| Thursday 4 September 2003 |
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Carey learns from past, looks to future
It's hard to doubt Mariah Carey when she says she can't walk away from music, movies and love, even after hospitalization for exhaustion, the loss of history's biggest record contract, critical disdain for her semi-autobiographical film, "Glitter", and breakups with her husband and subsequent boyfriend. Buoyed by a new $20 million recording deal, a CD that's gone double-platinum and a less hectic schedule, Carey has embarked on her most extensive concert tour. The 52-date trek visits U.S. theaters through this month, then arenas and stadiums in Europe and Asia.
As for romance, after the failure of her four-year marriage to recording mogul Tommy Mottola in 1997 and her breakup with boyfriend Luis Miguel, the 33-year-old singer says she's ready for a break. Emerging from last year's hospitalization for what she called "complete exhaustion", Carey is viewing her return to the stage as just what the doctor ordered.
Carey recently spoke about the ups and downs of her career and personal life, as well as what she sees on the horizon. How are you feeling these days? Are your batteries recharged?
They have been for quite some time, thank you. What are you doing differently to avoid getting exhausted?
I kind of had to put everybody in check who was surrounding me. People had to realize that I'm a human being as well as someone who is in the public eye and a celebrity. It's not all about working me to death, literally. It's about giving me some space, some time to actually have a couple of vacations a year, just to take a breather, which I never ever did before. I would just work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and that's not healthy for anybody. You could have walked away from everything before entering this new record deal, relaxed and wealthy. Why do it all again?
Because music is what I love, and it's hard to walk away from what you love. I do care about my fans, and I know that they wanted me to make a new record, and I wanted - and needed - to make a new record. There's been speculation that your decision to play smaller venues actually might be due to slow ticket sales. Could you clarify that?
In all honesty, it's going to be so much more intimate and so much easier for me, because I tend to micromanage things, and that's what can contribute to my overextending myself. I don't want to do that this time around. I don't want to be worrying about the sound man, worrying about pyro stuff. I don't want to be doing things that are not about just performing and relaxing within my performance.
My fans want to see me in this type of a setting, as opposed to an impersonal venue where they miss half of what's being said onstage and the sound is all boomy. So it's my decision to do that. I can play arenas if I want; that's not the question. (Times Pop Music)
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