more impressive than her vocals and the MCs who have complemented her choruses. For every dance track she flung in the beginning of her set, she unfurled a "Vision of Love" or "Hero." Her fame might have briefly faded from 2000 to 2003, but Carey's vocal chords never left the building.

No track triggered more tears and screams than "Always Be My Baby," a song Carey let her fans sing most of. Halfway ballads such as "Honey" inspired tears, but it took her hit "Hero" to trigger the night's most significant emotions.

There are rumors about how Carey resents her fans and how she disrespects the backroom talents who engineer her career. But at a venue as mammoth as the Garden, none of that seemed relevant so long as she reigned over the crowd as expected.
(Boston Herald)

When you're talking about Mariah Carey, it all starts with the voice. Or, as she billed it herself on the tour that rolled into the TD Banknorth Garden last night, The Voice.

It was in good shape last night, but it's one thing to have such a force of nature; it's another to know what to do with it. And I'm not talking about the oversinging she's so often accused of; that's her deal, and if you can't get used to that, well, this deep into her career you've given it a fair shot. (It only grated on the encore, "We Belong Together.") She's still head-and-shoulders above the generation of American Idol doofuses trying to follow in her footsteps.

But on the hip-hop-influenced material that's come to dominate her recorded output, such as the set opener "It's Like That," "Heartbreaker" (with video rap cameo from Jay-Z) and "Fantasy" (with video rap cameo from Ol' Dirty Bastard), she fell victim to the Van Halen syndrome -- imitating one's imitators and undermining one's own strengths -- sounding like any one of a number of thin-voiced contemporary R&B divas, with a couple of the trademark Carey helium notes thrown in so you know whom you're dealing with, but to not much other discernible effect.

The Voice was used to better effect on opulent R&B such as the old hit "Dreamlover" and "Fly Like a Bird" and "I Wish You Knew" (from last year's The Emancipation of Mimi album), when she wasn't singing like she had something to prove, which unfortunately isn't nearly as often as you'd think it would be at this stage of her career. This is the stuff very few singers Carey's age or younger are doing, because very few can handle it. But there wasn't enough last night, and too many forgettable recent hits.

The pacing of the show was a bit of a mess. The middle of the set was loaded with filler, including a DJ spotlight and a three-song set from "I'll Be There" vocal partner Trey Lorenz. The end of the show was bogged down with another DJ spotlight, snippets of songs such as "I Wish You Knew" and forced banter from Carey before finishing up with "Hero" and "Make It Happen."

When The Emancipation of Mimi came out last year, more than a few people wondered exactly what it was she claimed to be emancipated from. Similarly, the introductory video to last night's concert featured footage of a roller coaster with a voiceover from Carey about how life was like, well, a roller coaster. Ups and downs, hold on, that sort of thing.

That was pretty much it for the philosophizing, and while that may have been just as well, most of the material seemed to come from a mindset most commonly expressed in the margins of a notebook during third-period algebra: Look inside you and be strong. I'm gonna shake you off. Baby, don't forget about us. Make it happen.

Which is a shame. At this point, with her raw talent, Carey should be leading, not following. Sure, Emancipation was last year's top seller. But last night's show didn't leave the impression of a young singer baring her soul or an older singer baring her scars. Or much of anything. Except The Voice.

Opener Sean Paul was a rousing force, using a DJ, a backing band and synthesized beats to re-create some of his biggest hits, particularly from his latest album, The Trinity. The live band gave new life to such dancehall hits as "We Be Burnin'" and "Get It On."
(The Providence Journal)

Mariah Carey is known for her unusual diets. Case in point: just this past winter she shed a surprising number of pounds by consisting on a diet of plain fish and soup. Certainly that was odd enough. But with word now coming out about the most recent change in her eating habits, one has to wonder, has she finally stumbled upon her most oddball diet yet?

Along with her nutritionist, Carey has reportedly created a diet plan that includes eating purple foods three times a week. That’s right. And before you start scratching your head and wondering how on earth eating purple foods can help you lose weight, you should know, that weight loss is not the goal of this particular diet. Instead, Carey is munching on the likes of grapes and plums in the hopes that they will help to prevent signs of aging. But don’t roll your eyes just yet. According to research, this purple food diet may just be the smartest one Mariah Carey has ever tried.

In fact, according to Dr. James Joseph, Chief of the Neuroscience Laboratory at the USDA Human Nutrition Research Center for Aging, purple and blue hued foods actually do contain anti-aging properties, though he prefers the use of a different term. “We call it healthy aging,” he explained. This same line of thinking extends far beyond blue and purple foods and includes any fruit or vegetable that is bright in color. So what is behind this anti-wrinkle cure?

“As you age,” Dr. Joseph explained, “you are less able to deal with free radicals, which destroy cells. When you’re young, you have defenses against these. As you get older, you are less able to repair these cells.” Based on the free radical theory, proposed by Denham Harman in the 1950s, this concept holds that antioxidants are able to prevent the formation of these free radicals responsible for aging. Dr. Joseph warned that if you are not getting enough antioxidants, meaning fruits and veggies, than the evidence will speak for itself. “If you are not defending yourself, the wrinkles are evident.”

These same types of antioxidants may also be protecting you against something much more serious than a recent laugh line, they could be protecting you against disease. Free radical damage within cells has been linked to a range of diseases that include cancer, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes.

Dr. Joseph has even written a book on the subject. Entitled The Color Code, this how-to book is designed to help everyone mix their colors and get the maximum amount of benefits from fruits and veggies. And while you can get these antioxidants from different supplement tablets, Dr. Joseph advises that nothing compares to the benefits you will receive from eating the fruits and vegetables themselves. “Antioxidants are better if obtained in the food matrix. There are a lot more there,” he explained.

So forget that long line at the beauty counter for the latest wrinkle banishing face lotion and rush to the grocery store, where you can stock up on a number of brightly colored fruits and vegetables, and for a lot less, too. It may just make the difference of a few wrinkles.
(AOL Black Voices)

"This is one singer who actually sounds just as amazing, if not better, live"

The phrase: "We came, we saw, we conquered," can now place a photo of Mariah Carey next to it in the dictionary because on August 5, 2006, MC proved that she has not only whipped her critics and detractors into place with her numerous number ones, won award after award in the past year and sold more copies of her latest album than ever before in her career. Now she's blown away her fans with her current live gigs… and oh-how she's doing it!

Her biggest, most doting fans queued up all night, so there were layers of fans 20 deep surrounding the Miami Arena hysterical with anticipation for the opening night of Mariah's Adventures of Mimi: The Voice, the Hits, the Tour. It's been at least three years since most of the world saw MC perform live, so her fans came from far and wide - literally from all over the globe - and were on their feet all night.

Since Miami she's been on a steady roll around the US killing the audiences at every venue. Even when MC was around an hour late the fans were jumping up and down not caring.

The crowd was made up of every kind of person from every walk of life; kids, road boys, mums with toddlers, old folks, pregnant women, hip hop heads. You name it, everyone showed up. After Busta Rhymes and Sean Paul warmed up the crowd for her on different dates, the crowd was so hyped they did Mexican waves the size of which a European fan like me has never witnessed.

When you go to an MC gig you're going as much for her sexy, provocative outfits as you are to hear her legendary vocals. On this show they both blow you away. There were enough clothes changes for a whole London Fashion Week.

But that didn't matter because as she ran off to slip into another saucy outfit, the girls giggled with delight at each new one while some of the boys got very hot and flustered watching her naughty looks. Her more than able backing singers and dancers entertained us with their unsurpassed skills. MC's dancers led by the wonderful choreographer Rachel McIntosh flipped and shimmied for all they were worth and had us whining around in our seats trying to imitate them (unsuccessfully).

MC's mate DJ Clue spun and mixed for all he was worth as MC stopped for mini breaks to change or catch her breath or take sips of water, which she felt she needed to apologise for. Why I don't know. Girl, we know you can't belt out those melodic tunes on pipes that are dry like the desert!

Randy Jackson, Mariah's musical director (and always has been, but in US is famous for his judging role of American Idol) was on hand to ensure MC's music was on point all through the show. There were loads of musical high points during the show which showcased MC's vocal ability, and occasionally it seemed she would shatter with the hollering that was escaping her lithe body.

MC had her friends/featured artists on her hits, such as Busta, Jay-Z, Jermaine Dupri and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard join her via the technology of video clips onstage but it was director Spike Lee who swung it on home with a series of video clips highlighting the crap from the media and haters that MC always has to contend with - while MC just smiles as it plays.

A diva wouldn't be a diva without the long, 007-style gowns and MC's were put together by stylist June Ambrose who called in hot looks from every designer who wanted to dress MC. Ultimately, however, the clothes were made as one-offs. The outfits were untouchable and while the press may have just showed the public shots of MC in batty rider shorts, let me reassure you that the gowns and sexy dresses were much more dominant in this show than hot pants.

She not only managed to run on and off stage in a variety of outfits but her singing was complete with all the vigorous stamina you'd expect from her. This is one singer who actually sounds just as amazing, if not better, live. MC recreated the Lady Marmalade vibe with her perfectly natural curves in a metallic red burlesque costume as she straddled and worked a chair so hard it practically melted under her, and rolled through hit after hit as the night sped past.

If older fans were worried she would only bang out the old tracks they were pleasantly surprised as she worked in every hit including Dream Lover, Honey, My All, Shake It Off, Fly Like A Bird, Fantasy (during which she ventured into the crowd), Thank God I Found You, Hero and her cover of The Jackson 5's I'll Be There.

We can only pray that after its US and Asian run it will finally make its way to Europe. You know if you want it you gotta demand it readers. Holla at MC on her site now.
(Mariah Daily)

Busta Rhymes has already been an opening act at a number of Mariah concerts during the tour and is scheduled to be the opening act again for some future concerts (Houston, Dallas, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Phoenix); but last night Busta was arrested on assault charges.

It is not known at the moment if Busta will be released soon or if it was just an administrative arrest. In any case it will disturb Mariah and who knows if she was already aware of this fact, when she took to the stage at last nights Alantic City concert, it could explain alot of stuff!
(Heroes of Mariah)

Audra Adeoye, 22, a senior at Florida International University studying biology, was named South Florida winner of the "Legs of Goddess" contest held Aug. 5 as part of the events of a Mariah Carey concert at AmericanAirlines Arena.

"It’s a little hard to believe because I have always thought of my legs as a little too thin," Adeoye said. "In fact, I decided to enter the contest on a whim. I figured if it’s legs they were looking for, then I’ll give them every inch of my 41-inch legs." Adeoye’s prize was VIP tickets to Carey’s Adventures of Mimi World Tour concert and a meeting with the superstar after the show.

"Meeting Carey was an absolute honor and being photographed together for the `Venus Legs of Goddess’ contest was surreal," Adeoye said. She and winners in other cities will advance to the final round of Gillette Venus’ "Celebrity Legs of a Goddess" on Aug. 23 at Madison Square Garden in New York City for a try at $25,000.
(Miami Herald)

Ruth and cousin, Nathan had the time of their lives meeting their idol Mariah Carey backstage at her Pepsi Smash Live concert at the Kodak Theater, Los Angeles, CA on July 29, 2006. Here's what Nathan had to say about the whole experience:

"Yahoo! Music came and did an interview segment entitled, "#1 Fan" with me and Ruth at my house. They filmed us talking about the room and showing the collection and had us talk about Mariah.

Then a limo came and picked us up and they filmed us in the limo from the inside and outside and basically it was the whole works, everything we did basically they filmed including making that entrance inside the Kodak Theatre and after they filmed us inside by the stage and then when we met Mariah too and then they got our reaction and what after! It was an awesome experience! So then after the whole thing the limo took us home!"

The Pepsi Smash "#1 Fan" video is available for streaming at Yahoo! Music.
(Mariah Daily | Yahoo! Music)

Mariah Carey has an unusual body for a modern-day pop goddess - voluptuous and solid instead of willowy and elastic. It's a singer's body, not a dancer's, built to house the multi-octave pipes that have allowed the 36-year-old singer to rule the radio dial for 16 years.

Carey showed off that body at the opening of the North American leg of her tour that comes to Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. At Miami's American Airlines Arena, she was swathed in artfully cut out chiffon gowns and sequined hot pants that Ann-Margret would have enjoyed in her prime and used a burlesque dancer's straight-back chair, a winding staircase and other props to prove that she could move those long legs and that curvy torso.

But Carey never let choreography get in the way of what her body was there for: to help her sing in ways that have, as she said with a modest shrug near the end of the 90-minute-plus concert, "changed people's lives". No one works as hard to balance inspiration and flash as Carey, who started her career selling the ageless appeal of pure vocal prowess only to sustain it by turning herself into a trend-savvy hip-hop home girl.

This new production seeks to meld the uplifting Mariah and the modish one by surrounding a traditional prima donna's turn with the accouterments of urban music. There were acrobatic dancers; video clips of rappers with whom Carey has collaborated, such as Jay-Z and the late ODB, and references to milestones in her transformation from girl next door to hot mama, including the sailor suits of her 1997 video for "Honey" and the video catfights of her "Heartbreaker" era.

From the moment she entered in a black bikini with boy-cut bottom and a chiffon cape, offering up her trademark high notes and striking poses with her masked male dancers, Carey treated the evening like a qualifying round that she was determined to win.

It's an old showbiz trick to interrupt major production numbers with asides that humanize the goings-on, and whether that or basic nerves motivated Carey's asides, it worked: When she did stumble, as on the unusually challenging mix of big dance moves and rapid-fire vocalizing during the reggae-inflected "Shake It Out", it made the show feel alive, not unprofessional.

Especially satisfying were the duets Carey shared with backing vocalist Trey Lorenz; when these longtime singing partners traded high notes on the ballads "I'll Be There" and "One Sweet Day". Carey was happiest simply singing and, in doing so, allowing her fans to consider their own perhaps unemancipated potential. It's a function singers have served at least since the coloratura came into style in opera - the female voice carries the listener beyond the humdrum of her daily imaginings.

When Carey moved to a small stage mid-arena, she got the crowd climbing on seats to cheer her holding one last note on the poignant "Don't Forget About Us" until it seemed like she would break. She never broke. Like the silver-screen queens she admires, Carey's not just a femme fatale but also a trooper, and her years of delivering hits, even with a midcareer dip, have resulted in hard-won consistency.
(The Journal News | Mariah Daily)

The full list of nominees has been announced for the Fourth Annual Relly Awards, "Live with Regis and Kelly’s" gala awards show airing on September 22, 2006 and Mariah’s marvelous dog Jack has earned his second consecutive Relly nomination!

In the "Best Non-Human Guest" category, repeat nominees from last year include purple dinosaur Barney and Mariah’s superstar dog Jack. Last year Jack lost out by a slim margin of votes to Miss Piggy so let’s make it happen for Jack & Mimi this year by casting your vote for Jack to take home the Relly!
(Mariah Carey.Com)

Mariah Carey is incredible. I was going to write this long elaborate love letter to Mariah Carey after seeing last night's concert in Atlantic City. I was going to get into how she has 17 number one hits or how "One Sweet Day" featuring Boys II Men is the longest running #1 single on Billboard ever... ever, but I won't.

What I will do is talk about how with all the mediocracy in R&B over the past few years it is refreshing to witness true talent genius first hand. Yes Mariah loves short skirts and showing tons of cleavage. Yes she is narcissistic. But witness that vocal ability live and you wouldn't have it any other way. Hands down, that bitch can sing. She can get breathy and inflate notes and in less than a second within the same syllable deflate them and deliver a clarity thats like water. Not only that, she understands the technical aspects of music. Her conversation is as much about rainbows and butterflies as it is about chord progression and singing in lower registers when she is hoarse.

What I also always knew but found important to mention is Mariah is all about her fans. In a game where you become insanely wealthy and people worship the ground you walk on, it's great to not see it go to one's head. As much as Mariah loves herself that narcissism stands second to her love of her fans.

The music industry has become such a "performance culture". Background dancers and props and fans and such. Lately her televised performances have been inconsistent (re: last year's Bet Awards) but what I noticed is when Mariah is "performing" she sounds a little strained... but when she isn't paying attention to the cameras that 5 octave massive voice falls out of her mouth effortlessly. No shake, no scratching, no reaching for notes that aren't there.
(SOHH)

The Mariah Hero.com Message Board will be closed this weekend. The new message board will be online early next week. We’ll be working on the completely new community which will bring a lot of new things! We’re not only designing a new layout but new boards and categories as well.

A few weeks ago, we announced that we'll delete the 0-post accounts. For the new members, we recommend posting something or otherwise the Mariah Hero account will be deleted. This new policy will be active when the new community is up in order to have a community exclusive for active members. Moreover, we are going to establish a membership surprise. There will be more live chats with games/contests and more.

As you know, the main site has been completely redesigned; we worked on every single section and channel. Now, we want to run this new community. The Mariah Hero MB has been online during three years; that’s why we want to make it a special place for its visitors. We’ve been surveying members to know suggestions and ideas, and these will be part of the new MB.
(Mariah Hero MB)

The performances of "Don't Forget About Us," "Heartbreaker," "Hero," "I'll Be There," and "Vision Of Love" from Mariah's July 29th Pepsi Smash Live concert at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California, are now available for streaming via the Pepsi Smash website. Click here to check out these exclusive performances!
(Yahoo! Music)

It feels unkind and gratuitous to say anything mean about Mariah Carey - the woman's been through enough after her very public fall from grace in 2001, which featured an album that flopped, a feature film that flopped and a very strange appearance on MTV's Total Request Live.

I will say this, however: you'd think after all these years of dressing like a drag queen the woman would have learned to walk in heels. Her hour-and-a-half show was nerve-racking as she minced precariously across the stage.

It was obviously a practical rather than diva-like move to stop two lines into Vision Of Love so as to draw attention to a stiletto heel-sized hole in the stage. She was glad to have an excuse to start the song again, admitting she missed the first line anyway.

Despite the massive production of her Adventures Of Mimi tour – lights, dancers, singers, band, video screens and constant wind blowing across the stage and through Carey's hair – the whole business was a bit awkward and strange. Yeah, Carey is the queen of the vocals. She's got a fantastic, amazing voice as she showcased again and again running through her, what – 17, 18 – number one hits, pulling out the high-pitched vocal gymnastics wherever required and sending the gay guy next to me into squealing fits.

But Carey herself is awkward and strange, which is actually part of her charm. She's cute and quirky, keeping up chatter with the audience, insisting she doesn't want us to think she "didn't want to put on a good show."

She often seemed dwarfed by the trappings of her stage show and her band. The show lost momentum whenever she disappeared for one of many costume changes while a DJ played medleys of party tunes.

Her duet with Trey Lorenz, I'll Be There, was lovely but then we lost momentum again when she left for another costume change and Lorenz sang a tune off his upcoming album (Mimi Presents Trey Lorenz). He has a fine voice but it wasn't big enough for the venue and he should have taken off the sunglasses.

Finally, launching into Hero, Mariah suggested anyone who didn't like the song could take a bathroom break (I don't know if she was being facetious or seriously insecure). When the end came it came with a burst of purple confetti.
(Now Toronto)

A divorce, a breakdown, a dissolved contract, a musical flop coupled with a film flop could kill anyone. Not Mariah Carey. She proved herself onstage at the Bell Centre, where the "Mimi" tour made a stop last night.

Her life is a roller coaster. This mantra was shown in videos before her appearance onstage, one hour behind schedule. Her successes were massive (160 million albums sold in her 15 year career), her failures deep (only 5 million sold for Glitter) and her resurrection...inspiring.

And there she was, at the top of a deliciously rococo staircase. In the flesh and blood. In black shorts and a bra, a transparent silk cape, golden locks blowing in the wind, a flirtatious smile and battingr her eyes: Mariah didn't skimp on the effects to woo the 13,150 spectators (parents and children, couples more or less young, groups of friends).

She started with her last hit, "It's Like That," from The Emancipation of Mimi, which provided the theme of the show. It worked, the song evoked the image of a resurrection. "No stress / No fights / I'm leavin' it all behind," she sang, accompanied by three back up singers and a group of dancers.

Mariah's older fans weren't forgotten. After the performance of her first single, "Vision of Love," the diva alternated between new and old hits ("I'll Be There" "Honey" "Buttefly"). And of course, she didn't skip over the slow songs: "My All" and "Hero".

The album of the resurrection, still in the top 200 albums on Billboard, was featured in hits one after the other "Shake It Off," "I Wish You Knew," "Fly Like a Bird," and the incomparable "We Belong Together" which were peppered between the 20 titles scheduled for the evening.

So... Mariah, a romantic or not? Not surprisingly, Mariah Carey's stage is decorated in the styles of love: dramatic curtains, butterflies, etc. An in judging after we have seen the stage and the body of the beautiful American Cinderella, spontaneity did not highlight the show; it was more like a video clip than a concert.

After the first song, Mariah Carey's voice was warmed up. She would hit one octave here, there. She showed the audience that she still has it, not only in her bra but her lungs as well. The voice of Mariah can always cover eight octaves, passing the supersonic to much lower notes. It's official -- not really for sensitive ears -- Mimi is back.

We were already well acquainted with the kitsch after being graced by the hip hop stylings of Sean Paul, who opened the first part of the show. He performed a small but convincing repertoire of his titles from his albums Dutty Rock and The Trinity, including "Hey Sexy Lady" with a slew of scantily-clad dancers.

An hour later Mariah appeared, in her undergarments and with her butterflies. To the great relief of certain parents, shocked by the audacity of the "sexy ladies" of Sean Paul. And to the pleasure of the fans from Montreal, who never forgot her during her darker years.
(Cyberpresse | Mariah Daily)

Any diva worth her salt will make you wait. While she didn't overdo it, Mariah Carey proved she's still got a little royalty complex, taking the stage at 9:30 last night, 45 minutes after her scheduled start time of 8:45. It was nothing, really - a minor delay. But with her history of melodrama, and given that, 16 years into her career, she was playing her first Montreal show, there was anticipation in the air.

"Life is like a roller coaster," she said, in a pre-concert video, after the lights went down. "Everyone has to face their fears. Like a roller coaster, there are ups and downs, ins and outs. And when the scariest part is over. Suddenly everything stops, and there is a moment of peace."

She was relatively at peace last night, before an excited crowd of 13,000 - no small feat for a superstar who, just a few years ago, was suffering a credibility crisis of epic proportions. Last year's The Emancipation of Mimi was Carey's comeback album. And this was her comeback tour. From the beginning, there was a mild cringe factor.

She came out to the club-bumping sounds of It's Like That, wasting no time in baring her notoriously full figure. Clad in black lingerie, kinda covered by a sheer black gown, she slinked about the stage with a calculated step to match her tentative coo. She broke the spell mid-song with a warm, "What's up, Montreal?", then belted out an ad lib. It was the first of several (but not too-too many) displays of her trademark power and range.

Whether Carey is no longer able or no longer willing to unleash the full force of her five-octave range is open to debate. Regardless, it was a mature Mariah who held court last night. Playing songs from throughout her career - while noticeably omitting her 2001 collapse, Glitter, and its quick-release, apologetic 2002 followup Charmbracelet - she emerged with her dignity intact.

This, despite a near "wardrobe malfunction" midway through the night. She had made her way through the crowd to sing her Ol' Dirty Bastard-assisted hit Fantasy, from a dancefloor-size stage at the back of the room. After no more than two minutes, she walked right back off, and backstage, apologizing over the P.A.

"This is called winging it," she said when she re-emerged. "The twins didn't want to stay where they were supposed to." Though it interrupted one of her biggest songs, it was a welcome bit of spontaneity. As fun and efficient as the show was until that point, it did feel a bit like Carey was walking on eggs.

But she was doing fine. On the strategically balanced set list were 1999's Heartbreaker, with video cameos by Missy Elliott and Jay-Z; the big ballad My All, from 1997's Butterfly; the smoothed out groove Shake It Off (in front of a huge, lit up MIMI backdrop); and her early career hit Vision of Love.

Throughout, she kept herself in check, unleashing a rebel wail now and then, but for the most part, playing it cool, and coy. Her fans loved every minute, and she loved them back. "This is the best audience I've ever had," she said, with passable conviction.

Dancehall reggae posterboy Sean Paul opened up with a rousing set of party anthems. Flanked by energetic, scantily clad dancers of his own, he got the crowd more excited than most opening acts can dream of.
(Montreal Gazette)

Mariah Carey has always come across as a plucky survivor with questionable style and an amazing voice, and during a nearly two-hour performance at Toronto's Air Canada Centre Sunday night, the diva delivered equal amounts of pluck, questionability and amazement.

Despite overhyped media reports of $10 million U.S. brooches, nine time-consuming costume changes and unfashionable lateness, The Adventures Of Mimi: The Voice, The Hits, The Tour was a pretty modest experience. The production was no more elaborate than your average figure skating TV special and the self-deprecating 36-year-old seemed intent on creating a relaxed atmosphere as she belted out 16 of her career hits, including "Dream Lover", "Always Be My Baby", "Fantasy" and "Honey", plus a few numbers from last year's comeback album, The Emancipation Of Mimi.

The show opened with a confessional video of sorts. Over the image of a rollercoaster, Carey told the sold-out crowd, "Obviously it's no secret my life has been like a rollercoaster ride," a reductive reference to her tumultuous career in the public spotlight, which has included a high-profile divorce from Tommy Mottola and a bizarre nervous breakdown and subsequent hospitalization in 2001. "It's all part of God's bigger plan for me," she concluded, before suddenly appearing in a gust of wind from beneath the stage, clad in a sequined black bikini top, matching booty shorts and sheer cape.

Launching into "It's Like That", she remained easy to spot among the tangle of back-up dancers, thanks in part to an omnipresent wind machine that violently tossed her gigantic, curly hair wherever she went. Carey doesn't really dance so much as swoop, flow and float around the stage. But a Mariah Carey show isn't about slick dance moves, it's all about her voice. All five of her octaves were in top form, dazzling the crowd with several ad-libbed arias.

Peril was nearly averted during mid-set track "Vision Of Love". "Stop the show," she commanded, apologizing profusely. "There's a hole in the stage just about the size of a stiletto heel." As a roadie scrambled onstage to plug the hazardous hole, Carey coyly confessed she'd flubbed the first line of the song anyway and continued on.

She hit every high note during a rousing version of the Jackson 5's "I'll Be There", and brought out Trey Lorenz, the vocalist who originally performed the song with her back in 1992 on MTV Unplugged. The show then ground to a halt as she disappeared backstage to change outfits, leaving Lorenz to perform a filler song from his forthcoming album. He naturally gravitated towards an over-eager group of girls conveniently seated in the front row who had red and white pompoms and a placard that read, "I love Trey!"

Carey reappeared on a smaller stage at the centre of the audience to energetically perform three numbers. It was definitely the high point of the evening, as the show began to lose some momentum shortly thereafter.

Following another costume change, she returned in a turquoise evening gown and stopped the show once again, passive aggressively reprimanding the band for playing the wrong song in the wrong key. The crowd fell awkwardly silent. Clearly distracted, she pointed into the audience and said: "That ain't a video camera, is it? I've got slick eyes," and began rambling about a "Keith Sweat remix".

To turn the silence back into raucous screaming, she performed an impromptu few bars of a song only hardcore fans would recognize and brought Lorenz back to join her for a few bars of "One Sweet Day" and a full version of "Thank God I Found You". With the 11 p.m. curfew fast approaching, Carey rounded out the set with "Hero", "Make It Happen" and an encore of "We Belong Together".

It wasn't a perfect show, but then Mariah doesn't pretend to be perfect, that's part of her charm. She turned the awkward moments around, hit all the high notes and kept the wind machine cranked up to 11. Who could ask for more?
(Chart Attack)

Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and Grammy Award winner Sam Moore - the voice so identified with his classic hits "Hold On! I'm Comin", "I Thank You", and of course "Soul Man" - recently completed an astonishing new solo album project Sam Moore: Overnight Sensational. Bass player/record executive/talent judge Randy Jackson served as producer for Moore, long famous as the seminal voice of the duo bearing his name. Jackson created the current and contemporary sound as a backdrop, but Sam's voice and energetic presence are front and center. Sam Moore: Overnight Sensational also serves as the final recording for the late, consummate keyboard and recording great Billy Preston.

The 12 tracks on Sam Moore: Overnight Sensational, feature the one and only "soul man" with support from over 20 of his superstar friends and fans including Jon Bon Jovi, Bekka Bramlett, Mariah Carey, Eric Clapton, Nikka Costa, Sheila E., Fantasia, Billy F. Gibbons, Vince Gill, Van Hunt, Billy Preston, Robert Randolph, Paul Rodgers, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Travis Tritt, BeBe Winans, Steve Winwood, Wynonna, and Zucchero. The diverse album Sam Moore: Overnight Sensational also showcases Sam's love for country music on songs written by Garth Brooks and Conway Twitty.
(Justina Medina | Special Ops Media)

When Mariah Carey belts out a glass-shattering high note, it's impossible for most listeners to identify the tone. Not for her. Carey possesses perfect or absolute pitch (AP), the ability to identify tones without any external reference. Just as most people recognize the colors green or sky blue, those with AP instantly recognize a C or E-sharp.

Although roughly 1 in 10,000 people are born with this talent, without musical training they may lose it. "At some point, they have to learn the proper terms - the labels - and then learn to associate those labels with sensory impressions of pitch," says Daniel Levitin, a psychologist at McGill University in Montreal.

That training needs to happen very early: Adult musicians with absolute pitch typically began music lessons around age 5. After age 9 it becomes virtually impossible to develop truly perfect pitch. The rare instances of late acquisition usually occur among the developmentally challenged - most often those with autism or Williams syndrome - whose cognitive maturation is delayed.

Specific languages facilitate absolute pitch. Conservatory students who are native speakers of tonal languages (languages like Mandarin and Vietnamese in which pitch conveys meaning) display perfect pitch more frequently than do their English-speaking counterparts.

Alternately, prevalence among Asians may have a genetic basis. Another study, which did not consider which language subjects spoke, found that 32 percent of Asian-American music students had perfect pitch compared with 7 percent of non-Asian-American music students. Regardless of ethnicity, people with perfect pitch are more likely to have similarly talented siblings.

The gift isn't always a blessing. Awareness of pitch can distract listeners from enjoying music, and playing a melody in a transposed key can be a downright nightmare. Even so, droves of wannabes enroll in courses on "pitch identification". Of course, when it comes to musical greatness, absolute pitch is irrelevant. For every Mozart who has it, there are several Tchaikovskys who don't.
(Psychology Today)

You gotta love Mariah Carey. What other performer would stop their show to point out a hole on the floor of the stage "about the size of a stiletto heel," then admit to having missed the first line of the song anyway, further acknowledge various goofs — including almost falling down — in the first quarter of the 90-minute set, and shrug it all off with a sweetly confident "You know how I am?"

It could be that Carey has learned the dangers of perfectionism, given the exhaustion to which she attributed her very public emotional breakdown a few years back. Or perhaps, she's been nudged about some of the unflattering reviews (citing late starts and uneven singing) of The Adventures of Mimi: The Voice, the Hits, the Tour, which kicked off in Miami last weekend.

"I didn't want Toronto to think I didn't want to put on a good show," she said of her confessions, which came at the tour's fifth outing last night at the Air Canada Centre. It helped that the New York native made these admissions clad in a butter yellow, low cut, bare back, midriff baring gown and then delivered a standout version of 1990's "Vision of Love" — the first of her 17 No. 1 singles.

And to the reassurance of those holding tickets for Carey's Aug. 29 return date, as last night's sold-out crowd can attest, the pop songstress remains in the fine five-octave form that made last year's The Emancipation of Mimi a three-Grammy winner that moved 10 million copies — besting rapper 50 Cent for the year's top seller.

The concert began with video footage of a roller-coaster ride with a Carey voiceover that alluded to the ups and down that marred her personal and professional life for the first half of this decade: divorce from then-Sony boss Tommy Mottola, starring in the movie musical Glitter which tanked, being released from Virgin Records and erratic public behaviour that was widely documented and labelled a meltdown.

With the taped announcement, "after all the hysteria everything is up," Carey stepped out in a glittery black bikini top, matching boy shorts and a transparent cape, singing "It's Like That." Backed by an elaborate stage, six dancers and a seven-piece band, she performed many of her hits, including "Heartbreaker," "Dream Lover" and "Fantasy."

She was joined by erstwhile R&B crooner Trey Lorenz, with whom she'd recorded the Jackson 5's "I'll Be There" for a pleasing rendition of the song. Unfortunately, she then conceded the stage to him to showcase a song from his forthcoming album. Momentum lagged, since few know the South Carolina native outside of the 1992 collaboration with Carey and he didn't even try to make nice by removing the I'm-so-cool sunglasses.

The other downside was a videotaped skit of a quartet of catty women dissing Carey in a washroom about her emotional problems and possibly fake boobs and legs. That was overkill for someone who's shaken off the naysayers to come within three songs of the Beatles No. 1 hits record. And let's face it — she didn't have such a substantial bosom in her 1990 debut.

But overall, Carey is a delight. She is a bit quirky, and she can't really dance — her tendency is to preen and prance — but she sings her ass off and is a whole lot of fun to watch. And she really does try to connect with her fans, even performing two songs on a ministage in their midst.

Costume changes were well down from the eight on her 2000 tour and the healthy looking, no skinny Mimi has toned down the skank. In fact, it was dancehall reggae opener Sean Paul and his sexy frenetic dancers who pushed the boundaries of decency last night.
(Toronto Star)

She brought The Voice but should have left the excesses at home. Long before Jilly-come-lately starlets like Lindsay Lohan were keeping tabloids alive on the back of their foibles, failed relationships and trips to the hospital for exhaustion or "asthma", there was Mariah.

Few have fallen as fast or from such a height as Mariah Carey, who went from the top-selling female artist of the '90s to fodder for Leno and Letterman in roughly a year. It's not without a certain amount of karmic coincidence that her album Glitter, drawn from the universally panned film of the same name, was released on Sept. 11, 2001. Ouch.

That bad timing was only the beginning of the bad times for Carey, and the first few years of the new millennium were famously unkind to the 36-year-old girl with the glass-shattering pipes. But Mariah's now on the comeback trail, and given the roars and screams coming from the packed ACC concert bowl last night for the Toronto stop of the Adventures of Mimi tour, fans old and new are still here to welcome her.

First the good news: Carey's still got THAT VOICE. After hearing hundreds of American Idol rejects emulate her show-offy high-register warbling, one would think the source material would now be poison to the ears. Not so. Carey can still show those wannabe punks how it's done. Bow down to your queen.

Now, the bad news. It wouldn't be a Mariah Carey concert if it wasn't an exercise in excess, but too often Carey was overwhelmed by her band, her back-up singers and the two-tiered stage with its lighted staircases, wind and fog machines and the giant Mimi sign lowered from the rafters. Her voice may be huge, but her presence was at times disappointingly small.

After an opening video which expressed the profoundly original sentiment that life can be like a roller-coaster, Carey emerged from a hole in the stage, dressed in a black bikini, flowing cape and stilettos, to the strains of It's Like That. Yes, it certainly is.

That segued into Heartbreaker and then Dreamlover, giving Carey the first (but by no means last) opportunity to bust out her trademark ear-tickling squeal. But while the voice is still there, Carey could use a lesson or two in how to pace a live show. Yeah, we expect the costume changes, but is there no way to do it that doesn't involve killing the momentum? The DJ interludes were fine and certainly crowd-pleasing, but the video skit and other filler should be chucked.

And stopping Vision Of Love a couple of lines in to tell the tech guys about a problem with the stage smacked of old school diva-tude. "There's a hole in the stage right here, just about the size of a stiletto heel!" said Carey, a smile on her face but not in her voice. How she noticed it with all the distracted fiddling she was doing with her earpiece is a wonder.

But the woman who has sold more albums than the Beatles doesn't get where she is by disappointing her fans. Her very next song, Fly Like A Bird, was a testament to what her voice can do, and I'll Be There, a duet with Trey Lorenz (who then took the stage solo while Mariah went off to don her third costume in 45 minutes) was deliciously sweet.

Sliding back and forth between the old (Hero, Honey) and the new (Don't Forget About Us, We Belong Together), Carey cherry-picked from her bulging catalogue of monster hits for the concert's 90-plus minutes.

At one point she took to a mini-stage smack-dab in the centre of the bowl to do Fantasy and Always Be My Baby, much to the crowd's delight. And during Make It Happen, a full 32-person gospel choir backed her up. Hallelujah!

But overall, the show had too many rough edges, too much of the band in the sound mix and too many non-Mariah distractions. It's nice to see you back, Your Royal Mimi-ness. But next time you visit, could you please travel a little lighter?

Opening act Sean Paul, enthusiastically professing equal love for the T-dot and the ladies (and, presumably, the T-dot's ladies), got the crowd on its feet early with his sweaty, freaky dancehall reggae beats. Backed by a small army of musicians, DJs and athletic, bootylicious dancers, Paul thumped through the likes of I'm Still In Love With You, Temperature and Get Busy. And no costume changes required.
(Toronto Sun)

Mariah Carey is a singer, not a dancer, which puts the mega-selling pop diva at an immediate disadvantage when it comes to mounting an arena-size spectacle like "The Adventures of Mimi" tour, which played to a not-quite-sold-out Wachovia Center on Friday.

Pop stars are expected to be buff, athletic entertainers leading phalanxes of gymnastic dancers as they tirelessly work oversize rooms, giving their all while simultaneously offering glimpses into their inner lives between song confessionals and videotaped interludes.

"The Adventures of Mimi" - the sobriquet comes from Carey's nickname, which also supplied the title of The Emancipation of Mimi, the best-selling album of 2005 - altered that strategy slightly. Her stage presence is ungainly - she doesn't walk, much less dance, with grace - but Carey's famously frilly four-octave voice provided the athletic oh-wows, and she moved slowly about the stage in a series of hubba-hubba underwear and evening-gown ensembles, singing 16 years' worth of palliative pop and R&B and hip-hop-flavored hits.

Carey's string of successes is impressive: from 1990's "Vision of Love" to this year's hortatory "Fly Like a Bird," described as "so inspirational to me." But hits are not enough to hold together a career-summarizing arena show. There must be a narrative arc. The thematic glue in this case, lamely proffered in a video voice-over intro, is how Carey's life is "like a rollercoaster," from her marriage and divorce to record exec Tommy Mottola to her emotional breakdown after the failure of 2001's Glitter to her triumphant return with Mimi.

Later, another clip displayed the night's one flash of wit, showing a group of fans dishing on Carey in front of a ladies-room mirror, questioning whether her breasts or even her legs ("I hear she's had them stretched") were real.

The 90-minute show was overly busy in its staging and choppily paced. But though Carey's singing is more noteworthy for its dexterity than its character, she connected with her intergenerational audience throughout, most engagingly in a series of duets with rappers (Missy Elliott, Jay-Z, the late, great Ol' Dirty Bastard) who joined her on video screens. She hit all the high notes, and did succeed in transforming the creamy ballad "We Belong Together" into a frighteningly intense declaration of obsessive love.

DJ Clue kept the crowd moving during costume changes, proving to be as skilled a crowd-pleaser as his boss as he spun snippets of Snoop Dogg and Salt 'n Pepa and exhorted the crowd to make some noise by demanding that "all the ugly people be quiet."
(The Philadelphia Inquirer)

"One of my main goals is to try and help women to love each other. I think it’s really sad women seem to feel the need to be so competitive and jealous and threatened," wise woman Christina Aguilera preaches in the new Allure magazine, on stands Aug. 22. Sooo, I guess Mariah Carey isn’t a woman then? In the very next paragraph, X-tina takes yet another stab at Mimi since her GQ diss.

In GQ mag earlier this year, Christina moaned that her childhood idol "was never cool to me. To the point that one time we were at a party and I think she got really drunk and she had just really derogatory things to say to me… But it was at that time that she had that breakdown, so she might have been very medicated."

When asked how she feels about Mariah today, the kinder, gentler Christina says, "She hasn’t been nice to me, no, but, honestly, I don’t want to give her any more attention by even talking about it. Like I said, sometimes honesty is my downfall."
(Kiss Kiss & All That)

"Mariah was off the hook! Wow, amazing! This was my third Mariah concert (2000, 2003 and now), and I've never heard her this good! A little different things she did,

'Vision of Love' was amazing - power house vocals! She started the song and missed the first line 'cause there was a hole in the stage. Mariah almost fell three times on stage, she even mentioned it then finally she had them stop the song to fix it, she said it was about the size of a stiletto heal so she could get stuck in it! Then she started 'Vision of Love' again. She said she was sorry for stopping the song and hoped Toronto wasn't mad at her for it, but she wanted to put on the best show she could!

Mariah did a couple a cappella lines of 'Close My Eyes.' She did 'Can't Let Go' again, 'ne Sweet Day' and 'Make It Last/Thank God I Found You' tidbits. Her vocals were in tip-top shape! One thing I noticed, on 'Dreamlover' instead of doing, 'Baby come and take me away yea yea yea,' she held the note, the first time in a long time! Great show, well worth my trip here!"
(Mariah Daily | JusT BlAzE MC)

Mariah will be the subject of an upcoming episode of the new "My Own" which will air Tuesday, September 5, at 6:00pm ET on MTV.

For those unfamiliar with the show, My Own pairs obsessed fans with the celebrity of their dreams on a date. With the help of two friends, one fan will have the opportunity to question, examine, and audition an assorted selection of wannabe pop stars hand-picked by MTV. The fan will inspect the six star wannabes, in a search for the one who looks, sounds, and acts most like their favorite celebrity.

After a series of challenges and eliminations, three finalists square off, performing some of the superstar's hit songs. In the end, the wannabe that best embodies the look and feel of the dream celebrity will be the one our super-fan calls "My Own." Mariah fan Whitney Moaze will take part in MTV's My Own episode for Mariah Carey and will update us on how the show went and share some pictures from the set.
(Groovevolt | Whitney)

Philadelphia, PA. The Wachovia Center - Mariah sang: It’s Like That, Heartbreaker, Dreamlover, My All, Honey, Vision of Love, Fly Like A Bird (It was amazing), I’ll Be There with the incredible Trey Lorenz, his new album "Mr. Mista: Mimi Presents Trey Lorenz" hits stores September 19, 2006. They sang so well together, as always!

She then ventured into the crowd and went to the "B" stage, a platform set up in the middle, and sang Fantasy featuring ODB, It is unreal live!, Don’t Forget About Us and Always Be My Baby followed.

She ventured back to the main stage... She sang a small piece of I Wish You Knew, Can’t Let Go, Thank God I Found You/Make It Last with Trey again!, and the incredible One Sweet Day (a duet with Boyz II Men, MC sang it again with Trey!), She then sang Hero and spoke to the crowd during the show, spoke of a wardrobe malfunction, asked if we liked her shoes! She also sang Make It Happen which is incredible live and she sang and sang.

In fact, on the way into Philly, my mom said, I can hear her singing already. We thought we were going to "fashionably late," but we made it on time. She ended the show with We Belong Together and went into the Butterfly reprise.

We got there like right at 8, got in and then walked around looking for the seats; Sean Paul was already performing when we got there. He is good and kept the crowd hyped up! Mariah’s voice was amazing. No concert photos this time but seeing her and hearing the songs live, and I believe this was the first time I heard Can’t Let Go live so that was cool.

Philly was the first place I saw MC along with Trey on Dec 2, 1993 during the "Music Box" Tour. Hope all is well. Stay well and Peace. Have fun at all the concerts to those who have not yet gotten to their Adventure. Have fun... Peace.
(Janel | Mariah Connection | Mariah Daily)

No need to check your eyes if you seem to be seeing diva Mariah Carey in triplicate. The pop/R&B icon will appear at three area venues in the next eight days. Carey is responsible for such timeless hits as "Hero", and she's racked up her share of Grammys, too, including nods in 1990 as best new artist, and best female pop performance in 1990 and 2005 for "Vision of Love" and "We Belong Together", respectively. She also won best contemporary R&B album for "The Emancipation of Mimi", her blockbuster 2005 comeback.

There's a smidgen of hip-hop in Carey's game these days. She has appeared on albums by Krayzie Bone, Funk Master Flex, Jay-Z, Busta Rhymes and Freeway. Dancehall star Sean Paul will join Carey for the Philly show.

Mariah Carey with Sean Paul, Wachovia Center, 3601 S. Broad St., 9 tonight, $19.50-$129.50, 215-336-3600, www.wachoviacenter.com. Mark G. Etess Arena, Trump Taj Mahal, Boardwalk at Virginia Avenue, Atlantic City, N.J., 8 p.m. Thursday, $85-$595, and Taj Arena, 9 p.m. Aug. 19, $85-$300, 609-449-1000, www.trumptaj.com.
(Philadelphia Daily News)

Here are the numbers so far for the Tour:
Date: Saturday, August 5, 2006
Venue: American Airlines Arena - Miami, FL - Live Nation
Gross: $1,074,620
Attendance/Capacity of Building: 13,156 / 13,156
Sellout %: 100%
Ticket Price Range: $19.50 - $129.50

Date: Monday, August 7, 2006
Venue: St. Pete's Times Forum - Tampa, FL - Live Nation
Gross: $714,455
Attendance/Capacity of Building: 13,354 / 13,542
Sellout %: 98.6%
Ticket Price Range: $19.50 - $125.00

Date: Wednesday, August 9, 2006
Venue: Philips Arena - Atlanta, GA - Live Nation
Gross: $660,595
Attendance/Capacity of Building: 11,226 / 13,288
Sellout %: 84.5%
Ticket Price Range: $19.50 - $129.00

Well done, Mimi!
(HerosofMariah.com)

Rewarding her fans with that voice, those hits and her first tour in 3 years. If the Grammy Awards ever includes a Best Comeback honor, they can give that golden statuette to the same singer they honored in 1990 as Best New Artist.

Now, as then, it wouldn't be much of a contest: Mariah Carey would win the 2006 comeback award, just as she won the new artist award 16 years ago. Currently touring in support of her 2005 album The Emancipation of Mimi, and on the road for the first time in three years, Carey has rebounded in a major way from a series of personal and professional misadventures.

Two tracks on the album, "We Belong Together" and "Shake It Off," made Carey only the sixth artist ever to simultaneously occupy the top two positions on the Billboard "Hot 100" list. The album also generated her 16th and 17th No. 1 singles, putting her just behind Elvis Presley and the Beatles for the most chart-topping singles.

Not too shabby, especially considering music experts had pretty much written Carey off after a well-publicized artistic and personal meltdown just four years ago. She struggled to find a direction for her music, was dropped by Virgin Records and saw the semi-autobiographical film and recording project Glitter receive a universal thumbs down from film and music critics. It probably didn't help that Glitter was released Sept. 11, 2001. Ultimately, life came crashing down around Carey, who suffered a physical and emotional breakdown.

But The Emancipation of Mimi brought her back from the brink. Collaborating with producers including Kanye West and long-time collaborator Jermaine Dupri, Carey said the album was like "a party record." "It was the process of putting on makeup and getting ready to go out [to a party]," she said when the album was released. "I wanted to make a record that was reflective of that."

Mimi became the year's best-selling album in the United States, won three Grammy Awards and earned her some of her best reviews since her big years in the early 1990s. Although the album is already a multi-platinum seller, her decision to finally tour was to reward her fans for hanging in there and refusing to give up on her. And so The Adventures of Mimi: The Voice, The Hits, The Tour was born.

"I wanted to do the songs from the album for my fans, because it's kind of like our celebration," the 36-year-old singer and songwriter said in videotaped remarks released before she launched the tour in Miami on Aug. 5. "I mean, I have my 16th and 17th No. 1 records [on the album], and I think that's a victory for me and for my fans," she added.

But Carey is savvy enough to know that her fans won't let her off the stage if she doesn't perform some of her earlier hits. So with the help of musical director Randy Jackson (American Idol), Carey has taken some of her earliest hits and updated the arrangements. Others, she said, have been left intact.

"I'm just taking everybody on this fun journey," Carey said. The journey stops at the Trump Taj Mahal on Aug. 17 and 19. At 5,200 seats, the casino's Etess Arena is easily the smallest room she'll play on the tour by at least half, if not more. She's taking Friday night off because throughout her career, Carey has almost never worked two nights in a row. She credits her mother, a former opera singer and vocal coach, with teaching her how to protect and preserve her voice, which spans an astonishing seven octaves.

"As a songwriter, for some strange reason I write all of my songs up in the [octave] stratosphere," she said. "It requires vocal rest. And I learned a lot from my mom about not hurting your voice, not over-singing, not singing when you have a cold, and to make sure on off days that you don't speak." On her non-speaking days, Carey said she usually gets blisters on her fingers from "writing like a million notes."

Although her travel budget would probably allow for the use of a private jet on the tour, Carey is literally sticking to the road. Working practically every other night from now through early October, she's got a tricked-out tour bus in which she can crash and chill after a show and sleep as she and her troupe travel.

"[The bus] is my home away from home," she said. Although it's as luxurious as a motor coach can get, Carey said it isn't her ultimate bus. "That'll come on the next tour," she said. "I didn't have time to do [the bus] the way I wanted to, which would really be "pimp my ride times 10."

Mariah Carey performs at the Trump Taj Mahal Thursday, Aug. 17, at 8pm and Saturday, Aug. 19, at 9pm. Tickets are $85, $175 and $300 and are available through Ticketmaster at 1-800-736-1420 or ticketmaster.com.
(Atlantic City Weekly)

On October 28, 2006 Mariah will be playing at Tamar in Hong Kong, China. The Honey BFly members-only presale date will be announced later this month so keep checking the news page for an update. Honey BFly members will also have a chance to win one pair of front row tickets for this show.

This time, Mariah is slated to perform in Hong Kong at the Tamar Site Arena, with a seating capacity of 13,000. With tour dates in Japan and Hong Kong already in place, one can only hope that Mariah's team adds more dates to her tour, so fans can see her in Europe, Australia and other Asian countries.
(Mariah Carey | The Mariah Carey Archives)

Mariah Carey decorated her stage Wednesday night at Philips Arena with her initials. They were designed in an interlocking symbol, a cross between the Chanel logo and a hood ornament, and they represented her status as a pop music luxury brand.

Carey has had her ups and downs, as an extended video metaphor involving a roller coaster reminded us. But she's back on top now, having had the best-selling album of 2005 - "The Emancipation of Mimi" - with the help of Atlanta songwriter/producer Jermaine Dupri.

Dupri appeared onstage multiple times Wednesday night - he came out before Carey to get the crowd pumped up, joined her for a run through "Shake It Off" and shared the stage with Da Brat during a lull in the action. Dupri is a sparkplug of a man, an instant jolt of energy, and Carey thanked him profusely throughout the night. The show had some disjointed moments and questionable fashion decisions, but Carey was warm and gracious and generally in good voice - she cheesed it up with fans, hit her famous high notes and seemed pleased to be there.

She began the show wearing a spangly black bra and matching boy-shorts, accessorizing with a cape. Later she wore a yellow dress with a deep slit. Her hair fell in waves down her back. Her midriff was well-ventilated. Carey sometimes seemed unsure whether she was supposed to be onstage or off. And there was a clumsy moment about halfway through the show in which she started "Always Be My Baby," stopped to sing a bit of "Your Girl," then went back into "Baby." But moments like these were kind of endearing - they revealed Carey to be human, as opposed to a robotic diva.

Among other songs, she sang "Hero," "We Belong Together," "Dreamlover," "My All" and "I'll Be There." And if some of the show's most exciting moments came from a DJ spinning tracks by local rappers D4L, Young Jeezy and Young Joc, well, this is Atlanta - what do you expect?

'Mimi' pushed Carey out of a considerable slump. She had become an ongoing punch line after a series of personal and professional embarrassments, but 'Mimi' brought her eight Grammy nominations in 2005. Carey won a Grammy for best female R&B vocal performance for "We Belong Together," which won best R&B song for Carey and Atlantas's Jermaine Dupri and Manuel Seal. "Mimi" earned best contemporary R&B album. The Emancipation of Mimi" sold 4.97 million copies in 2005, edging out 50 Cent's "Massacre" as the year's top-selling album. Mariah Carey was the only artist to be nominated in all three of the top Grammy categories in 2005.

Mariah Carey opened the evening with 'It's Like That' from her mega-hit album, The Emancipation of Mimi. With the help of an image makeover and Atlanta music producer Jermaine Dupri, Mariah Carey was declared the 'Comeback Queen' in 2005. Mariah Carey's latest show is billed as "The Adventures of Mimi: the Voice, the Hits, the Tour." Members of Mariah Carey's fan club got seats in the V.I.P. pit. Dancehall reggae superstar Sean Paul opened for Mariah Carey. His single "Temperature" was a chart topper this year.

01. It's Like That (with Jermaine Dupri)
02. Heartbreaker Remix (with Da Brat)
03. Dreamlover
04. My All
05. Shake It Off (with Jermaine Dupri)
06. Stay The Night
07. Fly Like a Bird
08. I'll Be There

09. Fantasy
10. Your Girl (Snippet)
11. Always Be My Baby
12. Don't Forget About Us

13. Honey Remix (with Jermaine Dupri & Da Brat)
14. I Wish You Knew (Snippet)
15. Thank God I Found You/Make It Last
16. Can't Let Go (Snippet)
17. One Sweet Day (Snippet)
18. Hero
19. Make It Happen
20. We Belong Together
21. Fly Away (Butterfly Reprise)

(Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

The Adventures Of Mimi tour has just started and we can already seen some influence on the charts. On Billboard's 200, the album The Emancipation Of Mimi rises 5 places to number 159 with sales of 5,025 (total sales is now at 5,681,560).

"Fly Like a Bird" is #1 again on Hot Adult R&B Airplay chart. According to Mediabase, for week ending August 8th, the song registered 20.144 million impressions with 1,896 spins, up 4% to take the top position. Meanwhile, USA Today's Star Watch (a look at national radio airplay chart progress of famous names) reports that "Fly Like a Bird" is moving upward, 85-80 and a 4.1% gain.
(The Mariah Carey Archives | Mariah Daily)

She has been a prodigy and a punchline, a pinup girl and a poster child for the pitfalls of celebrity excess. But throughout a 16-year career that has been just as curvy as that ample figure she likes to flaunt, Mariah Carey has always been able to rely on one true constant: Her all-world pipes, a vocal gift that's downright superheroic in these prefab days of pseudo pop stars a la Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan.

That's a nice talent to have, and Carey sure knows it. Her show at the St. Pete Times Forum on Monday - just the second night on her current U.S. tour - suffered an array of bumps and clunks unbe-fitting a polished diva. The show started way late, the seven-piece backing band was far too loud and obtrusive, and her dance troupe often scuffed around like a gang of misfit mimes. But thanks to an array of high-wire vocal derring-do, the 36-year-old Long Island native never lost an adoring crowd of 16,493 fans for too long.

After being the biggest-selling female artist of the '90s, Carey had rough start in the '00s. That is, until 2005, when her comeback album, The Emancipation of Mimi, sold 10-million copies on the way to besting rapper 50 Cent for the biggest-selling disc of last year.

Carey's glammed-out spectacle reflected that regained confidence and rebooted ego. On an epically scaled stage framed by a giant "M", Carey first appeared in black bikini and matching cape to sing 2005 hit It's Like That. For her next numbers, Heartbreaker and Dreamlover, she was criminally drowned out by her band including three background singers far too high in the mix - that is, until she battled back by uncorking some of those patented glass-shattering vocal acrobatics. Why, it was like Superman using his heat vision - um, in a bikini.

Rehearsal vibe or not, the show had a lot of sun spots. Carey, still in that black bikini, wiggled and posed in front of a giant flashing "MIMI" sign as she cooed out current smash Shake It Off. After she shed her bathing suit, she appeared in a perilously low-cut, leg-flashing yellow dress for smoldering come-ons Stay the Night and Fly Like a Bird. And in a likably self-effacing moment, Carey offered a gorgeous version of the Jackson 5's I'll Be There as an apology for a show she admitted was still "a work in progress".

Because one stage isn't enough to contain the power of Mariah - especially when she's dressed in a hiptastic ensemble of low-slung jeans, tight tube top and naughty pumps - the singer and a few of her mimes took to a checkerboard stage in the middle of the audience for a showstopping mini-set that included sweet club hit Fantasy and chummy sing-along Always Be My Baby.

The show lost momentum during the myriad costume breaks, when Carey would show a goofy video or have a DJ scratch out some hits. But Mimi would unfailingly get things going again, especially when she sang big-time ballad Hero in a cleavage-enhancing aqua dress that made her look like the Little Mermaid's stripper sister.

Of course, Mariah's hubba-hubba routine was downright Victorian compared to opening act Sean Paul, the Jamaican-born hitmaker whose dancehall reggae is all about dance-floor freakiness. In case you missed his subtle point, Paul flanked himself with clothing-averse dancers who crawled and writhed and gave each other piggyback rides (no, really). His band was loud, his beats were big and his verbal toasting was randy, as he grinded through such smashes as (When You Gonna) Give It Up to Me, Get Busy and Temperature.
(St. Petersburg Times)

Set List:
It's Like That
Heartbreaker
Dreamlover
My All
Honey
Shake it off

Stay the night
Fly like a bird
I'll Be There
Friend of Mine (Trey Lorenz's new song)

Fantasy
Don't Forget about Us
Always Be My Baby

I Wish You Knew
Can't Let Go
Thank God I Found You
One Sweet Day
Hero
Make It Happen
We Belong Together
(Mariah Carey.com)

Mariah Carey attended an after party at the club Nocturnal after kicking off her tour, The Adventures of Mimi: The Voice, The Hits, The Tour at the American Airllines Arena Saturday night in Miami, Florida.

A vast arena sat in utter silence barely a mile from where Mariah Carey made her first Tampa appearance three years ago. Then, attempting to revive her brilliant career after an emotional breakdown, the buyout of her huge contract with Virgin Records and a regrettable film debut in "Glitter," Carey was reduced to entertaining a pocket-sized audience of 2,261 at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center.

These days, the Long Island songbird is flying high again, as witnessed by a diverse crowd of 16,493 Monday night at the St. Pete Times Forum. "If I mess up, I mess up," Carey told her adoring fans at one point, "but I love you anyway." They loved her right back through a typically flawless program that included scores of ear-piercing C notes.

Carey vowed "The Adventures of Mimi," her first concert tour since 2003, would provide renewed excitement. Adorned in a sultry black sequined ensemble, she immediately began to deliver with "It's Like That," among the finishing touches on her 2005 Grammy Award-winning contemporary rhythm and blues album, "The Emancipation of Mimi."

The 36-year-old pop diva also sang Billboard chart busters "Don't Forget About Us" and "We Belong Together" from the same project, which expanded her collection of top singles to within three of the record 20 held by The Beatles.

Carey delighted longtime followers during the 90-plus-minute engagement with a string of other No. 1 hits, including "Dreamlover," "Always Be My Baby," "Hero" and "My All." Other highlights from the singer, songwriter and record producer included performances with longtime duet partner Trey Lorenz of the romantic ballads "I'll Be There" - which lifted them atop the U.S. and Canadian charts in 1992 - and "One Sweet Day."

An hour into the show, replete with dazzling costumes, videos and other special effects, Carey suddenly broke into "Fantasy" on a small lighted stage halfway across the arena floor, then walked through the seating area back to the main stage. Dancehall reggae artist Sean Paul opened the show.
(The Tampa Tribune)

Hitting the road 16 months after the debut of her comeback LP, "The Emancipation of Mimi", Mariah Carey has a tough ride ahead if she wants to show up rival diva Madonna. The Material Girl reportedly "laughed hysterically" when she heard rumors of Carey's tanking ticket sales earlier this year - Madonna's own "Confessions" tour continues to both sell out and cause controversy across the globe. Still, "The Adventures of Mimi: The Voice, the Hits, the Tour" promises big sets, guest stars, and keeping with Carey fashion, lots and lots of costume changes.

With five million "Mimi" copies sold and three more Grammys added to her collection, Carey sets out on her long-awaited tour, which isn't so much about emancipation as it is reclamation. It's the '90s again. Carey is once again on top of the charts.

Meanwhile, a certain aging fake-British diva is still miffed about the time way back when Carey told reporters that she grew up listening to Madonna. At the July 4 Live 8 concert in London, Madonna reportedly told a toady that she didn't want to be anywhere near Carey. The two even feuded over this year's opening spot on the Grammys, which Madonna won. Carey, however, led the nominations and took home the gold gramophones, proving that she's hardly down for the count.

To help fine-tune the "Mimi" tour, Carey enlisted her longtime musical director (and "American Idol" judge) Randy "Dawg" Jackson. Despite the rivalry between Carey and Madonna, Jackson isn't beyond looking to the enemy for inspiration. In a May interview on "Larry King Live", Jackson voiced his appreciation of the dramatic "Confessions" tour, which features a $2 million disco ball, politically-charged slide shows, and Madonna's mock-crucifixion on a giant mirrored cross. But according to Carey, this tour isn't about theatrics - it's about the music, the songs, and of course, the fans.

Along with her three-octave voice, nutty personality, butterflies, and quirky clothing, Carey has always been about the fans. Whether communicating with them through kooky messages on her Web site or choosing a set list she thinks will please them most, Mariah isn't above even letting a fan name her new tour. "The Adventures of Mimi" comes from a fan's Carey-centric diary of the same name. According to Carey, this time out she's making decisions on what feels right, not what might make the most money - a method she faults with causing her past career calamities.

Despite "Mimi's" smash success in 2005, it seemed like Carey was never going to tour. Most artists plan their shows to coincide with their latest releases. Maybe the Carey camp was holding back, fingers crossed, waiting to see how things turned out. The first few years of the new millennium weren't good to Carey, after all. Her movie debut "Glitter" was a monumental bomb. She was hospitalized following a very public breakdown on MTV's "Total Request Live". And Carey's record label EMI paid $28 million just to dump her contract.

It's not like anybody - including Madonna - expected to see Carey back in the spotlight. Her last LP, 2003's "Charmbracelet", received lukewarm attention. Despite some minor hits, it was played primarily on adult contemporary stations, as opposed to the R&B radio Carey helped invent the decade before. Even her new record label, Island/Def Jam, seemed to be hedging its bets with "Mimi" - the LP cover features a gold-attired Carey styled to look less like herself, and more like Beyoncé, this decade's reigning diva.
(MSNBC)

Opening night of Mariah Carey's Adventures of Mimi: The Voice, the Hits, the Tour could have been subtitled The Videos, the Costumes, the Waiting. But when Carey set aside the spectacle to focus on her music and reach out to fans, she hit her stride - and those high Cs.

It could have been first-show jitters, but on Saturday night, the singer seemed preoccupied at the start of the concert - as if she forgot that the reason her fans had gathered (some from as far as Portugal and Peru) was to hear her sing, not to see how many outfits she could squeeze into. Carey's backup singers and dancers carried on while she changed, DJ Clue tried to keep the momentum going, and Spike Lee (via his mini Mimi movies about all the rumors and gossip the singer is always facing) tried to distract from the fact that for chunks of the two-hour show, Mariah was onscreen, but not onstage.

Perhaps her fashion-minded fans didn't mind - after all, Carey did show off a lot of skin, wearing a black bikini with a cape, two different gowns with exposed midriffs, and a metallic red burlesque number that lent itself to lots of straddling poses behind a straight-back chair during "Breakdown". But it wasn't just Carey's cutout gowns that had something missing - being offstage for 10 minutes at a stretch meant the set list also got the cutout treatment, reducing several songs to snippets.

On a duet with her backup singer and fan favorite Trey Lorenz, she didn't have time to sing the entire "One Sweet Day" with him so they started the song at the bridge. And though Carey claims "I Know What You Want" - her hit with opening act Busta Rhymes - she didn't seem to know that that the crowd wanted was to see them perform the song together. Busta had included the song in his set, exhorting the ladies to sing Carey's part, and teased that he'd be back later. But when it was Carey's turn onstage, she opted to have the rapper "appear" via the music video they shot together in 2003. Jay-Z, Jermaine Dupri and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard also participated in much the same manner during "Heartbreaker", "It's Like That", and "Fantasy", which was more understandable - especially in the case of ODB, who we hope is in rapper's heaven - but Busta?

Carey was clued in that her fans wanted to hear a lot of inspirational numbers, so she packed the set with "Make It Happen", "Fly Like a Bird" (which came with a backing choir), and "Hero", which she said wasn't planned, but so many people had told her it had "changed their lives", that she "can't do a show without it". Those are all big numbers, and no one sings big better than Mariah - she hit all the high C notes with ease - but it was when she brought the show down a notch halfway through the set that she seemed happiest.

Standing on a platform in the middle of the floor seats, Carey was able to reach out to the fans and they to her. One girl even threw her purse to Carey as an offering - whatever happened to the days of bras and roses? As if in exchange, Carey tossed her sunglasses out to the sea of grabbing hands. "I'm in the middle of the people," she said, amazed, as if to herself. Though "Don't Forget About Us" and "Always Be My Baby" are meant to be love songs, she sang them as if they were love letters to her fans, sending her dancers away so it would be just her and her adoring public for a moment. "We didn't really rehearse this," she apologized, but having a spontaneous moment was exactly what she needed to get back on track.

While all the glitz and glamour of the lights, the dancers, the video screens, the costumes, and the confetti are what we expect from a diva of Carey's stature, it's something far less extravagant that her fans wanted - all they could talk about while filing in and out of the venue were the songs. It sounds simple enough, but Carey doesn't let it be simple - not when she can make holding a note, as she did in the encore of "We Belong Together", a major accomplishment. Clutching herself tight as if she could bottle it up inside somehow before she had to ultimately let go, she found her release, her purpose. "I didn't make it easy," she said, after letting the last strain fall away. And if it were easy, no one would be in awe that despite everything else - first-night glitches, gossip and all - she nailed it.
(MTV)

Saturday August 5, 2006 really was like a dream come true. After months of anticipation, I had the priviledge of seeing Mariah Carey in all her glory as she opened her new Adventures tour in Miami, Florida. It was the first time I've ever seen Mariah in person, in the flesh. It's all still pretty surreal at this point. It's now the day after, and I still can't believe that I was able to actually see Mimi perform for a good two hours. I've admired this woman for so long (I've been a fan for over 10 years), and to see her standing before me, sometimes just feet away from where I was standing, seems simply crazy to me, but absolutely wonderful.

The show was great. It was well rehearsed, the set was beautiful, and Mariah's voice was on point all night. Busta Rhymes opened. That was amusing. I had seats in the floor section 1, halfway between the stage and the "stage B" where she later performed "Don't Forget About Us", "Fantasy (Remix)", "Always Be My Baby", and a small part of "Your Girl". Anyways, as Busta was trying to get the crowd riled up, he noticed that a lot of people sitting in the floor section (in front of me), where sitting down. He tried to get them to stand up and have some fun, but to no avail. So in classic Busta style, he took a bottle of water, opened it, and sprayed those who were sitting down with it.

It was hilarious! I was just far enough away to not get wet, but to laugh at those who did. Busta was very entertaining. He rapped to his new hit "Touch It," but he made sure to visit the "classics" (dare I say that Busta Rhymes has classics). The list includes "I Love My Chick", and "Pass The Courvoisier Part 2 (Remix)". He got all the girls in the audience to sing the female part of "I Know What You Want". Surprisingly though, when Mariah later performed a snippet of that song about an hour later, Busta did not show up on stage to help her. I really don't know why. It's not often that the two of them are even together.

Regardless, I really enjoyed the show. I sang along to every word of every song and danced all night (well, where dancing was appropriate). I have to admit that some of the best songs of the night were the new ones. "Shake It Off", "Stay The Night", and "I Wish You Knew", were amazing to hear live. I found "Make It Happen" a little predictable, because, like always, she says the same thing about believing in yourself that she always does, and while that's very nice and all, she even ran across the stage in the same fashion as I've seen her do a million times on TV and on the DVDs of her past tours. The remix of "My All" was equally predictable. I did like the fact that she made sure the concert was focused on having fun, and instead, did not dwell on "deep moments" (as she might say) like when she sang "Hero", although that was one moment I will never, ever forget.

She closed the show with a stirring and heartfelt rendition of the song that put her back on top of the charts and on top of the world, "We Belong Together". In my opinion, this song has morphed into an anthem for all of us true fans, those of us who have stayed with Mariah through the rollercoaster life that she has led. Mariah Carey is happy and content with herself, and it really shows through. Writing music and singing is what she does best, and she does it not just for herself, she does it for all of us. I hope you all have a great time this fall watching Mariah Carey around the United States, as she reminds all of us that we are bound together in atleast one inseparable fashion, through her music.
(John Vincent | The Mariah Carey Archives)

Carey's comeback tour is a major improvement over past performances.

Mariah Carey has given her fans every reason to jump ship and every reason to keep paying attention. The pop singer's crackup of a few years ago -- a perfect storm of bad career choices and personal trauma, complete with rumors of a suicide attempt -- could have turned her into a cautionary fable. Instead, the movie-musical Glitter and related disasters became the setup for her triumphant return.

The back-from-the-brink storyline has become a part of the Mariah show, no less than the well-received music on her latest album, The Emancipation of Mimi. Carey, 36, acknowledged as much on Saturday at AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami, opening night of a tour dubbed "The Adventures of Mimi." Between songs, Carey starred in a video sketch in which a group of catty clubgoers spots her at another table and, not quite out of earshot, dredges up the tabloid details of the last few years.

The newly emancipated Carey declines to take the bait. But she made a better case for her recovery by singing. Live performance has not always flattered the best-selling female artist of the 1990s. Her rambling, borderline bizarre concert at this same venue six years ago was, in hindsight, a warmup to her troubles. For all the arena-shaking power of her voice, Carey has often seemed oblivious to the basics of timing and song choice.

Saturday's show wasn't entirely free of those tendencies. Carey didn't come on until almost 10 p.m., nearly an hour after a lively opening set by rap star Busta Rhymes. But she sang robustly for a capacity crowd, worked well with her eight-piece band and chose most of her material smartly. She opened with an upbeat trio of hip-hop-flavored songs, It's Like That and remixes of Heartbreaker and Dreamlover.

The rap cameos on Heartbreaker -- from Jay-Z, Missy Elliott and Da Brat -- were in the form of video footage. Carey, her band and her production crew had no trouble integrating these pre-recorded audiovisual tracks into the live mix.

The show's biggest surprise was an appearance by r&b singer Trey Lorenz, Carey's original duet partner on a 1992 cover of the Jackson 5's I'll Be There. That hit recording came from a seven-song EP, MTV Unplugged, one of the brights spots in Carey's thin concert history. Carey and Lorenz sang it again on Saturday, not quite as vibrantly as they had 14 years ago, but still with a likeable warmth. Lorenz joined the back-up singers for one of the concert's best moments, a soaring version of the Mimi album's jazz- and gospel-tinged closer, Fly Like a Bird.

The only obvious stumble came late: Make It Happen, a motivational song, was oddly low-key and not the rousing pre-encore finish it was intended to be. But the comeback single We Belong Together made for a strong and nicely symbolic encore.
(Sun-Sentinel)

Mariah Carey has an unusual body for a modern-day pop goddess - voluptuous and solid instead of willowy and elastic. It's a singer's body, not a dancer's, built to house the multi-octave pipes that have allowed the 36-year-old singer to rule the radio dial for 16 years. Carey showed off that body, toned and tanned, at the opening Saturday night of the North American leg of her tour. At American Airlines Arena, she was swathed in artfully cut out chiffon gowns and sequined hot pants that Ann-Margret would have enjoyed in her prime and used a burlesque dancer's straight-back chair, a winding staircase and other props to prove that she could move those long legs and that curvy torso.

But Carey never let choreography get in the way of what her body was there for: to help her sing in ways that have, as she said with a modest shrug near the end of the 90-minute-plus concert, "changed people's lives." No one works as hard to balance inspiration and flash as Carey, who started her career selling the ageless appeal of pure vocal prowess only to sustain it by turning herself into a trend-savvy hip-hop home girl.

This new production - entitled "The Adventures of Mimi," in reference to her multiplatinum 2005 album, "The Emancipation of Mimi" - seeks to meld the uplifting Mariah and the modish one by surrounding a traditional prima donna's turn with the accouterments of urban music. There were acrobatic dancers; video clips of rappers with whom Carey has collaborated, such as Jay-Z and the late ODB; and references to milestones in her transformation from girl next door to hot mama, including the sailor suits of her 1997 video for "Honey" and the video catfights of her "Heartbreaker" era (the clips now featured assert she's grown beyond all that). Her mixmaster, the eminent DJ Clue, was the night's most prominently featured musician. In the end, though, flowing gowns and sequins won out over booty shorts, which was wise, since it's the warmth she brings to awe-inspiring glamour that makes Carey's fans love her.

From the moment she entered in a black bikini with boy-cut bottom and a chiffon cape, offering up her trademark high notes and striking poses with her masked male dancers, Carey treated the evening like a qualifying round that she was determined to win. Preoccupied with the inevitable glitches of a fledgling tour, she revealed her emotions through a running patter that could have seemed neurotic but actually served to create intimacy within an otherwise dauntingly big-scale event. It's an old showbiz trick to interrupt major production numbers with asides that humanize the goings-on, and whether that or basic nerves motivated Carey's asides, it worked: When she did stumble, as on the unusually challenging mix of big dance moves and rapid-fire vocalizing during the reggae-inflected "Shake It Out," it made the show feel alive, not unprofessional.

Some elements will surely be tightened up as the tour commences toward the West, where it concludes in October. DJ Clue's expert spinning got the party-hearty Miami crowd hopping during costume changes, but the frequency of these intermissions affected the night's pacing. The dancers haven't quite figured out how to assert themselves within a show inevitably ruled by Carey's voice; unlike most of today's concert spectacles, this one was best when the interplay was limited to the singer and her sympathetic backing band (Carey's musical director, incidentally, is that singer's champion, "American Idol's" Randy Jackson). Especially satisfying were the duets Carey shared with backing vocalist Trey Lorenz; when these longtime singing partners traded high notes on the ballads "I'll Be There" and "One Sweet Day," Carey really eased into her performance. She was happiest simply expressing her gifts and, in doing so, allowing her fans to consider their own perhaps unemancipated potential.

It's a function singers have served at least since the coloratura came into style in opera — the female voice, reaching far beyond the confines of ordinary speech, carries the listener beyond the humdrum of her daily imaginings. As Carey put it in the song she described as the most personal on her latest album, great singing makes the soul "Fly Like a Bird." Carey's Miami audience, a wide-ranging mix including grade-schoolers with their parents, South Beach clubbers and pregnant women with husbands in tow, grooved to DJ Clue's beats, but they really got excited on the midtempo numbers whose climaxes gave Carey room to soar. When Carey moved to a small stage mid-arena, she got the crowd climbing on seats, not to check out her "Charlie's Angels" sunglasses but to cheer her holding one last note on the poignant "Don't Forget About Us" until it seemed like she would break.

She never broke, no matter how fretfully she muttered about not being able to hear the band or apologized for taking sips of water. Like the silver-screen queens she admires, Carey's not just a femme fatale but also a trouper, and her years of delivering hits, even with a midcareer dip, have resulted in hard-won consistency. On this anxious night, she proved herself a solid talent and was best when she allowed herself the pleasure of her own strengths.

Busta Rhymes, one notable rapper with whom Carey once dueted, opened the show with a strong, funny set that betrayed not a bead of worried sweat. Delivered with the assistance of a sparse crew (one other MC and a DJ), the voluble Mr. Rhymes flirted obscenely with women in the front rows, pulled out hits from his long career and relentlessly plugged his new album, "The Big Bang." It's too bad Carey didn't invite Rhymes to share in her set's rendition of "Give It to Me," the song they recorded together; it could have made for another fun, relaxed moment. But perhaps the rapper had found and fled with another female friend by that point.
(Calendar Live - Los Angeles Times)

Here is a life lesson Mariah Carey apparently missed during the Adventures of Mimi: the harder you try to make people like you, the less they will. It's understandable the Glitter-girl has some issues after being criticized, ostracized and written off for forgotten in the past few years. But those critics were not among the fans who paid from $19.50 to $129.50 to see her show at the American Airlines Arena on Saturday night.

The fans wanted to watch the diva resplendent in high notes and high heels, basking in the glow of her deserved and surprising comeback. They wanted to see Ms. Mimi singing her heart out, not ceding the stage for up to 10 minutes at a time to let DJ Clue spin other people's hits like it's a South Beach club. They wanted to hear her breathe new life into the 17 No. 1 hits that rank her second to only the Beatles.

She's too talented, too successful, too weighed down by Grammys to be anything but a star on stage. But on the first night of her tour, she opened her set with a video of a roller coaster and a monologue about the ups and downs of life. She apologized repeatedly for minor gaffes in the act, such as sipping water and asking that the fans be turned on and the music turned up.

She showed video skits of women trash-talking her in a club, and then in a toilet stall. News flash, Mimi. No one cares anymore. Your life is on the upswing. Forget the story line so we can concentrate on the good times. The music stands for itself. She took us back with Always Be My Baby and Hero and Dream Lover and her Jackson 5 remake, I'll Be There.

She kept us going with chart-toppers from last year's The Emancipation of Mimi album, Fly Like A Bird, Shake It Off, We Belong Together and, the opener, It's Like That. And the audience especially liked it when she relocated from the stage to a platform surrounded by fans on the floor. She looked poised and confident ó so close, riding the range of her vocal skills. Her smile looked genuine.

It was all about the music. The show didn't end until close to midnight, largely because it took Carey almost an hour to get on the stage after Busta Rhymes finished his opening set. The break was so long, in fact, that the distracted stadium completed 7 1/2 revolutions of the wave. Busta, whose career has lasted almost as long as Carey's, was an entertaining opener with everything from Scenario, his 1992 duet with A Tribe Called Quest, to his 2003 hit with Carey, I Know What You Want.
(Palm Beach Post)

The Mariah Carey saga is one of the most intriguing stories in pop-music history: After riding her five-octave voice to become the best-selling female performer of the 1990s, she suffered a spectacular public meltdown in 2001. The songbird signed an $80 million deal with Virgin Records, but quickly sabotaged her success by posting suicidal messages on her website, appearing on MTV's Total Request Live dressed in a T-shirt and nothing else, and starring in the universally ridiculed movie Glitter. Virgin ended up eating $28 million of her contract just so she'd go away.

Carey's personal life never dipped so low as that of her diva rival Whitney Houston, but until last year's chart-topping comeback album The Emancipation of Mimi, Carey had become a laughingstock in the music business.

Saturday night at downtown Miami's AmericanAirlines Arena, Carey showed a near sellout crowd that she and superstardom definitely still belong together. This kick-off date of her Adventures of Mimi tour had plenty of glitter, but only the good kind.

The only negative was the hourlong wait after opening act Busta Rhymes energized the already packed house -- but Carey's fans didn't seem to mind. Just before 10 p.m., the crowd roared as a radiant Carey, classy, composed and in complete control, kicked things off with her lively new hit It's Like That.

Unlike her 2000 tour, which opened with a 10-minute video featuring Carey's evil twin Bianca, who tries to hurt the ''good Mariah,'' her Mimi show emphasizes substance over inane skits. The sequined singer -- even her microphone was decked out in matching sequins -- took her adoring fans on a tour through all her biggest hits, including Dreamlover, Honey, My All, Shake It Off, Fly Like A Bird, Fantasy (during which she ventured out into the crowd), Thank God I Found You, Hero and her soaring cover of The Jackson 5's I'll Be There.

But she wasn't done: For her encore, Carey came out in a sparkling ''Miami blue'' dress she said she bought especially for the Magic City and closed with a bang, singing her monster hit We Belong Together and Butterfly -- a fitting ending that represented her metamorphosis from washed-up diva to reborn superstar.

Busta Rhymes was a fitting warm-up, performing [I Know What You Want] Give It To Me (his duet with Mariah) and peppering his rapid-fire rap set with shout-outs to Don't Cha (his hit with the Pussycat Dolls) and the Red Hot Chili Peppers' Give It Away.
(Miami Herald)

Mariah Carey performed live in concert on the opening night of "The Adventures of Mimi" tour at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. Busta Rhymes was in charge of opening the show; later, Mariah started the show ending at 12:00am.

Mariah performed live songs from all her discography but especially tracks off her latest album, The Emancipation of Mimi. This is the first major concert where Mariah doesn't sing "Vision Of Love," but the set list covered her greatest hits. According to different sources, Mariah will change the set list every so often.

01. It's Like That
02. Heartbreaker
03. My All
04. Dreamlover
05. Breakdown
06. Honey
07. Shake It Off
08. Fly Like A Bird
09. Stay The Night
10. I Know What You Want

11. Fantasy ("B" Stage)
12. Don't Forget About Us
13. Always Be My Baby
14. Your Girl (Snippet / End "B" Stage)

15. I Wish You Knew (Snippet)
16. Hero
17. I'll Be There
18. Make It Last (Snippet)
19. One Sweet Day (Snippet)
20. Make It Happen
21. We Belong Together (Encore)
22. Fly Away (Butterfly Reprise)

(Reuters)

American pop queen Mariah Carey recently has announced that her two biggest loves are God and her pastor. The singer credits her faith with helping her recover from a breakdown after the failure of her 2002 album Glitter.

After being dropped by Virgin Records, she was picked up by Rev Clarence Keaton who helped her rebuild her life. The minister performed with her on stage at this year's Grammy Awards.

Throughout her lifetime, Carey has spoken about being reborn multiple times. According to an article in American magazine Cosmo Girl, Carey said: "I do believe that I have been born again in a lot of ways. I think what I've changed are my priorities and my relationships with God."

Referring to her reported "breakdown" two years ago, she continued: "I feel the difference when I don't have my private moments to pray. I said to my father when I went through all that stuff, 'I feel like I've gone through everything but death, so I'm not scared of anything anymore.’

"Once you fall that hard and have been kicked and kicked you learn to protect yourself. I'm a fighter, but I learned that I'm not in charge. Whatever God wants to happen is what's going to happen. I feel like I've had endless second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth chances. It's by the grace of God I'm still here. Yes, I'm frustrated a lot of the time, I go through bad days. But, I'm ecstatic where I am."
(Christian Today)

Mariah is scheduled to attend an after party presented by Headliner Market Group entitled, "A Mid Summer Night with Mariah Carey" Saturday, August 5th, following her concert at American Airlines Arena. The event will be held at Nocturnal, Downtown Miami, 50 NE 11th Street. Music will be provided by DJ Clue with Don P and DJ Spaz.

On related news, DJ Clue will join Mariah on the "Adventures" tour. His MySpace bulletin announcement reads: "Will be on tour with Mariah Carey from Aug 5th until late October baby!!!! This Sat we're in Miami... the afterparty at Nocturnal.. U already know how crazy thats gon be! Be there!"
(Nocturnal | Mariah Daily)

Are you ready? The time has finally arrived for Mariah to once again take the road by storm on her "The Adventures of Mimi: The Voice, The Hits, The Tour." Starting Saturday, August 5 in Miami, FL, Mariah will begin her first North American tour in over 3 years! Check the Tickets Page of Mariah Carey.com for a full list of tour dates and to purchase tickets.

Don't have your tickets yet? HBF members, here is your chance to win front row tickets to see Mariah! Go here to fill out the entry form and to choose which show you would like a chance to win a pair of awesome, front row tickets to. You must enter the sweepstakes no later than week prior to the show date. Mariah Carey's official website also helps you spread the word for the "Adventures of Mimi" tour with this Mariah E-card. Send it to all your friends and family and share the excitement!

Mariah Carey's official website is also offering new content for its visitors. The Mariah's official fan club has an exclusive video of Mariah talking about her upcoming "The Adventures of Mimi" tour, which can be watched at Mariah Carey's official website. Moreover, the official "Adventures of Mimi Tour" merchandise is now available through fan fire, an online store affiliated with different musicians. The exclusive merchandise includes a box framed image, apparel, and other items.
(Mariah Carey.com)

It was starting to look grim for fans who were hoping Mariah Carey would tour to support "The Emancipation of Mimi." She certainly didn't need to. Since its release last year, the album sold more than five million copies, spawned smash hits like "We Belong Together" and won three Grammys, all without her hitting the road.

Plus, Carey didn't even know if she wanted to tour. But after some cajoling from fans, the multi-octave diva realized that she needed to be on stage -- that she wanted to celebrate the album that marked one of the sweetest times in her long career. Carey recently talked about that upcoming tour, dubbed "The Adventures of Mimi." 8 p.m. Saturday, American Airlines Arena, Miami. 7:30 p.m. Monday, St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa.

Q. What took you so long to get on the road?
(Laughs.) Honestly, it was kind of like the album, it has its own life. And I wanted to allow myself to make videos, to really work the record more than I have . . . allow people to experience the album, to live with the songs, to feel the videos and the energy and basically get where I was coming from with this project on that level first.

Q. How do you determine which songs you're going to play and which ones you're not going to sing without alienating your fans?
I feel like I'm a tough critic. When I go to other people's shows that I'm fans of, and if I don't hear my favorite song, I'm like, "Man, why?" (laughs). I'm going to do my best to please the crowd, but I also want to be able to express myself creatively, and I think that there's a happy medium now.

Q. Is your dog, Jack, coming along on the tour bus?
Oh yes, Jack has his own section. He's going to have his own little nook. It's already planned out. I may have to bring him out every now and then. It depends on the crowd.

Q. What do you do during your down time?
I don't know if people realize that for me to tour, I actually have to have a full day and a half off in between shows, whereas most touring artists do every night, and I just can't do that. So in my down time, the thing that requires the most discipline is not talking. I wouldn't be talking to anyone, I'd be writing notes, and sitting in a humidified room, sleeping.

Q. With all the success you've had with this album, has it become one of your most special?
This and "Butterfly" are my two favorites because they mark two very special significant times in my life, so this will always be a favorite of mine. And I just love that songs like "Shake It Off" were allowed to be singles. In the past, I would immediately get, "It's too urban, you can't put it out."

Q. So now that you're free and
there's been an emancipation . . .Now we're having an adventure.
(Daytona Beach News)

One of the most anticipated tours of the year, just around the corner, in just two days! Mariah Carey is set to kick off her "The Adventures of Mimi" tour down in Miami. Just recently, MTV's John Norris sat down with the emancipated one herself to get the scoop on what sort of adventures fans can expect.

John Norris, MTV: You know what? I think it's so great that, yes, you can spend $150 to see Mariah but you can also spend apparently $1950 to go see the show?
Mariah Carey: When I was growing up, I had no money to go see the shows I wanted to see, you know what I mean? I'm trying to just make it so people who are real fans can come see the show.

Working again with American Idol's Randy Jackson as her musical director, Mariah plans to bring other big names on the road with her too like Sean Paul, Busta Rhymes and Jermaine Dupri.
Mariah: JD has said he's coming to the "hot spots." I'm like, 'What do you mean? You don't wanna come to the boring places, Jermaine?'

While Mimi's "Adventures" tour follows on the heels of her 5-time platinum "Emancipation" CD, fans should be delighted to know that she plans to showcase many of her classics as well.
Mariah: Something like "Make It Happen." You know, I'm doing it but I'm trying to do it in a new way. I feel like this tour gives me a chance to do some of the "dare-I-say-classics" and blend them with songs that I always wanted to come out...

Alright, we know what Mariah is gonna sound like on the show but how is she going to look, you might wonder. Well, we caught up with her tour stylist, June Ambrose. We got an exclusive first look for you. Now, we're told Mariah's various outfits are gonna take her from tough girl outfits to some flowing, sweeping dresses. For instance, Mariah's gonna sport this Bond-girled styled tux, she'd take it off to reveal a black bodysuit. Also, she'll feature a Diana Ross-inspired ultimate diva look and she'll even go to old school in a Hiphop-inspired cape with "Mimi" of course inscribed on the back in crystals. Mariah's stylist explains that the different looks are all supposed to tell a little bit of a story.
June Ambrose: It starts off really kind of like a black and white film and then it turns into color. When she's emancipated, she goes from all these beautiful sunflower yellows to powder blues to a really kind of adult, wine, burgundy, Diana Ross-kind-of-look and then she goes into this flesh tone, goddess-like dress, like an angel, very nude. And that's when she kind of strips away from everything - all the rumors, all the bad times. And she's celebrating life and she's just a new person - she's born again.
(Mariah Daily)

Mariah Carey.com, the official Mariah Carey website, has several updates exclusive for Honey BFly members, below you can see the thumbnails; if you want to download these and exclusive icons and interviews with Mariah, join HoneyBfly

Mariah Carey is reinventing herself again. Actually, to be exact, nine more times. The sexy songstress will play a handful of roles when she kicks off her new tour Saturday in Miami. Think superhero-meets-modern- James-Bond-meets-old-Hollywood.

For the jaunt - Adventures of Mimi: The Voice, the Hits, the Tour - the R&B sensation will at times tone down her sometimes over-the-top style, wearing flowing gowns and menswear-inspired tuxedo styles designed specifically for her by celebrity stylist June Ambrose.

"The show starts off very 'Blade Runner,' with black-and-white, racy looks where [Mariah] looks like an R&B superhero," said Ambrose, who cites Gianni Versace and Roberto Cavalli as inspirations. "And then her lightness comes out and she is emancipated with bright colors, showing off her great goddess legs, ready to celebrate and party."

Carey will have nine outfit changes throughout the show but only brief interludes in which to morph into them. "My inspiration was creating an R&B hip-hop musical," Ambrose said. "The show is cabaret-like: fun, racy, sexy, but subtle. I designed the outfits [to look] theatrical. [The concert] starts out like a black-and-white affair, and then she strips away all the rumors and she's born again."

Ambrose said Carey will be wearing things you "wouldn't normally see her in," like a white men's blazer. "When would you ever see Mariah in a men's blazer?" she said. "This is to give her a James Bond look. It's very mod, very sleek." Ms. Carey will shake off that blazer real fast for "Breakdown," at which point she'll reveal garters and a black off-the-shoulder leotard encrusted with Swarovski crystals.

Ambrose calls a similar outfit, which Carey will wear toward the end of the show, one of her favorites. "It's dyed perfectly to her skin, but it looks like she's naked," Ambrose said. "It looks like there are stones bouncing off her flesh. She looks like a million bucks." And let's not forget those blinding, one-of-a-kind legs. Don't worry, guys: There will still be lots of skin. "She does this really burlesque, fiery number that's very sexy," Ambrose said.

Other sultry costumes include a sky-blue, Halston-inspired goddess gown; a sunflower-colored chiffon floor-length stunner; and a wine-colored Diana Ross-style gown, worn with a $10 million Harry Winston brooch. "Mariah's body is voluptuous," Ambrose said. "It's about her finding her sexuality and nothing else." Also added to the mix are 7-inch stiletto high heels in black patent leather designed by Paris shoemaker Courtney Crawford. "They're super-high, super-sexy, but she can definitely jump around in them," Ambrose said.

We'll be seeing a little old-school Mariah when she transforms into a superhero-like costume that features a long silver cape with the word "Mimi" displayed on the back, blindfold and platform heels. She'll then take off the cape and reveal a pair of cute knickers (with butterflies on the back pockets, natch) and a crop top. "That's the round-the-way girl look," Ambrose said. "She's the most accessible in those looks."

While this may be Ambrose's first time styling one of Mariah's tours, it's not her first time at the rodeo. She's already worked on tours for Diddy, Missy Elliott and R. Kelly. Ambrose was the inspiration for Diddy's red metallic suit in the Notorious B.I.G.'s "Mo Money, Mo Problems" video, Missy Elliott's signature blinged-out Adidas tracksuits, and Jay-Z's first suit for the "Can't Knock the Hustle" video.
(Mariah Carey.com)

I've thought long and hard about writing this letter, and to be honest, I'm still not convinced it's the best idea. After all, you're not exactly the most "stable" person in music, and, well, I've had enough crazy in my life to know when I shouldn't be messing with crazy. Nevertheless, crazy chicks are freaky chicks, and God knows, I love me a freaky chick. You know, just as long as they don't go all nutty like a candy bar on me - like you did on Eminem. I mean, really, were you surprised when he played your voice-mails live? If anything's going to happen between us, do I have to worry about you writing "Clown II"?

Then again, it's that nuttiness that draws me to you. Not that I want to find a dead rabbit boiling on my stove, but the fact that you'd do such a thing is... it's kind of hot - not as hot as your body, mind you, but hot. By the way, where did you get that body? Back in the day, you used to be this cute, virginal thing completely asexual outside of my fantasies. Now, you ooze sex. I bet you sweat sex - it's like some kind of pheromone to you. The Emancipation of Mimi? That sounds like code for "I want to get freaky". And sometimes, I swear you're singing directly to me.

But I'm confused. I mean, I like you and I want to get to "know" you better. But do we really belong together? I can't say for sure yet. That's a decision that requires a lot more alone time. So how about if we vacation together - just you, me, and your wardrobe? I doubt you need more than a carry-on since everything you own couldn't collectively clothe a family of dwarfs. If our boat sank and we were stranded on an island together with nothing but your wardrobe to protect us from the elements, we'd have maybe half a tent. But that's all right. I know you might be battier than the Batcave, but maybe, just maybe, you're the right kind of crazy for me. So let's give this a shot, Mariah.

Yours, possibly, Cole Haddon. P.S.: I forgive you for Glitter. Really.
(Broward-Palm Beach New Times)

So spare us the screechy high notes when you take the floor at karaoke night. Leave those higher octaves to a professional. Still nursing the wounds from my first full season following American Idol, I have come to a painful, altogether head- splitting conclusion: Mariah Carey is, without a doubt, the worst thing to happen to amateur singing since the karaoke machine.

Now hold on a sec, Mimi fans: That's not a slap against your preferred pop diva. Not at all. With all her bubbleheaded antics and deep-end decolletage, it's easy to forget that Carey, who's high-heeling her way to the St. Pete Times Forum on Monday, is a tremendous talent. Ever since the Long Island native crooned onto the scene with 1990's breakout hit Vision of Love - with that mind-blowing five- octave finale, no less - she has been one of the great singers in the pop canon: her breath control, the showoff trills, the high-note gymnastics. I like her. I really do.

The problem, however, is that for all her talent, the 36-year-old is first and foremost a STAR, the very epitome of pop opulence in today's celebrity-dependent culture. And thus, millions of young women and men wake up every morning and figure that, simply by imitating Carey's vocal derring-do, they too can wind up on the cover of People or on MTV Cribs or on the arm of record mogul Tommy Mottola.

They also might have a shot at winning American Idol, the most-recent stars of which will perform at the St. Pete Times Forum on Sunday, the night before their role model. Forget about learning how to interpret a song and phrase a chorus and gently massage a note. The kids just wanna wail. "They always want to hit that big (bleepin') note," says Dave McKay, a DJ on local country station WQYK-FM 99.5. McKay receives amateur recordings all the time, many of which feature painful Mariahesque imitations. They just don't get it, he says. By copying an established singer, McKay adds, "(amateur singers) are doing themselves a disservice."

Note-stretching vocal histrionics first came into vogue during the Whitney Houston administration, when 1992's I Will Always Love You was played on every radio station every minute of every day. But as newcomer Carey quickly became the biggest-selling female solo act of the '90s, she soon became the choice of imitators everywhere.

Carey's dizzying effect on young singers has become even more intense lately thanks to the 10-million-selling album The Emancipation of Mimi, the biggest selling album of 2005 and the comeback disc that rocketed her back into the celeb stratosphere. Her presence is now felt everywhere from karaoke night at Applebee's to the most popular show on television. Depending on how you feel about public humiliation, the best/worst parts of American Idol are the audition shows, which normally break down into three distinct parts:

(1) The Talented Kids.
(2) The Weird Kids.
(3) The Mariahs.

The Mariahs are the hardest ones to watch, mainly because most of them think they're reeeaaally good. The poor, disillusioned hopefuls plant themselves in front of judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson - then proceed to stretch, break and mutilate every note of a song, often Mariah's Hero, a tune that has ruined more throats than smoker's cough.

But not all the ersatz Mariahs get booted off early. Idol's most recent runner-up, Katharine McPhee, has a fine voice, but she too often wanders into Mariah territory, usually with disastrous results. This year's dopey pretty boy Ace Young (remember the pouty-faced dude with all the "Ace" belt buckles?) also had a tendency to turn a single note into what sounded like a yodely recitation of the ABCs. And, as even the fawning Abdul had to admit, he was "pitchy" about it.

It's enough to make a music teacher weep. Jeff Berlin, 53, owner and president of Clearwater's Players School of Music, sees the Mariah Effect all the time. A world-renowned electric bass player - who once turned down a job in Van Halen - Berlin says a lot of young singers today want to be instant stars. "All of the Mariah Carey wanna-bes have missed the fact that Mariah is the real article," says Berlin. "It's a youthful enthusiasm. People want to become a star without doing the work that it may take to become this... They don't know music. They don't understand the facts, the meaning, the elements of what makes music. Music is not involved in a person's pursuit of stardom. They end up singing and performing in the most unmusical manner imaginable."

Sometimes, however, the pain of mimicking Mariah isn't just emotional. It's physical, too. Dianna Prichard, a Tampa vocal coach, says trying to warble like Mariah can cause physical harm. "More and more of my young students are showing up with vocal nodes," says Prichard, referring to polyps that form on the vocal cords from oversinging. "It's every age now, but especially the young ones. They all want to belt. But until you're vocally comfortable, it can be very damaging." The thing is, even if Mariah falls out of fashion, Christina Aguilera - another belter with phenomenal pipes - is right behind her. And Aguilera just might have more range than Mariah. Oh, well. At the very least, according to WQYK's McKay, there is one good thing about Mariah wanna-bes making screechy fools of themselves. "It's always a good sound bite on the radio," he says with a laugh.

By the way, if you're wondering what the singer herself thinks about her influence on the warbly youth of America - well, keep on wondering. At the last minute, Carey flaked on a interview we had set up for Monday. Hopefully, the kids won't copy her commitment problems, too. Mariah Carey, with Sean Paul, 7:30 p.m. Monday, St. Pete Times Forum, 401 Channelside Drive, Tampa. $19.50-$125. 813 287-8844 or (727) 898-2100 or (813) 301-2500.
(St. Petersburg Times)

On July 29 Mariah peformed at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles. 50 lucky HBF members got to attend. Here is what some of them had to say:

HBF username: Aztlanstar: Thanks again for the great tickets to the Pepsi Smash show. Really loooved it. The venue was a great place to hold it because it felt like an intimate setting and every seat had a good view of the stage. The entire show was fantastic, all of the audience was into it for the whole time on their feet.

Favorite performances for me were Fly Like A Bird, Don't Forget About Us, Make It Happen. Liked the white jacket outfit she had, loved the glasses witht he first outfit, but the cape was iffy lol. The pink dress was adorable, fit her amazingly.

What else... oh. The video with the chicks talking smack and Mariah is just smiling the whole time was hilarious. loved it. I thought the mic with the bling all over was a lovely touch. Mariah, you were incredible, you sounded amazing and looked stunning the whole time. Can't wait for you to come to Staples. P.S. I wanted to see Jack.

HBF username: xxjuliaxx: During the show a couple of Spike Lee directed clips poking fun of all the crazy rumors, he said she said, statements about Mariah were addressed. They were very funny - they were a good way to show that Mariah does know what's going on, she is human, and can even poke fun of herself (in front of the millions who will see the tour and this show this year).

My favorite songs during the show were when Mariah sang old hits like Hero, I'll Be There, Vision Of Love, and Heartbreaker. It brought me back to those moments when I was a kid in front of the TV, watching Mariah perform during awards shows and hoping that one day I'd be watching her live - but this time - I was watching her live.

The show closed with a Butterfly reprise, Mariah waving goodbye, and pink and purple butterfly confetti being blasted throughout the audience. As the butterflies flew throughout the audience and the show ended, I finally had a chance to take a breath and take it all in. Here I was voiceless thanks to singing along all night, cheering my lungs off, my legs a little sore fron standing during the whole set, and butterflies fluttering above.

Every single moment was worth this moment - my horse voice would soon heal by the next day, after a nights sleep these legs would be ready to stand for plenty more hours for work the next day, and those butterflies landing on my shoulders would be shaken off - but what wouldn't ware off, or be replaced were the memories that this show has given me. Those butterflies were as symbolic as Mariah's songs like Butterfly and Hero - it may have taken me this long to finally see Mariah live but I allowed myself to dream, to keep hope alive, and there I was finally seeing Mariah live.

HBF username: JMcCain: First of all I would like to send a huge Thank You to who ever decided to put the fan club members in the orchestra section. These were the best seats I've ever sat in at a concert. I was in the middle orchestra 6th row. The show was awesome, glad that she did some old stuff along with the new.

Everything was great. She looked and sounded hot. I always love hearing her hit those high notes, especially live, doesn't get any better than that. Didn't want the show to end. Finale was awesome, I kept some of the butterflies for my scrap book. I even met Randy Jackson. Please send Mariah my thanks and I am very grateful that I was able to attend such a great show, she never disappoints.

HBF username: Tjwebbee: I really liked the changing up of the music, most notably "Dreamlover". It sounded great. As much as I love your songs, being such a huge fan I've heard some of the album versions literally thousands of times, and 25 times or more of live versions from TV appearances and concerts so it's nice to get a new take on them.

I love your sense of humor, so I liked the Spike Lee skits. I also liked the minimal outfit changes, kept the show at a good pace. Thanks again, can't wait to see you at the Staples Center.

HBF username: pbutterfly9797: The show was fantastic. I loved the way Mariah came out in her very sexy onsombles. She looked excellent. Her body was slammin (good job Mariah, great toned body). I especially appreciated her old school music, "Vision of Love" has been one of my favorites. And of course, as always her duet with Trey Lorenz. She seems to do that at every concert, but that's my favorite part. I lovethat song, brings back great memories.

The purple and pink confetti butterflies were really cute, I loved it. What a great ending. Can't wait for her concert in October, looking forward to a great performance.

Extra TV's Jon Kelley chatted with Mimi backstage after her Pepsi Smash concert in Los Angeles. Click here to watch the interview.
(Mariah Carey.com)

Mariah Carey has been dominating the charts for more than a year, and now she is taking that success on the road. Extra correspondent Jon Kelley was backstage with Mariah after a very successful Pepsi Smash Live concert at The Kodak Theater last Saturday.

JK: It's the superstar's super sexy return to the stage. Only Extra was with red-hot Mariah as she warmed up for her "The Adventures of Mimi" concert tour - her first in three years.
MC: It was fun. It was really nice to be with the fans.

JK: And Mariah breaks news to us she also hopes to reconnect with family as she criss-crosses the country.
MC: My brother was here tonight and that was cool. I haven't even spoken to anybody in so long.

JK: Mariah's fans will hear all the megahits from her latest Grammy award-winning "The Emancipation of Mimi" album and music's top-selling female artist let us in on a little secret - she's also going old school.
MC: There are songs that are really big hits that I forget and I'm like, 'Oh we didn't do Always Be My Baby tonight.' We didn't do such and such tonight so you know, I'm gonna sing however I want. So that's kind of cool.

JK: Her show will also include video vignettes directed by Spike Lee featuring Mariah performing with music moguls like Jay-Z and Jermaine Dupri.
MC: I'm getting ready to go tomorrow. I'm excited.
JK: Mariah's road trip kicks off Saturday in Miami.
(Mariah Daily)

Mariah Carey performs at 8:00 p.m. Saturday, August 5, at the American Airlines Arena, 601 Biscayne Blvd, Miami. Admission ranges from $17.50 to $127.50. Mariah Carey. Glitter. No other combination of words evokes images of four-inch stilettos, dresses of about the same length, and a near-shattering fall from grace quite like those three.

The past few turbulent years in Carey's career have made it difficult to believe that one of the media's biggest punching bags was also named best-selling female artist ever by the World Music Awards and most successful artist of the 1990s in the United States by Billboard magazine. The singer's five-octave vocal range and five hard-earned Grammys have been largely overshadowed by a very public emotional breakdown, commercial failures, and a flagrant increase in the hoochie department.

But recently (and largely owing to the well-received release The Emancipation of Mimi) the embarrassing stain that Glitter and other public mishaps have left on Carey's otherwise successful career have been almost completely washed away. Emancipation marks a return to inspiration after a notably dry season. After sixteen years, fourteen albums, and incredible highs and lows, the ever-evolving queen diva has regained a supportive audience willing to worship her in all her vocal glory. Vote for Mariah Carey at VMAs 2006; Mariah is nominated for best R&B video: vote here
(Miami News Times)

Mariah Carey has filmed over thirty original music videos; many of these videos became classic in pop culture. Many of these videos have been creative and innovative, without mentioning the high amount of money invested in these works. However, Mariah Carey has not received a single MTV Video Music Award, also known as “moon man,” in her long and impressive career. It's not that all of the Mariah Carey’s videos deserved an award, but it results strange that other artists have obtained more MTV trophies when they certainly cannot match Carey’s impressive video collection, as well as chart success.

It’s hard to believe that an artist as Mariah Carey has been “ignored” by the MTV Video Music Awards despite her numerous efforts. One of Carey’s most memorable and popular videos is “Honey,” in which Mariah Carey “reinvents” herself as she presents attractive scenes and an interesting concept. Who doesn’t remember the scene in which Mariah jumps into a swimming pool to escape from her captors? A few years later, Carey reinvented her self once again when she presented the video for her #1 song “Heartbreaker.” The video was directed by Hollywood director Brett Ratner and became one of the three most expensive videos in music history. The scene where Mariah and her alter ego Bianca have a catfight was even imitated by some female artists.

In 1998, Carey presented the video for the ballad “My All,” which is also considered a master piece by music insiders. The music video presents sequences inspired by Sandro Botticelli's painting The Birth of Venus which portrays the Greek goddess Venus as she emerges from the sea. The images in this video were carefully filmed by the highly-recognized photographer Herb Ritts before he passed away. During this time, fans of Mariah were also captivated by the appealing scenes from the music video for the song “Breakdown” or the unforgettable “rainy night” shown in “The Roof.” In these videos Carey proves she also has the ability to direct her own videos.

Even though, Mariah Carey had no creative control over her first videos, she managed to shoot some of the most memorable videos of the 90s: “Emotions,” “Fantasy” and “Dreamlover.” As part of the videos from her multi-platinum album The Emancipation of Mimi, Carey continued to struggle to create overwhelming music videos for her fan base. The party where Carey celebrates her emancipation is already unforgettable, as well as her sexy tribute to Marylyn Monroe, “Don’t Forget About Us.” “We Belong Together” also managed to reach the top of many music channels around the globe. Now, it is the turn of “Shake It Off” which was especially created to please Mariah’s fans. All of these videos were some of the top videos of the past year according to music experts and fans.

Now, many people already expect that the nomination of “Shake It Off” as best R&B video will follow the same unsuccessful destiny that Carey’s previous nominations had. In 1996, Mariah’s “One Sweet Day” video was nominated for the R&B Video but lost to The Fugees’ “Killing Me Softly,” ignoring the videos for “Fantasy” and “Always Be My Baby.” In 1998, “Honey” was nominated for Best Female Video but lost to Madonna’s “Ray of Light,” as the music video for “My All” didn’t even deserve a nomination.

Later, Carey’s videos for “Heartbreaker” would be left behind once again. There’s not much to say concerning “Through the Rain” and “Loverboy,” which perhaps were not even considered for a nomination. In 2003, “I Know What You Want” earns a nomination but loses to Missy Elliot’s “Work It.” Despite the success of “It’s Like That,” the video is disregarded as it doesn’t receive a single nomination for the MTV Video Music Awards 2005. “We Belong Together” does receive two nominations but again is displaced by other videos that ironically were not as successful as Mariah’s video.

This year, Carey receives a nomination, but “Don’t Forget About Us” is ignored despite the high quality presented and the enormous success it obtained. Many already expect that the “Shake it Off” video will lose again. Mariah doesn’t seem affected by the channel’s multiple unfortunate decisions; she hasn’t even shown interest in these awards as she sometimes doesn’t even show up at the ceremony. Mariah once expressed that she thought “Honey” deserved an award, “It deserved an MTV Award, but once again I got shut out, as would be the standard.” At the same time, Mariah feels confident and pleased because at the end of the day, her videos always accomplish their main goal: create a successful and unforgettable single.
(Mariah Hero)